vwHHHHS 


Ivll  5KARY 

OF  TIIK 

University  of  California. 

<  ;i  kt  OF 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  1894.  \ 

^Accessions  No.5*7  0  9$  .     Class  No. 


■■ 


wBb&BbHMM 


.'.;•'-     :V; 


mrec«m*.n  »if  ilia  niii'iw 


Mk 


■    \ '■■■'■'  ■".■ 


.V 


\' 


:> 


'  /. 


f 


THE 


WORDS  OF  TIE  LORD  JESUS. 


RUDOLF    STIER, 

DOCTOR  OF  THEOLOGY,  CHIEF  PASTOR  AND  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHKEUDITZ. 


VOLUME   FIEST, 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  SECOND  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED 
GERMAN  EDITION. 

BY  THE 

REV.  WILLIAM  B.  POPE, 


NEW  EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
SMITH,    ENGLISH,    AND   CO. 

NEW  YORK:  SHELDON  &  CO.   BOSTON:  GOULD  &  LINCOLN. 


MDCCCLIX.  /&S9 


-0ia^$£ 


Of  TH» 


'tjhitb: 


nop 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


The  work  which  is  now  introduced  to  the  English  reader  has 
been  for  fifteen  years  in  high  esteem  among  the  divines  of  Ger- 
many, as  well  as  of  several  other  countries.  The  respect  which 
occasional  extracts  have  received,  and  the  ample  references  to 
it  among  recent  expositors,  warrant  the  expectation  that  it  will 
be  no  less  cordially  welcomed  among  the  British  churches. 

r  No  one  will  read  it,  as  such  a  book  should  be  read,  without 
feeling  that  he  is  under  the  guidance  of  one  who  is  profoundly 
imbued  with  the  mind  of  Christ. j  The  author's  aim  is  the  loftiest 
which  mortal  man  can  set  before  himself — to  unfold  the  meaning 
and  harmony  of  all  the  recorded  words  which  fell  from  the  lips  of 
the  Word  made  flesh.  That  the  Lord's  own  sanction  is  mani- 
festly given  to  the  attempt,  is  the  highest  tribute  we  can  pay 
to  it. 

The  form  of  the  work  may  possibly  be  in  some  respects  repul- 
sive to  the  reader  unaccustomed  to  German  theology.  The 
minute  subtilty  of  its  analysis,  its  keen  inquisition  into  the 
secret  thread  of  every  discourse,  with  some  occasional  novelties 
of  theory  or  exposition,  will  not  disparage  it  to  the  student  who 
keeps  the  original  text  always  before  his  eye,  and  understands  the 
r  rare  value  of  criticism  which  combines  deep  thought  with  deeper 
devotion.  The  very  frequent  vindication  of  the  true  meaning 
against  fanciful  or  infidel  interpretations  sometimes  interrupts 
the  current  of  the  exposition,;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  work  is  throughout  an  unwearied  protest  against  Rationalist 
opinions.  These  bring  its  own  distinguishing  excellencies  into 
relief ;  and  every  work  of  orthodox  German  Theology  has,  as 
such,  a  strong  preliminary  claim  to  our  favour. 

Finally,  as  the  Translator  is  not  necessarily  responsible  for  all 
the  opinions  of  the  original ;  so  neither  ought  the  original  to  be 
absolutely  judged  of  by  the  translation,  which  but  faintly  repro- 
duces its  peculiar  qualities  of  style. 
London,  April  1855. 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FIRST  PART 


THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

Pago 

Preface,       .........  1 

The  First  Words  of  all — to  His  parents  concerning  His  Father,  Luke  ii.  49,  18 

The  First  Word  of  Consecration  to  His  office,  Matt.  iii.  15,          .            .  28 
The  First  Words  of  Victory  over  the  Tempter,  Matt.  iv.  4 — 10 ;  Luke  iv. 

4, 8,  12, 34 

The  First  Words  of  the  Master  to  the  first  Disciples,  John  i.  38 — 51,          .  48 

The  First  Word  of  Majesty  at  the  first  Miracle,  John  ii.  4 — 8,                .  61 
The  First  official  Words  to  the  opposing  Rulers  of  the  Temple,  John  ii.  16—19,  67 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

The  Sum  of  the  first  Preaching  to  the  People,  ch.  iv.  17  ;  Mark  i.  15,         .      81 
Calling  of  the  Fishers  of  Men,  ch.  iv.  19 ;  Mark  i.  17  (Luke  v.  4—10),  85 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  ch.  v. — vii. ;  Luke  vi.  20 — 49,  .  .  90 

The  Lord's  Prayer,  ch.  vi.  9—13,       .  .  .  .  .  .218 

The  extract  from  the  Sermon  in  St  Luke,  ch.  vi.  20 — 49,  .  .  326 

The  Leper,  ch.  viii.  3,  4 ;  Mark  i.  41 — 44 ;  Luke  v.  13,  14,  .    341 

The  Nobleman,  ch.  viii.  7 — 13 ;  Luke  vii.  9,      .  .  .  345 

Two  several  followers,  ch.  viii.  20—22 ;  Luke  ix.  58—60,  .  .      352 

The  stilling  of  the  Sea,  ch.  viii.  26 ;  Mark  iv.  35—39,  40 ;  Luke  viii.  22—25,  362 
The  Devil  in  the  Swine,  ch.  viii.  32  ;  Mark  v.  8,  9,  19 ;  Luke  viii.  30—39,  367 
The  Paralytic  and  the  Scribes,  ch.  ix.  2 — 6 ;  Mark  ii.  5,  8,  8 — 11 ;  Luke  v. 

20,22—24, 374 

The  Physician  for  the  Sick,  Matt.  ix.  9 — 13 ;  Mark  ii.  14 — 17 ;  Luke  v. 

27—32, '.  381 

Answer  concerning  Fasting,  ch.  ix.  15 — 17  ;  Mark  ii.  19 — 22  ;  Luke  v.  35 — 39, 391 
The  Issue  of  Blood,  ch.  ix.  22  ;  Mark  v.  30—34 ;  Luke  viii.  45 — 48,  404 

Jairus'  Daughter,  ch.  ix.  24  ;  Mark  v.  36—41  (43) ;  Luke  viii.  50—54  (55, 56)  408 
The  two  blind  men,  ch.  ix.  28—30,  .  .  .  .414 

The  wretched  Sheep  and  the  great  Harvest,  ch.  ix.  36 — 38 ;  (Mark  vi.  34 ; 

Luke  x.  2)    . 416 


HAKMONY. 


Page. 

P««e. 

Matt.  iii.  15,  . 

28     ' 

Mark  ii.  19—22,   .        .        , 

391 

»l 

iv.  10,       . 

.    34 

» 

v.  30—34, 

.    404 

1» 

iv.  17, 

81 

» 

v.  36—41  (43)      . 

408 

11 

iv.  19, 

y# vii.            •          . 

.    85 
90 

»> 

vi.  34, 

416 

11 
11 

vi.  9-13, 

.    218 

Luke  ii.  49,         ... 

.    18 

11 

viii.  3,  4,      . 

341 

» 

iv.  4,  8,  12,    . 

34 

11 

viii.  7—13,       . 

.    345 

m 

iv.  4—10, 

.    85 

11 

viii.  20—22, 

352 

»» 

vi.  20—49,     . 

90 

n 

viii.  26,    . 

.    362 

» 

vi.  20—49, 

326 

n 

viii.  32, 

367 

» 

v.  13,  14,  . 

.341 

n 

ix.  2—6, 

.    374 

>» 

vii.  9,     . 

345 

>» 

ix.  9—13,     . 

381 

m 

ix.  58—60, 

.352 

♦» 

ix.  15—17,      . 

.    391 

„ 

viii.  22—25, 

362 

n 

ix.  22, 

404 

>> 

viii.  30—39, 

.367 

11 

ix.  24,      . 

.    408 

»» 

v.  20,  22—24, 

374 

11 

ix.  28—30, 

414 

» 

v.  27— 32, 

.381 

n 

ix.  36—38, 

.    416 

ii 

v.  35—39,      . 
viii.  45 — 48, 

391 

>i 

.404 

Mark  i.  15,     . 

81 

n 

viii.  50—54,  (55,  56),     . 

408 

n 

i.  17, 

.    85 

n 

x.  2,           ... 

.416 

M 

i.  41—44,       . 

.      341 

i» 

iv.  35—39,  40,   . 

362 

John 

i.  38— 51,        . 

48 

n 

v.  8,  9,  19,     . 

.      367 

ii 

ii.  4—8,      . 

.    61 

11 

ii.  5,  8,  8— 11,      . 

374 

ii 

ii.  16—19,       . 

67 

»» 

ii.  14—17, 

.    381 

THE 


DISCOURSES  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS, 


ESPECIALLY 


ACCORDING  TO  ST  MATTHEW. 


EXPOUNDED  BY 


RUDOLF  STIER, 

DOCTOR  OF  THEOLOGY,  SUPERINTENDENT  AND  CHIEF  PASTOR  OF  SCHXEUDITZ- 


SECOND  EDITION,  EEVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


FIRST  PAKT, 

CONTAINING  THE  FIRST  WORDS  OF  OUR  LORD  ACCORDING  TO 
ALL  THE  EVANGELISTS:  EMBRACING  ST  MATTHEW,  CHS.  IV.— XL 


Isa.  lii.  6 : 
1  am  He  that  doth  speak  i  behold  it  is  I. 


]  ;  BRSIT 


PEEFACE. 


Discourse — the  revelation  of  the  inner  man  by  utterance  to 
others — admits  of  a  wide  variety  of  gradation  and  method ;  and 
1  one  kind  of  revelation  may  be  more  direct  and  distinctively  such 
than  another.  As  this  is  true  of  man,  so  is  it  also  of  God  the 
Lord,  j  He  had  spoken  7ro\vfiepcb<;  real  irokvrpo'jTtoS  in  past  time, 
before  as  yet  the  Eternal  Word  Himself  was  made  flesh  ;  but  now 
the  human  exegesis  of  the  \6yia  tov  deov  has  received  its  ultimate 
and  highest  task.  It  can  propose  to  itself  now  no  loftier  aim  than 
to  repose  with  John,  the  eagle  of  the  Church  of  the  last  times,  upon 
the  full  assurance  : — Qeov  ovSek  iwpa/ce  iroairore  6  fiovoyevrjs  wo?, 
6  &v  eh  tov  koKttov  tov  7rarpb<;  e/ce«/o?  i^y^aaro. 

Hearing  Him,  and  the  Spirit  who  takes  of  His  in  the  Apostles, 

we  find  the  only  sound  principle  for  the  interpretation  of  the 

ancient  Scriptures  which  bare  witness  of  Him,  and  pointed  to 

Him.     No  historical  and  psychological  eV/Xi*™?  of  ours,  may  ever 

avail  to  empty  or  invalidate  for  us  one  single  jr'ij-p  "V^N  Ji!D  or 

T    •      ~  T~ . 
n^JT  DN2  5  but,  on  tne  otner  hand,  whatever  is  recorded  in  the 

inviolable  ypa(f>t],  though  without  this  preface,  is  regarded  by  us 
who  discern  the  power  of  God  in  such  Scripture,  as  prjOev  rjfiiv 
virb  tov  Oeov,  Matt.  xxii.  31.  But  then  we  also  at  the  same  time 
perceive  the  distinction  which  still  subsists  between  all  the  for- 
mer revelations  of  God,  and  the  last  by  his  Son :  a  distinction 
which  is  indicated  in  the  Prophetic  Scripture  itself.  In  the  very 
centre  and  heart  of  the  revelations  of  God  by  Isaiah/ which  are 
yet  waiting  for  their  true  interpretation,  that,  namely,  which  shall 
accord  with  the  word  of  Christ  and  His  apostles^  the  God  of 
Israel  promises  (Isa.  lii.  6),  that  when  His  people's  true  and  ever- 
1 


4  PREFACE. 

lias  his  peculiar  gift  from  the  Lord,  his  own  peculiar  plan  and  aim 
in  his  Spirit-moved  spirit ;  but  through  the  combination  of  all  the 
Holy  Ghost  has  so  wrought  out  one  wonderful  scheme,  that  the 
whole  of  what  these  four  Evangelists  present  to  us  as  the  utter- 
ance of  the  Son  of  God  incarnate,  carries  with  it  its  own  evi- 
dence in  its  perfect  harmony.  Alas,  that  it  should  be  said  of  us, 
sed  nos  non  habemus  aures,  sicut  Deus  habet  linguam — oh,  that 
we  could  but  read  and  hear  ! 

We  must  assuredly  read  as  men,  what  the  Lord  has  humanly 
spoken,  and  consigned  to  human  record.  But  to  every  man 
who  reads  as  of  the  truth  (John  xviii.  37),  it  is  given  to  hear  and 
to  see  the  glory  of  the  incarnate  word  :  for  in  these  Gospels  His 
manifestation,  His  life,  His  teaching,  are  truly  transfigured  into 
an  ever-living  and  life-giving  Spirit-word,  It  was  of  necessity 
that  the  word  should  first  be  made  flesh,  but  equally  so  that  the 
flesh  should  become  spirit  again  :  and  it  is  as  such  that  the  Word 
now  speaks  to  the  world.  This  is  the  essential  principle  of  life  ; 
from  which — as  an  incorruptible  seed — the  Faith  and  the  Church 
derive  their  being.  Could  we  imagine — I  speak  as  a  fool— the 
Church  of  Christ  utterly  vanquished,  and  expelled  from  the  face 
of  the  earth  ;  yet,  if  one  of  these  four  gospels — and  let  that  one 
be  even  St  Mark's — were  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  conscientious 
and  sincere  readers,  out  of  this  that  Church  must  of  necessity, 
and  assuredly  would,  spring  up  anew.j 

The  theological  investigation  and  exposition  even  of  the  ortho- 
dox has  to  this  very  day  been  far  too  much  occupied  with  inqui- 
sition into  the  tradition-threads  which  bind  together  the  human 
and  the  divine,  with  the  harmonizing  of  the  histories  and  so 
forth ;  leaving  far  too  much  in  abeyance  the  task  of  penetrating 
to  the  substance — the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus. ±  We  are  too 
much  disposed,  if  not  to  ravel  that  which  God  has  woven  into  its 
thread  again,  at  least  to  pry  too  curiously  into  warp  and  woof, 
into  its  minutest  fabric  and  texture.  But  just  as  this  answers 
no  good  purpose,  generally  speaking,  in  the  /cTtais,  so  will  it  not 
avail  in  the  ypacfrr)  which  itself  is  a  Kaivrj  ktigis*  It  is  because 
this  is  not  sufficiently  remembered,  that  while  we  have  commen- 
taries enough  upon  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  Mark,  &c,  we  have 
very  few  indeed  upon  the  words  of  the  Lord  which  they  contain. 
The  latest,  most  extravagant  criticism  of  the  Gospels, — which 


PREFACE.  5 

to  the  many  thousands  of  those  who  hang  upon  the  lips  of  their 
Master,  and  live  from  day  to  day  upon  His  words  of  eternal  life, 
is  nothing  less  than  sheer  madness  ; — this  frenzied  infidelity  is 
utterly  unable  now  to  hear,  by  reason  of  the  raging  of  its  fever- 
fantasies.  Could  these  victims  of  delusion  but  begin  to  give 
heed  to  what  He  says  to  them,  from  his  first  Meravoelre  to  all 
that  He  signified  in  that  great  cry  'Eyco  eifii — then  would  the 
history  itself  in  this  light  soon  become  clear  and  self-convincing.  , 
All  right  understanding  of  the  origin  of  the  Gospels,  as  far  as  we 
may  understand  it,  must  rest  upon  the  living,  believing,  apprehen- 
sion of  their  contents,  which  are  unlike  aught  else  in  the  world's 
history.  Without  the  most  profound  exegesis  of  the  words  of 
our  Lord,  all  the  labour  of  the  harmonists  must  be  exposed  to 
perpetual  error.  We  find,  for  example,  in  the  latest  and  best  of 
them,  that  of  Ebrard,  an  occasional  separation  of  things  essen- 
tially united,  or  sometimes  an  incorrect  identification  of  discourses 
uttered  at  various  times.1 

1  Once  more,  and  more  earnestly  than  ever,  must  we  in  the  second 
edition  protest  against  Rauh's  method  of  defence  against  Baur 
(Deutsche  Zeitschrift  fiir  Christl.  Wiss.  u.  s.  w.),  which  with  its 
homoeopathy  is  little  likely  to  cure  this  criticism  run  mad.  '  It  is  itself 
merely  the  same  sophistry,  though  practised  on  the  other  side ;  ;  the 
same  perverse  method  of  dealing  with  the  word — first  rending  it 
asunder,  then  patching  it  together  again.  Poor  Synoptics  !  how  must 
they  suffer  for  the  honour  of  John  !  "  The  confused  and  fortuitous 
synoptical  narration — evidencing  but  faint  traces  of  any  connexion — 
broken  threads  I"  Such  is  the  style  in  which  they  are  spoken  of.  "  In 
helpless,  perplexing  nakedness"  this  thing  or  that  appears  in  their 
account.  A  "  perfectly  misleading  answer  of  the  Lord,  following  some 
external  sound,  has  wandered  away"  to  the  place  where  it  now  stands, 
and  the  Johannaean  connexion  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order  to  our 
11  understanding,  in  any  degree,  the  Synoptical  narrative."  "  Things 
somewhat  similar  are  easily  enough  joined  together,"  and  so. many 
things  are  "  drawn  one  to  another,  which  have  no  internal  connexion." 
We  are  told  of  "  reminiscences,  which  have  passed  out  of  buried  con- 
troversies into  the  traditional  form  of  gnomic  sentences,  or  rather,  these 
Sayings  have  been  collected  together  out  of  traditions,  true  in  particu- 
lar cases,  but  widely  dispersed."  The  "traces  of  connexion"  which 
are  allowed  to  exist,  are  just  enough  to  bind  together  the  whole  into 
one  mechanical  conglomerate.  Let  me  be  laughed  at  or  not,  let  men 
shrug  their  shoulders  or  not,  I  rebuke  in  the  name  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth 
that  license  of  our  youngest  Licentiates  which  leads  them  so  far  astray 
as  to  censure  and  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  Recorders  on  whose  word 
the  whole  Church  rests.    Does  not  all  ecclesiastical  experience  down  to 


0  PREFACE. 

To  my  believing  brethren,  therefore,  I  would  fain  administer 
a  useful  hint : — Look  well  at  what  now  lies  under  your  shears ; 
take  heed  lest  sometimes,  if  not  often,  you  be  tempted  incautiously 
to  clip  it  even  as  others  do.j  And  as  to  these  others  ?  Unhappy 
men,  they  will  be  likely  enough  to  say  concerning  me  and  my 
book,  if  it  happens  to  meet  their  eyes : — Here  is  one  coming  out 
of  his  dark  corner  again  with  all  hardihood,  who  seems  to  know 
nothing  of  what  we  have  long  since  made  plain,  who  is  bold 
enough  and  simple  enough  to  put  faith  in  the  so-called  discourses 
of  our  Lord — that  marvellous  medley  which  has  been  compounded 
under  the  inscriptions  Kara  Mardalov,  Mdp/cov,  &c.  (we  know 
this  and  can  explain  it  all,  as  if  we  had  been  there  I)  Yes,  dear 
Sirs,  you  may  indeed  say  this ;  butrwhat  conflict  it  would  cost 
your  conscience  to  read  for  yourselves,  let  your  conscience  answer. 
Permit  me,  on  the  other  hand,  to  tell  you  in  all  friendliness — 
There  are  those  who  have  given  patient  and  industrious  atten- 
tion to  every  thing  that  has  sprung  from  the  lofty  wisdom  of 
your  unbelief,  but  whose  faith  in  the  testimony  of  God's  Spirit 
in  Holy  Writ,  has  not  seldom  found  its  most  effectual  invigora- 
tion  and  its  most  convincing  argument  in  the  self-contradictory 
folly  of  your  books — the  darkness  of  which  has  only  served  to 
make  their  own  light  the  brighter  and  more  precious. 

It  will  now  be  once  more  made  evident  that  I,  for  my  own 
insignificant  part,  belong  to  the  number  of  those r  who,  enjoying 

this  very  day  demonstrate  that  precisely  this  mechanical  conglomerate, 
these  broken  threads,  these  helpless,  perplexed  and  naked  relations  and 
sayings  which  in  themselves  are  so  inexplicable,  do  most  mightily  take 
hold  of  the  living  and  simple  believer,  and  so  inexhaustibly  instruct 
him,  that  he  needs  no  help  of  any  of  the  theologians  ?A  Therefore,  we 
hold  it  better  to  say,  that  wherever  there  is  any  actual  deviation  from 
specific  historical  truth,  any  transposition,  dislocation,  &c.  (of  which 
instances  do  occur,  but  far,  far  less  frequently  than  is  now-a-days  gene- 
rally supposed ;  always  occurring,  moreover,  in  non-essentials,  and  never 
involving  the  slightest  falsification) — the  Holy  Ghost,  the  true  and  only 
traditor  of  this  tradition,  has  intentionally  and  significantly  so  ordered 
it,  with  that  Wisdom  which  we,  the  learned,  should  be  willing  to  learn 
from,  since  it  is  continually  and  most  undoubtedly  justified  of  those 
simple  ones,  it's  children.  I  may  presume,  that  some  little  theoretical 
and  scientific  justification  of  it,  also,  for  the  learned,  may  be  derived 
from  my  books,  if  their  suggestions  and  views  are  admitted  by  unpre- 
judiced minds. 


PREFACE.  7 

themselves  the  kernel,  and  inviting  others  to  its  enjoyment,  will 
not  allow  themselves  to  be  involved  in  the  contests  which  are 
everywhere  raging  about  the  mere  shell  \  who  would  rather  sit 
as  convivse  than  as  investigating  and  over-curious  coqui,  at  the 
Lord's  well-spread  table ;  who  rather  take  the  medicine  than 
chemically  analyze  it.  Let  others  inspect  the  swaddling-clothes 
of  Immanuel  with  even  greater  anxiety  than  the  wise  men  of  the 
East,  my  regard  is  fixed  upon  Himself,  who  is  folded  within  them. 
But  in  saying  this,  I  cannot  forget  that  both  swaddling-clothes 
and  manger,  though  woven  and  built  by  sinful  hands,  were  con* 
secrated  for  Him  and  through  Him.  That  I,  in  like  manner, 
hold  fast  the  rigid  inspiration  of  the  Word  in  which  we  find  and 
possess  the  Christ,  yet  not  in  the  mechanical  fashion  of  that 
orthodoxy  which  seems  sometimes  to  gaze  in  blank  amazement 
at  Him  who  was  born  of  woman,  as  if  He  had  fallen  from  heaven 
in  his  swaddling-clothes ; — this  I  must  finally  and  most  earnestly 
beg  every  one  to  observe,  on  account  of  the  persevering  injustice 
with  which  I  have  been  treated  on  this'particular.1 

^To  construct  a  detailed  historical  harmony  of  the  Gospels  I 
regard  as  a  thing  impossible,  inasmuch  as  the  testimony  of  the 
Spirit  leaves  behind  and  transcends  the  mere  common  and  subor- 
dinate historical  truth  ;  and  has  something  far  better  to  teach  us 
than  merely  when  and  where,  and  with  what  relations  one  to 
another,  this  and  that  was  spoken  or  done.  ±  Who  ever  asks 
with  such  fond  pertinacity  about  the  date  of  any  saying  of  Plato 
or  Goethe?  |  But  to  acknowledge  this,  and  in  consequence  to 
concede  willingly  to  sound  criticism  more  than  they  at  any  cost 
are  willing  to  do,  is  certainly  a  better  defence  against  that  pseudo- 
criticism  which  now  rushes  in  to  the  assault,  laboriously  seeking 
out  untruthfulnesses,  in  that  which  as  to  all  essentials  is  pure 
truth  itself,  and  contains  not  a  single  iota  of  that  which  is  actually 
false.  Ingeniously  and  diligently  to  investigate  that  historical 
element  of  which  we  have  no  record,  may,  in  profane  literature, 
be  a  blameless  pastime  of  learned  curiosity ;  but  to  neglect  and 
perplex  that  which  is  given  us  in  Holy  Writ  through  such  bye- 

1  That  unjust  treatment  still  continues — eight  years  after  this  was  first 
written.  Probably  I  may  be  able  to  exhibit,  after  a  while,  more  clearly, 
in  what  way  my  rigid  and  yet  not  mechanical  view  of  Inspiration  is 
on  either  hand  distinguished  from  the  old  and  the  new  doctrine. 


8  PREFACE. 

play  of  inquisitiveness,  must  ever  be  a  perverted  irdpepyov  where 
man  ought  earnestly  to  seek  what  he  has  to  do.j  So  also  while 
adjusting  and  arranging  the  minute  specialities  which  are  before 
us,  to  sacrifice  the  contemplation  and  ever-growing  knowledge  of 
those  great  momentous  matters  which  are  plainly  revealed,  and 
thus  with  the  best  intention  through  too  much  labour  upon 
the  shell,  to  neglect  to  taste,  or  to  be  diverted  from  enjoying 
the  kernel,  is  scarcely  less  a  perversion  than  that.  There  is 
for  thoughtful  criticism  an  uncontroverted  and  real  remainder 
in  which  we  have  ample  scope ;  so  ample,  that  our  very  reason 
requires,  and  much  more  our  Faith,  that  we  should  not  adven- 
ture upon  further  subtle  investigations  until  that  which  we  have 
— I  do  not  say  is  fixed  upon  its  sure  external  foundations,  for  it 
is  given  to  us  for  a  higher  purpose  than  that  but — has  passed 
into  our  whole  perception  and  life.  Seek  we,  in  this  matter  also, 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness,  so  shall  the  needful 
critical  knowledge  be  added  unto  us ;  and  our  position  with 
relation  to  the  Great  Fact  of  Eedemption  in  Christ  be  more 
like  that  of  the  Apostles.^ 

That  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  as  the  Son  of  God  come  in  the  flesh, 
did,  in  His  generation,  so  live,  so  teach,  so  suffer,  so  die,  so  rise 
again,  as  the  four  Evangelists  with  all  their  differences  unite 
perfectly  in  relating,  is  a  truth,  attested  to  be  the  most  certain 
of  all  certain  truths  by  the  whole  history  of  the  world  before  Him 
and  since,  by  Israel's  permanence  among  the  nations,  as  well  as 
that  of  Christianity  itself. ,  The  entire  mystery  of  all  history 
finds  in  this  its  centre  and  only  solution.  Similarly  the  longing, 
and  questioning,  and  seeking  of  every  man's  inner  spirit,  finds 
here  its  simple  fulfilment  and  answer, — here,  where  all  the  lines 
so  wonderfully  converge,  and  every  thing  significantly  tells  us 
that  the  Revelation  of  the  Divine  penetrates  all  human  indivi- 
duality. Simply  to  accept  this  is  no  false  simplicity  but  the 
highest  wisdom,  which  reverently  hearkening  in  the  obedience  of 
faith,  to  the  Eternal  Wisdom,  is  rewarded  by  the  right  perception 
of  the  Truth  which  is  unto  salvation. 

From  this  point  of  view  it  appears  to  be  in  most  cases  alto- 
gether a  matter  of  indifference,  whether  this  or  that  was  spoken 
and  done  here  or  elsewhere.  Wherever  it  is  matter  of  import- 
ance, the  Providence  of  God  has  ordered  that  it  shall  be  authen- 


PREFACE.  9 

tically  plain  before  us,  and  be  easily  found  by  that  modest  and 
earnestly-seeking  investigation,  for  which  in  His  condescension 
scope  has  been  left.  But,  otherwise,  we  should  thankfully 
receive  what  through  God's  grace  is  written  for  us,  remembering 
that  the  true  meaning,  which  the  Eternal  Wisdom  calls  us 
to  seek,  lies  rather  in  the  how  it  is  written  than  in  the  how  it 
took  place. 

The  spirit  and  design  of  this  exposition  is  purely  and  properly 
exegetical ;  and  all  who,  like  myself,  adhere  firmly  to  this,  may  be 
justified  in  making  it  their  glory.  To  be  inveighed  against  by 
enemies,  and  blamed  by  friends,  for  reading  and  understanding  the 
Old  Testament  as  Christ  and  His  Apostles  read  and  understood 
it,  is  an  honour  for  which  one  may  meekly  thank  his  God.  When 
Theology  shall  direct  its  aim  to  that  point  where  "  Prophecy 
and  Fulfilment "  meet  together  and  are  united  in  their  interpre- 
tation (more  entirely  and  firmly  than  in  Hofmanrts  book,  which 
does  not  fulfil  the  sounding  prophecy  of  its  title)  ;  then  will 
it  find  no  more  reason  to  blame  any  simple  apostolical  ha  ifki]- 
pcodfj,  or  any  such  reading  of  the  ancient  Scripture,  as  those  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  But  to  be  rebuked  and  set  aside, 
as  if  acting  upon  one's  own  caprice  and  imposing  the  meaning 
instead  of  expounding  it,  when  one  only  aims  to  let  the  King  of 
Truth  speak,  as  He  is  pleased  to  speak  with  evidence  which 
breaks  through  all  obscurity  and  concealment:  to  be  rebuked 
for  this,  that  one  would  rather  take  to  his  ears  and  to  his  heart 
the  wonderful  words  of  the  Eternal  Word  in  all  their  immediate 
power  as  they  are  uttered  and  beam  forth  from  Himself,  instead 
of  their  so  much  prized  translation  into  the  poor  and  narrow 
language  of  man,  with  all  the  concomitant  perversions,  and  end- 
less disputations  (through  which  process  of  so-called  exposi- 
tion the  very  essence  of  the  text  is  ofttimes  lost)  : — to  be  blamed 
for  this  would  be  indeed  a  most  grievous  affliction,  and  yet  one 
must  be  prepared  for  it. 

That  discussions  and  treatises  concerning  the  recognition 
of  the  one  object  of  Exegesis  should  be  exceedingly  in  vogue 
among  those  to  whom  that  all-holy  object  as  exhibited  in  the 
Gospels  is  not  yet  established  as  such,  is  as  natural  as  it  is  use- 
ful. Let  every  man  labour  according  to  his  call. j  It  is  quite 
necessary,  indeed,  that  the  settlement  of  the  object  of  Faith — 


jf*S       07  THE 


0  PREFACE. 

«here  speak,  the  Son  of  God,  who  preserves  and  illustrates  to 
«s  through  H,s  Spirit,  all  that  He  spoke  in  the  flesh  "-!„ou  d 
precede  the  exposition  of  those  sayings  as  His.  Then  on  v 
when  ft--***,  has  reached  its  positive  goal,  does  LZl 

take  the  other  position  with  respect  to  the  Word/  a  system  of 
course  with   doubt,   through   which   even  o  t  oL  me 
sometimes  are  ledto  deny  the  Faith  in  particulars  which  they 
acknowledge  on  the  whole,  and  <  to  mix  matters  with  their  expo- 
sition, winch  have  no  more  relation  to  it  than  philosophical 

SET?  on  the  h7i and  attributes  of  God  *"  ]>- 

abou^lt  wT '  and  the"  t0  Speak  UP°n  the  WOTd  ^  «*** 

«K£2ft m  a  spmtof  confused  and  undecWed  ha]f  *#»• 

Hon  and  half  acceptance  of  its  contents.,  But  it  is  natural 
enough,  on  the  other  hand,  that  we  should  decline  to  term  ht 
Exegesis,  which  speaks  out  of  the  Word  which  is  given  to  us. 

stii?  ess  Z    f     -    Tl  "  ^  ^  °f  "***  and  fi"di^ 

lair  The  Tmg  hTt  and  rejeCtin"  there :  but  *-  of 
havlng.     The  great  ^  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  the  flesh,  of 

mostcer't  !"  r  ^^  ^^  t0  Us  of  «*  certainties  the 
most  certain.    Let  us  be  permitted  on  our  part,  while  so  much 

z::.1^/ w'  ? speak  as  we  beiie-  a»d  b—  - 

believe,  out  of  the.  Word,  not  round  about  it;  according  to  its 
own  peculiar  system,„ot  according  to  the  system  of  anySci  n 

houi     S  ,      f°-  any   heter°geneo^   form   of  speech   or  of 

SffSB  ra'Smg  agaT  UP°"  ^  P**  *e  discussion  of 
the  possession  of  our  sure  and  certain  foundation.     Nor  let  it  be 
thought  unbecoming,  that  in  order  to  suck  hearing  "id  ac  ep 
tance,  we  offer  with  all  solemnity  what  should  be  heardldreceiVed 
by  the  enure  man.      AH  sound  exposition  of  the  Divine  word  of 

fiXSf  r  T a  hortatory  eieraent'  **  t'-twtd 

tself  is  hortatory  throughout:   in  these  pages  there  is  not  the 

X   fZTP hwhichsim^mi»^s  food  toour critical  curi! 

os.ty     Nothing  seems  to  us  more  unnatural  than  a  certain  dead 

^handling  of  the  Word  of  life-never  speaking  from  the  heart 

o  he  heart     which  is  called  the  «  purely  scientific."   But  just" 

~*zz«:zr  false,y-br ed  sdence  in  its  &*  ■££ 

which,  after  all,  are  more  or  less  scanty  and  pitiful,  with  their 


PREFACE.  11 

u  irtarisT  and  their  "  Jahve" — run  along  its  course  side  by  side 
with  the  living  Confession  of  the  Lord  in  the  Faith  of  His  church. 
The  Bible  has  never  failed,  since  it  was  given,  to  speak  for  itself 
without  the  assistance  of  the  learned ;  and  it  produces  in  its 
believers  a  believing  apprehension  of  itself,  without  which  it 
would  long  ago  have  gone  the  way  of  all  waste  paper.  In  its 
application  to  preaching  use  in  the  Church,  it  has  ever  preserved 
its  living  power,  and  ever  will : — there  is  the  Exegesis  of  the 
Spirit  at  home.  If  the  mere  Professor  (who  sits  so  comfortably 
upon  his  master's  chair,  whereas  he  ought  to  feel  himself  obliged 
to  stand  in  the  pulpit  before  "  the  Established  Church"  [sic]  of  the 
only  Master  and  Lord)  cannot  use  his  wisdom  in  preaching,  nor 
minister  therewith  to  those  who  do  preach,  then  is  that  very  fact 
the  most  decisive  testimony  against  such  wisdom.1  For  the  Bible 
is  not,  once  and  for  all,  a  mere  old  document  for  the  learned,  but 
a  text  for  the  preacher  to  the  Church  and  the  world,  ever  and 
inexhaustibly  new.  Here  do  those  emanationes  scripturce,  which 
Bacon  referred  to,  flow  freely  fefth;rnot  in  the  wranglings  of 
commentaries,  whose  Mischna  and  Gemara  confound  and  ob- 
scure the  student  with  the  text  itself,  so  that  the  word,  before  it 
can  be  read,  is  utterly  prevented  from  speaking  by  its  own  ex- 
position^ 

I  have  not,  as  already  said,  neglected  commentaries,  whether 
faithful  or  heterodox ;  but  I  have,  with  still  more  diligence,  for 
now  about  thirty  years,  sought  out,  collected,  and  put  to  the  most 
living  use  in  my  own  heart  and  ministry,  the  immediate  emana- 
tions of  the  living  Word.  I  avow  publicly  before  God  and  the 
world  that  all  the  theology  and  criticism  of  the  age,  whether 
infidel,  or  one-fourth,  one-halfj  three-parts  orthodox,  has  since 
then  only  served  to  strengthen  and  confirm  me  in  my  joyful 
boast : — I  know  in  whom  I  believe.  I  know  that  what  I  read 
and  possess  in  the  Word  will  remain  when  the  world  passes  away; 
and  that  its  slightest  sentence  will  prove  a  better  dying  pillow 

1  "  A  minister  who  for  many  long  years  has  drawn  edification  from 
the  Word  of  God  for  his  people,  may  well  have  sometimes  a  stray 
thought,  of  which  a  Professor  of  Theology  need  not  be  ashamed" — so 
says  Theremin  in  his  Evening-hours,  with  significant  irony.  I  will  be 
mor,e  bold  and  severe,  and  maintain,  thatrthe  Professor  of  Exegesis 
often  puts  forth  notions  at  which  the  preacher  instructed  in  the  living 
use  of  Scripture  may  blush ,j 


12  PREFACE. 

than  all  else  that  man  could  conceive  or  possess.  1  know  that 
to  interpret  to  the  world  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the 
loftiest  task  of  human  teaching  or  writings  The  Lord  is  my 
witness  that  I  approached  it,  in  the  publication  of  this  book, 
with  solemn  diffidence,  being  deeply  conscious  that  here  and 
there  error  might  too  probably  have  intruded.  Much  even  now 
may  have  escaped  my  most  conscientious  revision,  which  found 
(I  must  confess)  little  to  retract ;  but  these  "  Discourses  of  the 
Lord  Jesus"  have,  as  a  whole,  since  then  received  the  legitima- 
tion of  a  large  circle  of  the  faithful,  whose  acknowledgments  in 
many  ways  rendered,  of  the  grace  and  truth  which  they  contain, 
I  can  thankfully  lay  at  the  Lord's  feet. 

In  his  name,  then,  let  this  book  once  more  go  forth,  and  let  all 
men  everywhere,  who  cannot  accord  with  what  they  deem  my 
too  rigid  adherence  to  the  written  Word,  hear  once  more  a  testi- 
mony, which,  thank  God,  is  still  unchanged : — I  read  the  canoni- 
cal text  of  the  Bible  as  written  through  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  I 
so  read  it,  not  because  I  have  framed  for  myself  beforehand  any 
inspiration  dogma,  or  have  devoted  myself  as  a  bond-slave  to  the 
old  dogmatic  ;  but  because  this  Word  approves  itself  with  ever- 
increasing  force  as  inspired  to  my  reason,  which,  though  not 
indeed  sound,  is  through  the  virtue  of  that  Word  daily  recover- 
ing soundness.  It  is  because  this  living  Word  in  a  thousand 
ways  has  directed  and  is  ever  directing  my  inner  being,  with  all 
its  intelligence,  thought,  and  will,  that  I  have  subjected  to  it  the 
freedom  of  my  whole  existence. 

The  great  and  fundamental  deficiency  of  nearly  all  learned 
exegesis,  with  which  mine  must  for  ever  differ,  is  its  misappre- 
hension ofrthe  depth  and  fulness  of  meaning  which,  in  accordance 
with  its  higher  nature,  necessarily  belongs  to  every  word  of  the 
Spirit.^  TThough  believed  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  it  is  treated 
superficially  and  on  principles  of  partial  and  one-sided  deduction, 
just  as  if  it  were  the  word  of  man.u  rIn  the  endeavour  to  under- 
stand it  that  depth  is  not  explored  where,  from  the  one  root  of 
the  "  sensus  simplex,"  the  richest  fulness  of  references  spring  up 
and  ramify  in  such  a  manner,  that  what  upon  the  ground  and 
territory  of  its  immediate  historical  connexion,  presents  one 
definitely  apprehended  truth  as  the  kernel  of  its  meaning,  does 
nevertheless  expand  itself  into  an  inexhaustible  variety  of  senses 


PREFACE.  13 

for  the  teaching  of  the  world  in  all  ages,  and  especially  in  the 
Church,  where  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself  continues  to  unfold  His 
germinal  word  even  to  the  end  of  the  days.^  While  this  applies 
to  every  word  of  the  Spirit  in  its  several  measure,  to  the  Words 
of  the  Word,  it  applies  without  measure,  to  an  extent  which 
eternity  only  will  disclose !  Many  of  Christ's  utterances  make 
upon  the  most  obtuse  mind  the  overpowering  impression  of  a 
mysterious,  superabounding  amplitude  of  meaning.j  If  others, 
even  the  most  part  of  them,  appear  in  their  slight  drapery  of  pro- 
verbial, rabbinical,  parabolical  forms  of  language  so  humanly 
simple ;  yet  approach  them  closely,  contemplate  them  in  their 
ever  new  applications  to  various  times,  and  they  will  be  so  trans- 
figured before  you,  that  you  will  cease  to  deem  it  incomprehen- 
sible that  the  Church,  through  the  process  of  centuries  of  reading 
and  preaching,  has  never  grown  weary  of  them,  or  that  this  Word, 
in  its  unchangeable  might,  has  triumphantly  lived  down  all  the 
fleeting  words  of  men.  If  all  that  enlightened  preachers  have 
found  for  their  preaching,  or  believing  readers  have  found  for 
their  edification,  in  any  one  parable  or  any  one  single  ecclesias- 
tical Pericope,  could  be  collected  and  comprised  in  fit  words — 
that  would  be  the  entire  Exegesis — so  far  as  this  might  be  possible 
before  the  words  in  futurity  shall  unfold  perfectly  its  own  yet  more 
perfect  meanings 

rIn  the  words  of  Christ  all  the  scattered  and  intersecting  rays 
of  truth  extant  in  humanity  are  collected  and  blended  into 
the  full  and  perfect  light  of  day.  'Eya  Trjv  akrjOeiav  Xeyco, 
iyco  el  fit  fj  akrjdeia — He  cries,  standing  in  the  midst  of  Israel,  and 
in  the  centre,  therefore,  of  all  nations,  j  The  preparatory,  pro- 
phetic Word,  finds  its  end  and  goal  in  the  Word  of  Christ :  the 
apostolical  word  rests  upon  Him  as  its  foundation,  and  is  in  Him 
already  in  its  rudiments  performed.  To  grasp  and  illustrate  in 
all  their  significance  the  entire  relations  of  His  perfect  Eevela- 
tion, — to  Judaism,  such  as  it  was  when  the  Lord  came,  com- 
pounded of  the  truth  of  God  and  man's  inventions  ; — and  to 
the  elements  of  truth  scattered  in  Heathenism  which  He  con- 
firmed, as  well  as  to  all  the  errors  of  the  Gentiles  which  He  con- 
demned,— is  the  right  Province  of  sound  Theological  Science, 
True  Philosophy,  that  is,  the  self-consciousness  of  humanity  and 
its  history,  can  only  reach  its  perfection  through  a  profound  un- 


W  PREFACE. 


derstanding  of  these.  For  Christianity,  or  to  speak  more  correctly 
Christ,  is  not  indeed  that  Dens  ex  machine  which  inspires  the 
false  speculation  of  historical  inquiry  with  so    much  affected 
horror:  but  that  which  old  Hippocrates  with  all  his  art  was  after 
all  constrained  to  do  homage  to  (at  the  close  of  his  irepl  lep^ 
voaov)vas  the  point  to  which  all  the  eminent  in  Science  come 
back,  though  without  at  first  understanding. what  he  meant,— 
that  iravra  Oeia  kcli   av0pd>iriva  iravra,  finds  its  full  realization 
only  in  Him,  who  is  the  Godman  ;  whose   ryifc^in  (Mic.  v.  1) 
according  to  His  humanity  mount  upwards  to  Adam,  as  accord- 
ing to  His  divinity  they  go  up  to  the  bosom  of  the  Father.    The 
Son  of  God  enters  into  history  as  the  Son  of  man  ;  and  all  his- 
tory has  been  made  by  the  Finger  of  God  to  prepare  for  Him, 
and  to  aspire  towards  Him.      But  to  embrace  this  wider  field  in 
our  comprehension,   which  indeed  before  the  fulfilment  of  the 
mystery  of  God  and  the  second  revelation  of  all  the  secrets  of 
that  which  we  too  readily  dignify  with  the  name  of  "  history," 
can  only  approximately  be  done,  is  not  the  more  immediate 
design  of  exegesis  in  its  stricter  sense  ;  although  this  alone  will 
ultimately  set  the  seal  of  completeness  upon  the  interpretation 
of  the  entire  manifestation  of  Christ,  and  more  especially  of 
His  Word.      In   the   mean   time   true   exposition   suffers   the 
light  which  is  concentrated  in  the  sun   of  personal  truth   to 
shine  immediately  upon  it,  and  understands  Matt.  iv.  17  with- 
out  the  help  of  any  rabbinical  gpQgp,  nd?D>  ™  also  Matt, 
xxviii.  19.  Jno.  xvi.  13  to  15,  withouUhe  *£^  q^  ^ 
and  p^  ^  (pS^Tltt)  of  the  Cabala,  and  wlthouUhe  Pla! 
tonic  Trias.     Hearkening  w'ith  open  ears,  it  immediately  attests 
that  only  which  Christ  testifies  :  every  man  can  then,  according 
to  his  ability,  go  forth  from  Christ  to  understand  the  world  and 
history,  and  returning  back  again  find  rest  in  him.     Let  this  be 
understood  as  spoken  in  explanation  to  those,  who  find  wanting 
in  our  book  the  usual  derivations  into   Christianity  from  its 
connexion  with  the  teachings  of  the  age.     We  deny  not  that 
connexion,  but  we  much  prefer  to  regard  the  derivation  as  pro- 
ceeding in  the  opposite  direction,  not  from  the  age,  but  into  it. 

Let  the  word  of  Christ  explain  itself.     This  is  and  must  ever 
be  a  matter  of  fundamental  importance,  and  we  would  fain  hope 


PREFACE.  ] 5 

at  least  to  assist  many  a  reader  to  gain  this  central  point  for  its 
understanding.  But  that  for  sinful  man  with  his  infirm  reason, 
there  is  now  no  other  understanding  of  divine  things  than  that  of 
Faith,  in  the  sense  of  the  scholastic  Fides  prsecedit  intellectum, 
and  of  the  Pauline  alxjiaXooTifav  irav  vonfia  eh  rrjv  \jiraKor\v  tov 
Xpiarovj  so  that  the  private  judgment  must  submit  itself  to  the 
heart's  experience  through  faith-j— let  him  dispute  either  with 
God  or  the  devil  who  is  inclined  to  do  so  ;  let  him  contend 
against  it  in  his  Edom-wisdom  who  has  a  mind  to  be  dashed  to 
pieces  by  this  stone  of  stumbling.  To  show  that  on  the  other 
hand  faith  also  has  an  ever-increasing  understanding  of  its  own, 
and  need  not  be  abashed  before  any  pseudo-reason  whatever, 
(which,  indeed,  it  alone  can  help  out  of  its  irpo.nov  yfrevBo<i  into  the 
<yiv(6(TK€iv  tt]v  akijdeiav),  is  the  proud  design  of  this  little  contri- 
bution of  ours— a  design  which,  in  the  name  of  the  Most  Lowly, 
known  to  heaven  and  earth,  and  in  opposition  to  all  the  proud,  we 
dare  openly  to  avow.  But  as  to  those  who  believe  in  the  Lord,  and 
yet  through  a  pernicious  pseude-science,  either  cannot  or  will 
not  bow  to  that  miracle  of  the  Holy  Ghost — the  sure  transmis- 
sion of  His  life  and  words  in  the  Gospels,  which  are  the  central 
word  of  the  whole  invisible  Scripture,1" may  the  Spirit  of  Truth 
bear  more  and  more  convincingly  His  own  witness  to  His  own 
testimony,  which  tolerates  no  correction  of  man.  t 

They  are  but  hints,  after  all,  which  are  now  offered — with  all 
their  diffuseness  they  are  nothing  more.  For  the  author  is 
deeply  conscious  that  upon  no  one  single  word  has  he  done  more 
than  very  partially  draw  out  that  fulness  of  meaning,  which 
is  vaster  than  the  ocean  and  deeper  than  the  abyss.  Yet  it  may 
be  hoped  that  the  reader  will  find  many  things  that  will  abide 
with  him,  and  bear  to  be  further  worked  out.  The  apology 
which  in  the  first  edition  stood  here  for  the  imperfect  form  and 
presentation  of  the  work  on  account  of  little  and  fragmentary 
leisure,  may  be  repeated,  as  far  at  least  as  concerns  the  first  part; 
for  this  second  edition  goes  forth  amid  the  duties  of  a  very  unpro- 
pitious  official  situation.  Yet  have  I,  as  it  will  be  seen,  done 
my  best  to  review,  revise,  and  to  supplement  the  whole,  with 
especial  reference  to  what  has  appeared  since  or  was  overlooked 
at  first,  as  far  as  this  could  be  done  without  too  much  altering 
or  enlarging  the  book. 


*°  PREFACE. 


To  those  of  my  dear  readers  who  call  the  Lord  Jesus  their 
i^ord  in  faith,  1  give  my  brotherly  greeting.  All  others  may  the 
Lord  Himself  greet  at  the  outset  with  His  own  most  solemn 
words,  worto  which  blend  His  loving-kindness  with  their 
severity  :— 'E<b  yhp  ^  ^rei^T*,  fa  kya>  elfiL,  ^oQavdaQe  ev 
rat,  apapTL'at,  i^v.  Do  they  still  ask,  ^  T/s  el;  there  is  both 
answer  and  advice  in  his  reply  :-T?)v  ap^v  6',  re  Kal  XaXco 
vfuv.  Hear  these  His  words  to  you,  so  shall  you  apprehend 
who  He  is,  and  what  you  are,  and  further  learn  to  cry—Lord 
to  whom  shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life,  and 
we  believe  and  are  sure  that  thou  art  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God;  that  thou  art  indeed  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the 
world. 


t     17     ) 


THE  FIRST  WORDS. 


Not,  indeed,  absolutely  the  first.  The  words  of  that  most 
marvellous,  most  holy  childhood,  in  which  the  Divinity,  gradually 
beaming  already  through  the  veil  of  the  purest,  most  lovely 
humanity,  comes  forth  from  its  profoundest  mystery  into  mani- 
festation, an  ever-continuous  birth  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  into 
the  Human  Spirit,  the  human  soul ; — who  could  comprehend, 
and  retain,  and  record?  Joseph  stood  at  reverent  distance, 
Mary  felt  and  anticipated  all  that  the  purest,  most  simple  faith 
was  capable  of — and  yet  but  little.  The  angels  more  remotely 
learned  the  wisdom  of  God,  while  they  worshipped  before  the 
swaddling-clothes  in  which  the  Lord,  who  should  bruise  the  ser- 
pent's head,  first  moves.  Satan  began  to  question  and  make 
the  experiment  whether  he  has  nothing  in  this  One  too,  and  could 
not  understand  this  new  thing.  The  Mighty  One  grew  up  se- 
cretly into  the  consciousness  and  possession  of  His  inherited  dig- 
nity— secretly  even,  at  first,  to  Himself.  Just  as  Christ  first  fully 
understood  the  development  of  his  youth,  when  He  looked  back 
upon  it  from  His  manhood,  after  he  had  come  to  the  full  know- 
ledge of  Himself ;  in  like  manner  will  it  be  vouchsafed  to  His 
Church,  arrived  at  maturity,  to  understand  the  first  earthly 
history  of  her  Lord,  which  is  reserved  for  her  heavenly  study. 
For  nothing  befel  Him,  which  was  not  to  be  fully  and  perfectly 
known.  Then  will  Mary  remember  and  relate  all.  But  for  the 
time  that  now  is,  we  have  the  mature  Christ  in  His  word,  fulfil- 
ing  His  office  among  us.  One  word  of  the  Child  we  have 
recorded  for  us,  as  a  note  and  witness  of  the  hidden  portion  of 
His  growth  and  development : — that  one  word  of  great  moment, 
in  which  his  relf-recognition  first  distinctively  breaks  forth  from 
2 


18  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

the  depths  of  His  childhood's  unconsciousness.  Thus  it  is  the  last 
peculiar  word  of  His  childhood,  but  at  the  same  time,  the  First, 
which  the  Son  of  the  Father  speaks.  In  this  we  find  much,  here 
below,  to  meditate  and  observe  upon — both  as  to  what  preceded 
and  what  followed  it — as  far,  that  is,  as  we  may  now  understand 
it.  It  was  entrusted  by  Mary's  lips  for  record  to  St  Luke,  whose 
gospel  in  its  two  first  chapters  already  goes  beyond  St  Matthew 
and  St  Mark,  reaching  forth  towards  St  John's  introduction 
concerning  the  Word  made  flesh. 


THE  FIRST  WORDS  TO  HIS  PARENTS  CONCERNING  HIS  FATHER. 

(Luke  ii.  49.) 

Solitary  floweret  out  of  the  wonderful  enclosed  garden  of 
the  thirty  years,  plucked  precisely  there,  where  the  swollen  bud, 
at  a  distinctive  crisis,  bursts  into  flower.  To  mark  that,  is  as- 
suredly the  design  and  the  meaning  of  this  record.  The  child 
Jesus  sought  to  know  Himself,  and  His  whole  life  of  childhood 
was  this  seeking :  here  He  begins  to  find  out  His  own  mystery, 
and  it  is  not  merely  &  first  word  to  His  parents  and  to  us,  but  also 
a  first  word  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  in  the  human  spirit  of  the  person 
of  the  God  man.  This  is  attested  in  ver.  50,  which  signifies  that 
this  was  the  first  "  My  Father"  which  had  fallen  from  the  lips  of 
the  child. 

The  history  connected  with  this  word  must  be  referred  to,  in 
order  to  its  being  rightly  understood.  It  is  pre-eminently  objec- 
tive, simply  traces  the  occurrences  as  they  transpire,  and  thus 
says  in  the  best  manner,  and  exhibits  most  lucidly,  what  on 
this  occasion  was  to  be  said  and  exhibited.  It  is  not  even 
mentioned  at  all  at  the  outset  that  His  parents  took  the  boy 
Jesus  with  them  to  Jerusalem ;  yet  there  is  a  latent  proof  in 
the  "  twelve  years,"  as  indeed  in  the  whole  narrative,  that  this  was 
the  first  time.  Scripture  is  very  sparing  of  words,  where  the  right 
reader  already  catches  the  right  meaning.  We  learn  from  other 
sources,  that  the  youth  of  Israel  in  that  period  were  reputed 
minn  *05l«  All  things  from  his  circumcision  onwards  proceed 
in  the  ordinary  course  with  this  extraordinary  child. 


LUKE  II.  49.  19 

St  Luke  simply  relates  that  the  child  Jesus  remained  behind, 
without  imputing  blame  to  the  parents  or  vindicating  Him  :  the 
sequel  sufficiently  explains  all.  They  were  justified  in  leaving 
the  youth  to  his  own  discretion  in  Jerusalem,  as  they  had  often 
done  elsewhere  ;  and  supposed  quite  innocently,  that  He  would  be 
found  in  his  own  place  in  the  company: — their  error  lay  not  in  this. 
But  that  the  youth  wholly  absorbed  by  the  Temple  and  all  that 
was  to  be  seen  and  heard  there,  would  give  his  thoughts  to 
nothing  else,  that  He  now  would  belong  to  it,  they  considered 
not  before,  nor  even  when  it  should  have  been  obvious  to  them, 
upon  their  seeking  Him.  Hence  we  may  again  collect  that  it 
was  both  for  Him  and  for  them  the  first  time. 

The  mistaken  idea  that  Jesus  taught,  contrary  to  the  becoming 
order  of  human  life  generally,  and  much  more  of  his  lowly  life,  is 
refuted  by  ver.  46.  He  sat  as  a  learner,  hearing  those  who  taught 
and  asking  them  questions.1 

Strictly,  indeed,  and  properly,  asking,  as  one  who  as  yet  knew 
not,  but  whose  progress  and  learning  went  on  into  ever-increas- 
ing wisdom,  vers.  40 — 52.  His  questions  were  the  pure  light- 
questions  of  innocence  and  truth,  which  keenly  and  deeply 
penetrated  into  the  confused  errors  of  the  Eabbinical  teaching. 
Rightly  to  question  is  the  highest  wisdom  which  the  learner,  as 
such,  can  possess.  For  one  genuine  question  of  him  who  seeks 
in  the  right  direction  already  contains  more  realized  truth  than  a 
thousand  disjointed  answers  of  the  false  wisdom  of  books  and 
words.  Thus  does  the  galilsean  youth  in  His  Divine-human 
simplicity  confound  the  Masters  in  Israel  sitting  in  the  loftiest 
chairs  of  the  erudition  of  the  age,  and  the  seat  of  the  learner 
predicts  the  future  throne  of  the  teacher.2  His  light  shines  forth 
upon  the  world  now  at  the  first  with  such  simple  convincingness, 
that  many  of  those  who  were  susceptible  were  astonished  at  the 
understanding  displayed  in  His  questions,  and  in  the  answers  which 
He  gave  when,  as  would  naturally  enough  follow,  He  was  ques- 

1  Not  as  Sepp,  (Life  of  Christ)  supposes  that  a  chair  of  instruction  had 
been  instantly  given  Him  in  the  midst  of  the  Teachers,  in  order  to  re- 
solve questions  and  to  propose  them. 

2  "  To  answer  children  is  indeed  an  examen  rigorosnm,,,  says  Hamann. 
But  there  is  herein  foreshadowed  the  future  wisdom  of  Jesus,  as  Hamann 
says  again :  "  He  who  will  stop  the  mouths  of  scribes  and  sophists, 
must— know  how  to  put  questions"  (Edition  of  Roth  ii.  424.) 


20  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

turned  in  return.  At  least  all  who  gave  heed  to  Him—  which  many 
who  were  scandalised  by  Him  might  not  as  yet,  strictly  speaking, 
be  disposed  to  do. 

Jesus  brings  with  him  a  knowledge  and  understanding  of  the 
written  Word  of  God  derived  from  the  school  of  home  :  He  finds 
this  to  some  extent  reproduced  in  Jerusalem,  but  only  as  falsified 
and  overlaid  by  the  errors  of  human  teaching.      This  contradic- 
tion, which  at  the  very  first  so  glaringly  manifests  itself,  stirs 
mightily  his  truth-seeking  spirit.    He  had  innocently  expected  to 
receive  from  the  Masters  in  the  house  of  God  the  full  and 
much  desired  for  answer  to  his  accumulated  questions,  and  nothing 
but  truth  and  wisdom ;  but  he  finds  it  otherwise,   and  detects 
the  disparity  by  that  sense  of  truth  which  from  the  beginning 
recoiled  from  every  error.     He  could  already  have  taught,  but 
it  enters  not  His  mind  that  He  could,  He  rather  asks  questions. 
And  what  questions,  did  we  but  know  them  !     Many  a  preinti- 
mation  we  may  suppose,  of  his  after  manner  of  asking— How 
is  it  written,  then,  in  this  or  in  that  Scripture?     Thus  by  Holy 
Writ  he  presses  hard  upon  the  precepts  of  man,  even  as  babes 
and  sucklings1  have  done  by  his  Spirit  in  all  ages  since ;  and  thus 
without  designing  it,  or  being  even  conscious  of  doing  so,  He 
opens  out  the  meaning  of  Scripture.     The  main  subject  of  their 
communications  is  the  Messiah  and  His  kingdom :  this  theme 
arouses  most  fully  the  ready  presentiment  with  which  He  came 
there,  and  in  the  course  of  this  questioning,  which  is  but  the  ask- 
ing after  Himself,  he  finds  that  great  answer  which  the  Spirit  alone 
could  give  Him,  He  makes  the  discovery  of  Himself,  in  the  first 
consciousness,  not  yet  mature  but  now  truly  commencing — lam 
He !     This  He  conceals,  in  deep  and  pure  humility,  from  the 
astonished  ones  around  Him  ;  but  this  first  reproof  of  His  parents, 
now  least  expected,  extorts  from  its  profoundest  sanctuary,  this 
great  utterance. 

It  was  the  first  reproof  which  He  received.  They  had  all  along 
addressed  Him  as  "  child"  with  many  a  direction  and  admoni- 
tion, but  had  never  found  anything  to  reprove.  The  foster-father 

1  Hence  the  Rabbins  themselves  know,  that  the  Word  of  God  out  of 
the  mouth  of  childhood  is  to  be  received  as  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Sanhedrim,  of  Moses,  yea  of  the  Blessed  God  Himself.  Bammidbar 
rabba,  14. 


LUKE  II.  49.  21 

even  now  remains  standing,  as  ever,  at  reverent  distance ;  the 
mother  alone  ventures  with  a  mother's  right  to  speak,  yet  at  the 
same  time  in  the  father's  name.  She  only,  indeed,  ventures  upon 
a  question  appealing  to  His  tested  integrity  as  a  child,  as  if  she 
would  say  : — What  thou  hast  now  done,  I  understand  not  for  the 
first  time  !  Done  to  us, — this  gave  an  unanswerable  pathos  to 
her  question ;  for  He  had  never  given  them  pain  before.  Thy 
father — thus  had  Joseph  till  now  been  spoken  of.  Never,  indeed, 
had  Mary's  lips  as  yet  been  bold  to  say  to  the  "  Son  of  the 
Highest"  (Lu.  i.  32)  concerning  the  Most  High  : — Thy  Father ! 
Yet  are  her  words — not  we,  thy  parents,  but,  T/ty  father  and  I 
— a  most  exquisitely  delicate  expression  of  that  sacred  secret 
which  had  almost  faded  away  in  her  soul,  but  the  consciousness 
of  which  is  already  prepared  to  anticipate  the  great  Word  which 
her  son  is  about  to  utter. 

And  He  said  unto  them  :  How  is  it  that  ye  sought  me  !  Wist 
ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Fathers  business  ?  Instead  of 
acknowledging  any  error  or  uttering  any  regret  for  their  sorrow 
and  anxiety,  He  gives  them  a  kind  and  earnest  lesson,  though 
without  appearing  to  do  so,  concerning  their  whole  parental  rela- 
tion, especially  in  time  past.  There  are  two  counter-questions 
in  answer  to  the  two  questions  of  His  mother.  First  of  all,  He 
puts  another  wherefore  against  hers,  as  He  becomes  conscious  of 
the  feeling  with  which  they  had  sought  Him.  It  had  been  so 
natural  to  Him  to  be  and  to  abide  where  He  was,  that  He  had 
not  thought  of  their  seeking  Him  at  all  ;  and  shows  that  He 
regards  it  as  quite  needless,  at  least  to  seek  Him  sorrowing  in  grief 
and  anxiety,  as  if  it  were  possible  for  Him  to  be  in  wrong  or  in 
danger.  The  reproof  is  thus  given  back,  and  in  such  a  way,  that 
the  blame  (as  is  too  often  the  case,  alas,  in  the  human  education 
of  children  of  sin)  is  reflected  upon  the  parents.1  But  He 
speaks  without  any  design  to  shame  or  correct  them ;  He  inno- 
cently asks  the  question  of  His  parents,  as  He  had  done  before  of 
the  doctors ;  and  all  the  shame  lay  in  the  circumstance  itself. 

t  Joseph  and  Mary  had  scarcely  been  quite  free  from  such  blame  in  the 
bringing  up  of  the  holy  child.  "  They  often  treated  him  as  only  their 
child,  and  probably  afflicted  Him  many  times  by  an  inappropriate  exer- 
cise of  their  parental  authority.''  Roos,  Hist,  of  the  Life  of  Jesus 
Christ.     New  edition. 


22  'iflE  FIRST  WORDS. 

Incomparably  and  inconceivably  artless,  as  elevated  as  it  is  child- 
like, is  that  Wist  ye  not  ?  That  which  He  here  now,  while  He 
titters  it,  begins  for  the  first  time  to  conceive  and  understand 
clearly,  becomes  at  the  same  time  so  natural  to  Him,  that  it  is  as 
if  He  had  ever  known  it,  as  if  it  could  not  be  otherwise  than  it 
was,  as  if  it  must  be  equally  self-explained  to  every  one  else. 

Mary  and  Joseph  assuredly  knew  who  the  child  of  their  charge 
was.  But  so  naturally  had  the  human  side  of  His  development 
proceeded  before  their  eyes,  and  so  accustomed  had  they  been  to 
this  alone,  as  time  passed  on,  that  they  may  well  have  sometimes 
nearly  lost  sight  of  that  which  was  Higher  and  Peculiar  in  Him. 
Even  now,  when  they  were  reminded  of  it  by  this  impressive  cir- 
cumstance, they  do  hot  rise  above  their  mere  human  ideas.  And 
this  was  their  fault :  not  that  they  for  a  while  trusted  Him,  un- 
cared  for,  out  of  their  own  hands,  and  not  that  they  at  first  sup- 
posed that  He  would  re-appear  in  His  right  place,  but  that  after- 
wards, when  they  found  it  otherwise,  they  could  sorrowing  seek 
Him  in  any  other  than  that  which  was  His  right  place. 

The  opposition  between  His  own  "  My  Father"  and  Mary's 
"thy  father,"  referring  to  Joseph,  is  very  distinct.  In  this  de- 
signedly spoken  and  deeply  pondered  expression,  lies  the  deep 
significance  of  this  whole  Word.  No  human  lips  had  ever  hitherto 
pronounced  it,  for  those  approximations  to  it  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  in  the  Apocrypha1  are  clearly  to  be  distinguished  from 
this  My  Father.  Here  already,  as  ever  afterwards,  only  My  Father 
— never  conjoined  with  us,  Our  Father  !  This  My  deepens  into 
a  most  exclusive,  personal  appropriation,  when  the  Son  of  the 
•Highest  thus  responds  to  His  parents  : — Ye — sought  Me  !  Wist 
ye  not  that  I —  ?  The  great  truth  rises  before  Him  out  of 
Joseph's  name  of  father,  that  His  own  true  Father  is  He,  whom 
no  one  in  Israel  had  ever  addressed  by  that  name,  and  Himself 
never  till  now  :  He,  in  whose  house  and  Temple  He  now  stands.2 

1  Isa.  lxiii.;  Mai.  ii.  10;  Wisd.  xiv.  3;  Ecclus.  xxiii.  1,  not  so 
much  in  the  sense  of  a  personal  relation,  as  in  that  which  is  indicated 
by  Deut.  xxxii.  6  ;  viii.  5  ;  Ps.  ciii.  13. 

2  With  this  first  word,  which  was  spoken,  withal,  in  the  presence  of 
the  Doctors  of  Israel,  Konig  (Incarnation  p.  305)  combines  that  last  one. 
also  spoken  to  them,  Matt.  xxii.  42.  From  beginning  to  end  Jesus 
thus  sets  aside  the  paternity  of  Joseph,  and  testifies  His  own  conscious- 
ness of  a  supernatural  Origin. 


luke  ii.  49.  23 

Yet  He  does  not  simply  say,  in  my  Father's  house,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  more  extensive  and  undefined  ev  toi?  of  the  Greek,  in 
my  Father's  matters.  The  Spirit  in  the  Youth  speaks  already  in 
the  after  manner  of  the  Man, — with  profound  meaning  in  concise 
expression.  The  first  and  most  obvious  meaning  refers  certainly 
to  the  place,  the  House,  namely,  where  they  should  at  once  have 
sought  Him,  or  supposed  Him  to  be,  rather,  without  seeking 
Him  at  all ;  but  when  we  thoughtfully  penetrate  through  the 
surface  to  the  heart  of  the  expression,  we  find  much  more  than 
this  included  in  it.  And  the  next  sense  is  that  of  a  conclusive 
justification  of  His  remaining  behind  in  the  temple  without  re- 
ference to  His  parents'  knowledge  and  permission: — in  my 
Father's  will,  by  His  guidance  and  inward  direction.  When 
hitherto  any  specific  objection  in  His  mind,  conceived  rather  as 
a  presentiment,  might  have  come  into  collision  with  the  parental 
will  or  the  ordinary  subordination  of  childhood,  He  had  subjected 
and  denied  Himself;  but  now,  His  full  age  commencing,  this 
also  must  begin  to  cease,  and  from  this  time  forward  they  must, 
as  He  now  shows  it  by  a  virtual  injunction  to  be  His  will,  leave 
Him  without  any  further  guidance  of  theirs,  knowing  by  this 
token  that  he  is  about  His  Father's  business.  But  this  emancipa- 
tion from  His  earthly  parents  takes  place  only  as  springing  from 
a  most  firm  adherence  to  His  heavenly  Father.  To  be  in  any 
thing  (sein  in  etwas),  as  a  proverbial  expression  among  men, 
denotes  the  occupation  of  the  whole  life  in  it,  the  being  wholly 
given  up  to  it.  Viewed  thus,  it  gives  a  yet  further  answer,  how 
it  came  to  pass  that  He  remained  behind,  and  is  a  disclosure  of 
the  most  secret  self-justifying  reason  of  the  circumstance: — i" 
thought  of  nothing  else,  it  was  my  meat,  the  instinctive  aim  and 
impulse  of  my  being,  that  higher  law  within  me,  by  obeying 
which  I  was  not  disobedient  to  you, — I  must  I  Here  already  is 
the  germ  of  that  sacred  must,  which  the  Lord  so  often  utters  in 
the  subsequent  way  of  His  obedience.  The  contrary  among  other 
children  might  have  been  more  or  less  marked: — dissipating 
attention  to  the  wonders  of  the  great  city,  visitations  among 
friends  and  acquaintances,  thoughts  about  the  journey  and  the 
return.  But  both  the  thoughts  and  the  actions  of  the  Holy 
Child  were  entirely  absorbed  and  wrapped  up  in  this  one  thing. 
Thus,  as  von  Gerlach  observes,  this  first  utterance  is  even  thus 


24  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

early  "  a  word  of  self-renunciation,  of  self-sacrificing  surrender  to 
God,  in  holy  zeal  for  Him  and  His  House." 

Again,  if  we  yet  deeper  penetrate  into  the  meaning  of  this 
Word  in  relation  to  the  occurrence  to  which  it  refers,  the  ques- 
tion arises,  what  drew  and  impelled  Him  as  the  youth,  for  such 
as  yet  He  was,  to  the  Father  f  They  found  Him  occupied  in 
learning  and  asking  questions  in  the  place  where  God's  word  was 
to  be  learned.  Then  He  tells  them  once  more,  why  He  lemained, 
and  must  have  remained  there : — I  am  in  my  Father's  school  for 
my  own  instruction.  Inasmuch  as  He  does  not  say,  among  the 
doctors,  masters,  and  wise  men,  but  instead  of  them  names  only 
the  Father ;  His  word  may  be  regarded  as  containing  that  great 
and  weighty  disclosure  of  His  own  previous  and  subsequent 
inner  education,  for  the  sake  of  which  principally  this  record  is 
given  to  us.  Just  now,  when  He  begins  to  be  a  "  son  of  the 
law,"  He  first  calls  God  His  Father — His  master,  teacher, 
educator.1  Jesus  was  most  inwardly  taught  of  the  Father, 
although  not  without  external  and  human  instrumentality.  Life, 
instruction,  holy  writ,  awakened  what  was  within  Him ;  He 
seeks  His  God  in  the  temple,  in  order  to  find  Him  as  His  Father ; 
among  the  masters  in  Israel  He  asks  questions,  in  order  that 
through  them  He  may  receive  from  on  high  the  true  answers  ; 
and  the  Father's  inner  guidance  even  connects  itself  with  the 
custom  to  take  the  youth  of  twelve  years'  old  first  up  to  the 
feast  to  present  them  before  the  Lord.  Thus  it  was  the  Father 
alone  who  taught  Him  when  his  mother  early  recited  or  read  to 
Him  out  of  Scripture  ;  and  not  otherwise  was  it  with  the  youth, 
the  young  man,  and  the  man  in  the  Synagogue  at  Nazareth. 
And  what  was  it  that  He  learned,  upon  what  were  His  question- 
ings and  investigations  set,  in  that  secret  education  wherein  He 
"  heard  of  the  Father"  concerning  all  things,  but  especially  con- 
cerning the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  and  dispensations  ?  That 
one  word  was  the  rudimental  object  of  His  study,  which  at  the 
close  of  His  life's  developement  was  unfolded  to  Him  by  the 
Spirit  in   all   its   clearness  and  power  : — Thou  art  my    Son  ! 

1  As  Henry  Alford  says  very  excellently  in  his  English  comment, 
on  the  New  Test.  (London  1849) — he  has  so  repeatedly  mentioned 
my  Reden  Jesu,  that  I  am  bound  in  gratitude  to  make  similar  reference 
to  him. 


luke  ii.  49.  25 

He  enquired  concerning  Himself  with  vehement  desire  to 
know  the  mystery  of  His  own  being  and  the  problem  of  His 
life,  and  concerning  the  will  of  Him  who  had  sent  Him 
to  finish  His  work.  Jno.  iv.  34.  In  the  "  labour  of  His 
childish  spirit,  to  admit  into  itself  and  rightly  adjust  all  things," 
Divine  things  according  to  the  word  of  God  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment were  of  chief  concern  to  Him.  "  Therein  lived  the  childish 
consciousness  of  Jesus,  in  all  the  profundity  of  His  secret  pre- 
sentiments."1 As  He  himself  had  ever,  from  the  beginning, 
possessed  a  consciousness  of  the  object  of  His  life,  only  as  yet 
concealed  in  His  childish  capacity  ;2  and  as  this  first  clear  disclo- 
sure (to  be  followed  itself  by  many  such,  in  advancing  clearness 
and  assurance)  seems  to  Him  at  once  as  natural  as  if  it  had  never 
been  otherwise  than  clear  to  Him ;  so  in  like  manner  does  He 
in  childish  confidence  ask  His  parents —  Wist  ye  not  then  every 
thing  concerning  me  long  since  ?  And  assuredly,  however  much 
such  a  saying  must  have  astonished  them,  there  was  so  much  in 
it  that  was  right  and  true,  that  they  could  not  but  take  shame  to 
themselves  that  they  had  been  troubled  about  the  Son  of  the 
Highest,  as  if  any  evil  could  befall  Him  before  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  mission  of  His  life ;  that  they  should  have  thought 
it  needful  to  guard  Him,  as  if,  when  out  of  their  immediate  care, 
He  could  possibly  stray  beyond  His  Father's  hand,  and  guidance, 
and  protection.  With  this  last  meaning  His  enquiring  word 
comes  round  again  to  the  obvious  reply  which  the  occasion 
demanded,  and  gives  the  reason  of  His  first  question  :  How  is  it 
that  ye  could  seek  me  sorrowing?  Considered  ye  not  that  I  am 
always  in  my  Father's  hands  and  care  ?  But  yet  once  again  was 
this  altogether  forgotten,  under  the  cross,  by  the  deeply-stricken 
mother  : — I  am  not  alone,  for  the  Father  is  with  me  (Jno.  xvi. 
32). 

Let  the  whole  fulness  of  this  significance  be  once  more 
gathered  into  this  question,  which  sublimely  presupposes  the 
profoundest  mystery  as  manifest: — knew  ye  not  all  this  long  ago 

1  So  Braune,  in  his  admirable  exposition  of  the  Gospels,  which  we 
shall  now  be  glad  often  to  compare  and  cite. 

2  The  divine-human  self-consciousness  under  the  form  of  youthful 
presentiment,  present  from  the  beginning,  not  in  any  wise  superadded 
later.     See  Liebner  Christology  i.  311. 


20  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

concerning  me  ?  And  His  word  contains  an  impressive  refe- 
rence to  the  Past,  in  order  to  point  the  view  to  the  Future ;  an 
explanation  concerning  the  whole  life  of  the  child,  and  its 
development  into  the  youth,  the  young  man,  the  man.1  Not  as 
if  the  mind  of  the  child  had  specifically  conceived  all  which  we 
deduce  from  His  word,  but  He  speaks  prophetically  of  Himself. 
The  Spirit  of  Christ  in  Himself  spreads  its  wings,  and  that  word 
which  spontaneously  gushed  from  the  deepest  source  of  His 
life  in  the  Father,  becomes  to  the  Son  a  holy  text,  which  He, 
too,  may  search  into  yet  more  diligently  (1  Pet.  i.  11).  Yet  is 
it  a  pure  and  genuine  child-word,  the  immediate  and  unstudied 
utterance,  on  the  border  of  childhood,  of  child-like  simplicity ; 
and  thus  it  discloses  the  first  independent  acting  of  Him  who, 
passing  the  limit  of  childhood,  abides  still  in  His  Father's  busi- 
ness. 

And  they  understood  it  not  .-—This  is  recorded  concerning  the 
first  Word  of  the  Word,  and  of  those  who,  as  being  nearest  to 
Himself,  had  every  advantage  for  understanding  it !  They  pon- 
dered the  sacred  mystery,  and  thought  not  that  in  catching  its 
most  obvious  sense,  they  understood  it  in  its  fulness.  Even 
Mary  herself,  like  the  rest,  appears  not  yet  to  understand,  before 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  mystery  of  the  person  of  Jesus— and 
who  is  there  below  that  fully  understands  it  %  Thou,  vain  ex- 
positor, hast  not  the  heart  of  Mary,  probably  nothing  of  the 
Pentecostal  spirit;  and  yet  art  thou  so  ready  to  cry  out — I 
understand  the  words  which  He  has  spoken  ? 

St  Luke's  supplement  in  vers.  51,  52  was  necessary,  in  order 
to  obviate  misunderstanding.  As  soon  as  that  word  of  holy 
Righteousness  was  uttered — The  Son  of  the  Father  is  free ! 
it  was  again  in  a  sense  annulled  or  suspended,  in  order  to  His 
fulfilment  of  all  righteousness  in  obedience.  The  Father's  teach- 
ing was  ever  a  discipline  of  obedience  (Heb.  v.  8)  as  the  Father 
had  inwardly  said  to  Him — Tarry  here !  so  now  He  says,  Go 
down  with  them,  and  be  subject  to  them !  So  that  He  is  not 
from  this  time  forth  placed  in  another  relation  even  to  Joseph, 
for  the  last  time  referred  to  in  the  little  saying  "to  them,"  who  is 

1  Just  for  this  reason  we  cannot  agree  with  Braune  that  any  "  cal- 
ling to  Activity  in  the  kingdom  of  God"  is  here  signified — this  would 
overstep  the  limits  of  childhood. 


luke  ii.  49.  27 

not  "  His  Father,"  and  yet  for  the  sake  of  His  mother  and  of  His 
true  Father,  was  to  be  still  honoured  as  such.  The  mystery 
folds  itself  up  again  in  the  self-denial  of  eighteen  years,  till  the 
time  when  a  new  Word  brings  out  its  other,  mighty  significance  : 
— Thus  it  behoveth  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness  !  till  the  time 
when,  on  the  open  assumption  of  His  Messiahship,  the  mother 
has  become  "Woman,"  having  no  longer  any  authority,  and  His 
"  My  Father"  publicly  resounds  in  His  House,  and  before  His 
people,  no  more  to  cease  till  that  last  Word,  which  coincides 
with  this  first : — Father,  into  thine  hands ! 

And  Jesus  increased — so  that  His  self-consciousness  was  not 
yet  strictly  speaking  perfected  and  fully  developed.  As  in  age, 
so  also  He  increased  through  the  teaching  of  the  Father,  in  wis- 
dom, in  His  obedience  through  the  grace  of  God  which  descended 
upon  His  humanity  before  it  came,  through  Him,  upon  us  all. 
The  bud  now  burst  unfolds  itself  from  within ;  in  the  heart  of 
this  child  there  is  no  foolishness  bound  up  (Prov.  xxii.  15)  ;  no 
folly  in  Israel  or  Nazareth  has  power  to  affect  Him ;  he  advances 
into  all  that  belongs  to  manhood,  but  contracts  from  it  none  of 
its  iniquity  or  sin ;  all  things  are  constrained  to  serve  Him  and 
minister  to  His  wisdom.  The  displeasure  of  God  has  never 
rested  upon  His  Holy  one,  but  the  complacency  of  God,  His 
favour  goes  on  ever  increasing  with  His  increase  in  wisdom, 
until  it  is  consummated  at  His  Baptism.  Even  His  favour  with 
men  increases  likewise,  for  He  forbears  entirely  as  yet  from  tes- 
tifying against  their  folly  and  their  sin ;  and  therefore  the  world 
as  yet  hateth  Him  not.  (Jno.  vii.  7.)  "  Let  us  go  on  in  friend- 
ship together,"  said  they  in  Nazareth.  O,  what  gracious  words 
may  have  issued  from  His  lips  during  those  eighteen  years, 
which  are  not  recorded  !  But  the  words  which,  by  the  Father's 
ordination,  He  was  to  testify  to  the  world,  are  sealed  up  till  His 
hour  was  come.  Then  one  after  another  bursts  forth,  each,  as 
it  were,  a  deeper  stream  from  the  long  pent-up  Fountain  of 
Eternal  Wisdom  and  Truth. 


28  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 


THE  FIRST  WORD  OF  CONSECRATION  TO  HIS  OFFICE. 

(Matt.  iii.  15.) 

The  history  of  our  Lord's  Baptism,  like  that  of  His  Cross,  is 
contained  in  all  the  four  Evangelists  ;  but  the  Word  which  He 
then  uttered  is  preserved  by  St  Matthew  alone,  as  being  strictly 
a  Word  of  Fulfilment,  and  therefore  belonging  especially  to  the 
fundamental  idea  of  the  first  Gospel. 

John  knew  the  Lord  and  yet  knew  Him  not.  He  knew  him 
not,  according  to  his  own  testimony  (J no.  i.  31),  as  the  Messias 
and  the  Son  of  God ;  but  he  knew  Him  as  One,  whose  whole 
life  from  the  beginning  had  silently  cried,  Which  of  you  con- 
vinceth  me  of  sin  f  Since  he  had  been  in  the  deserts,  he  had 
probably  seen  Him  but  little,  yet  often  enough,  as  his  life  could 
not  have  been  altogether  recluse,  to  have  awakened  within  him 
the  presentiment  which  now  deepens  into  conviction.  His  saying 
in  v.  14  proceeded  from  the  Spirit,  who  then  descended  upon  him, 
and  is  not  to  be  explained  on  the  ordinary  principles  of  human 
thought.  It  is  a  word  which  marks  the  transition  at  that  mo- 
ment taking  place  within  him  from  presentiment  to  inward  assur- 
ance. The  question  at  the  same  time  breaks  out  in  it  which 
had  long  lain  deep  in  the  heart  of  the  humble  Baptist, — But  who 
will  baptize  me,  who  am  also  myself  a  sinner  ?  Certainly,  accord- 
ing to  the  ordinance  of  God,  his  office  and  function  extended 
over  all,  whether  they  were  worse  or  better  than  himself,  for  his 
mission  was  to  baptize  with  water ;  and  therefore  he  baptized 
without  hesitation  every  Simeon  or  Nathanael  as  he  came.  But 
here  was  One  greater  than  Nathanael !  John  knew  this  not, 
indeed,  until  He  saw  the  Spirit  descend,  according  to  the  sign 
which  had  been  given  him  ;  yet  his  spirit  goes  out  towards  Him 
with  that  anticipatory  and  presentient  feeling,  which  had  moved 
him  in  his  mother's  womb  towards  the  mother  of  his  Lord.  Jesus 
comes  in  all  the  spiritual  grace  of  gentleness  and  humility  with 
sinners  to  the  baptism  of  repentance ;  as  John  beholds  Him,  he 
sees  shining  through  this  deen  humility  the  high  Majesty  of  the 


MATTHEW  III.  15.  2(J 

Holy  one ;  and  that  he  has  an  inward  token  thereof,  constitutes 
His  own  dignity.  He  has  baptized  many,  has  seen  and  in  some 
sense  seen  through  men  of  all  kinds,  but  no  one  like  this  had  as 
yet  come  before  him.  They  have  all  bowed  down  before  him  : 
— but  before  this  man,  bows  down  in  the  irrepressible  emotion  of 
his  own  most  profound  contrition,  the  sinful  man  in  the  greatest 
Prophet.  It  might  well  have  prompted  him  to  cry:  Art  thou  then 
a  sinner,  a  man  ?  To  that  point  his  question  ventures  not  to  go, 
it  remains  suspended  between  the  thought  of  the  man,  and  the 
superadded  presentiment  of  the  Spirit.1  Enough,  however,  is  clear 
to  be  uttered  thus :  Who  am  I  in  thy  presence,  that  I  in  the 
office  and  ministry  of  Baptism  should  be  placed  over  Thee  ? 

Then  answers  the  Lord  with  equal  grace  and  majesty,  with  as 
much  simplicity  as  fulness  of  meaning,2  by  another  of  His  dis- 
tinctive first  words, — the  first  official  word,  with  which  He  pre- 
pares Himself  for  His  anointing,  and  consecration  to  His  office. 
He  first  of  all  gently  sets  aside  the  prohibition  and  refusal  of 
John,  and  utters  with  dignified  grace  that  single  word,  Suffer  it 
now !  Had  He  said  no  more,  that  would  have  sufficed  to  the 
Baptist,  for  its  plainness  and  dignity  were  such  as  to  silence  all 
further  questioning.  It  at  once  intimated, — I  know  what  I  now 
do ;  I  am  taught  from  above  to  submit  to  baptism,  as  thou  art 
taught  to  baptize.  Now  for  a  time  thou  seemest  to  be  the 
greater,  who  consecrates  the  less — soon,  as  it  is  fit,  will  our  rela- 
tive position  be  reversed  !  Now — it  is  only  a  transitional  rela- 
tion (as  Neander  has  well  observed)  :  Now : — my  hour  is  come, 
is  the  Lord's  thought  for  Himself :  perform  thy  function  upon 
me,  thou  shalt  afterwards  learn  what  I  do,  is  His  meaning  with 
regard  to  John.  This  promise,  indeed,  is  already  and  instanta- 
neously fulfilled,  when,  in  order  to  remove  all  the  scruples  of  this 
upright  man,  and  to  terminate  this  holy  conflict  of  humility 
in  him,   by  the  sublimest  and  most  commanding  humility  in 

1  Presentiment,  not  full  revelation  as  in  Luke  i.  43.  So  far,  there- 
fore, Braune  is  not  quite  correct,  "  As  formerly  the  Mothers,  so  now 
the  Sons  stand  before  each  other."  Many  suppose,  contrary  to  the 
whole  connexion  of  the  text,  that  the  Baptist  spoke  this  after  the 
Baptism  and  Manifestation  !  !  (' Acfurjaiv  Hieron.  dimisit,  which  Sepp 
ridiculously  maintains  against  Luther's  false  translation.) 

2  Certainly  with  no  such  "  arbitrariness,  departing  from  simplicity 
and  intended  for  reproof  "  as  Schleiermacher  finds  here. 


30  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

Himself,  He  proceeds  to  testify  :—for  thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil 
all  righteousness. 

First  of  all,  we  cannot  but  be  profoundly  impressed  by  the 
lofty  contrast  between  this  avowal  of  righteousness  and  the  con- 
fession of  sin  of  all  the  others,  who  came  to  be  baptized,  ver.  6. 
And  it  is  strange  that  Theologians  in  their  search  for  testimonies 
of  the  sinlessness  of  Jesus,  do  not  find  here  the  first  and  most 
luminous  dictum  probans  from  His  own  mouth.  This  was  to 
John  the  decisive  declaration,  which  set  him  perfectly  at  rest : — 
Thy  presentiment  was  true,  in  a  deeper  sense  than  thou  canst 
now  comprehend,  lam  He  who  knoweth  no  sin,  but  for  that  very 
reason  come  I  in  the  likeness  of  sinners  to  this  Baptism.  And 
it  is  to  all  the  world,  that  shall  receive  this  word,  an  all-inclusive 
testimony  of  the  Lord,  concerning  His  own  office  and  ministry  as 
the  restorer  of  righteousness  to  sinful  men. 

To  fulfil  all  righteousness : — this  has  a  large  and  lofty  sound 
in  the  lips  of  a  man,  of  an  Israelite,  who  will  speak  the  truth. 
And  it  shall  be  our  righteousness,  if  we  observe  to  do  all  these 
commandments  before  the  Lord  our  God,  as  he  hath  commanded 
us.  (Deut.  vi.  25.)  Because  no  man  ever  in  Israel  could  say 
that  on  account  of  sin  which  yields  not  to  the  commandment, 
thei  afore  is  the  Baptism  of  repentance  for  the  remission  of  sins 
at  the  end  of  the  economy  of  the  law.  He  who  now  comes  to 
this  Baptism,  is  not  a  sinner,  but  a  righteous  man  who  neither 
needs  repentance  nor  pardon.  It  is  He  who  for  us  fulfils  all 
righteousness,  who,  born  of  a  woman  and  made  under  the  law 
which  was  given  to  the  unrighteous,  has  already  hitherto 
observed  and  performed  all  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  to 
Israel ; — and  for  that  very  reason  now  subjects  Himself  also  to 
that  Baptism  which  was  ordained  of  God  as  the  concluding 
commandment  of  the  Old  covenant,  through  which  is  the  transi- 
tion to  the  New.  He  received  circumcision,  though  born  with- 
out the  foreskin  of  the  heart ;  He  was  redeemed  as  the  First-born, 
though  Himself  the  Kedeemer;  in  all  probability  He  offered 
every  sacrifice  which  was  required  of  an  Israelite  (as  we  see  in 
one  instance,  at  least, — that  of  the  Passover),  though  Himself 
the  Propitiatory  and  Paschal  Lamb,  the  archetype  and  substance 
of  all  these  shadows  ;  He  visited  the  Temple  and  the  Synagogue, 
He  humbly  submitted  to  every  custom  and  ordinance  in  Israel, 


MATTHEW  III.  15.  31 

and  even,  when  no  sin  attached  to  them,  to  those  which  were 
not  ordained  of  God ;  so  likewise  must  He  be  baptized  "  into  the 
coming  Messiah "  which  is  nevertheless  Himself,  just  as  He  is 
the  Prophet  to  prepare  His  own  way.  In  this  now,  therefore, 
there  is  a  terminating  point,  not  yet  absolutely  the  last,  but  cer- 
tainly a  typical  and  preliminary  terminating  pom  of  His 
obedience  to  the  Law.  In  this  Baptism,  inasmuch  as  it  was  the 
last  external  commandment  of  God  to  Israel,  all  righteousness 
was  fulfilled  by  Him. 

The  Lord  might  now  have  said  again,  as  He  said  before — I 
must — for  the  same  innate  necessity,  in  the  obedience  of  the 
Father,  prompted  Him  now ;  it  belonged  to  the  same  unity  of 
His  whole  life.  Because,  however,  the  question  is  now  especially 
concerning  an  external  transaction,  and  because  He  would 
obviate  the  scruple  of  John  as  to  the  Propriety,  the  Fitness,  the 
Becomingness  of  that  which  wras  about  to  take  place ;  He  adopts 
this  expression,  It  becometh  us  by  all  means !  This  embraces, 
besides  the  obvious  reply  to  the  plain  question,  a  concealed  testi- 
mony to  the  final  principle  of  the  whole  course  of  His  self- 
renunciation  and  self-substitution  in  the  likeness  of  sinners.  For 
all  the  first  words  of  our  Lord,  especially,  have  so  profound  a 
background  of  meaning.  The  irpkirov  is  not  simply  used  as  it 
stands,  Eph.  v.  3,  1  Tim.  ii.  10,  in  the  New  Testament,  but  in 
the  full  and  sublime  sense  of  Heb.  ii.  10,  vii.  26.  It  seemed  fit 
to  the  righteous  Father,  that  the  Son  in  the  sinner's  stead  should 
in  a  human  obedience  bring  back  their  righteousness  :  within 
this  boundary  of  thought  did  the  Son  Himself  in  His  humanity 
ever  reverently  confine  Himself,  beyond  it  he  knew  and  testified 
nothing.  Thus  it  was  also  here,  when  the  Baptist,  who  might 
not  Himself  become  His  disciple,  but  only  send  disciples  to  Him, 
was  counted  worthy  to  receive  an  early  testimony  of  the  mystery 
of  His  atonement  which  he  then  afterwards  repeats — Jno.  i.  29. 
The  Preacher  of  repentance  unto  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  ex- 
pected, indeed,  no  earthly  Jewish  Messiah  .  he  understood  as 
Zachariah's  son  and  the  pupil  of  the  Spirit  in  the  wilderness, 
whatever  might  be  understood  by  any  Israelite,  from  the  word  of 
Prophecy  concerning  Him  who  was  to  come :  but  here  at  the 
very  first  does  the  Lord  openly  announce  to  him : — Placing 


32  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

myself  in  the  likeness  of  sinners,  talcing  their  sins  upon  me,  1 
shall  and  will  fulfil  righteousness  for  them.  So  might  He  have 
given  back  the  Baptist's  word  literally  : — I  have  need  (%peiav 
€%o))  to  be  baptized  of  thee,  I  must  be  baptized  with  the  baptism 
which  is  prepared  for  me  (Lu.  xii.,  50).  And  so  would  He  have 
spoken,  if  He  had  wished  to  speak  of  Himself  alone  :  but  He  says 
not  now :  thus  it  becometh  me — but  us. 

But  how  can  He  say  this,  and  what  does  He  mean  f  we  ask, 
and  all  the  more  earnestly  because  we  have  seen  that  the  pro- 
foundest  significance  of  this  saying  concerns  Himself  alone. 
The  most  obvious  answer  is  that  He  thus  replies  to  the  separa- 
tion between  them  which  the  humble  scruple  had  expressed — 1 
of  Tliee,  Thou  to  me  !  He  designs  noiv,  first  of  ail,  to  induce  the 
Doubter  not  merely  to  suffer  Him  to  go  down  into  the  Jordan, 
but  also  to  fulfil  the  external  function  of  His  office  upon  Him, 
and  baptize  Him,  even  as  others.  Thus  it  has  this  meaning  as 
it  regards  John  : — who  art  thou  then  I  The  Preparer  of  the 
wray,  the  Forerunner.  Now  I  am  He  that  cometh  after  thee  ; 
thy  presentiment  is  right ;  we  appertain  to  one  another,  each  in 
his  office  and  ministry.  In  baptizing  me,  thou  fulfillest  all 
righteousness  and  closest  thine  office  :  to  be  baptized  of  thee,  is 
my  righteousness,  and  belongs  to  my  ministry  and  the  design  of 
my  life.  What  majesty  in  this  word,  which  immediately  silences 
all  scruple  :  and,  at  the  same  time,  what  a  marvellous  emulation 
of  humility  between  the  Lord  and  His  servant ;  just  as  after- 
wards in  the  eleventh  chapter,  where  the  Lord  who  was  to  come, 
places  His  servant  by  his  side  as  one  who  was  also  come,  and  of 
whom  the  Scripture  had  also  spoken  ! 

But  even  this  does  not  yet  exhaust  the  meaning  of  this  great 
Word.  The  baptism  of  which  it  speaks,  is  only  in  an  external 
and  typical  sense  the  concluding  point  of  Obedience  for  the  Ful- 
filler  of  all  Righteousness  :  it  is  truly  and  essentially  the  true 
beginning-point  of  that  Obedience,  the  consummation  of  which, 
in  the  death  of  the  Cross  in  order  to  the  Resurrection,  it  pre- 
typifies.  The  Lord  does  not  say — herein,  hereby  it  is  incumbent 
upon  me  finally  to  accomplish  all  righteousness — but  thus ! 
That  is  an  expression  of  comparison,  which  points  forward  to  the 
thing  compared.     This  Baptism  to  which  the  Mature  man  comes, 


MATTHEW  III.  15.  33 

who  till  now  has  loved  righteousness  and  hated  iniquity,  is  His 
anointing  to  that  Sacrifice  of  Himself  for  sinners  which  now  first 
properly  begins.  Ps.  xlv.  7.  As  in  this  baptism  by  prophetic 
figure  the  Righteous  One  places  Himself  among  sinners,  so  was 
He  afterwards  baptized  with  the  Baptism  of  death,  in  which  He 
as  the  Lamb  of  God  bore  our  guilt ;  which  was  not  to  Him  the 
wages  of  sin,  but  the  highest  meritorious  righteousness  for  us  all. 
As  now  the  Father  confirms  His  righteousness  by  a  voice  from 
heaven,  so  then  in  the  Kesurrection  the  Father  justifies  Him  as 
His  Son  again.  Rom.  i.  4  ;  Acts  xiii.  33.  It  follows  further, 
that  as  now  the  Spirit  descends  upon  Him,  so  then  also  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit  for  us  all ;  that  Baptism  with  the  Spirit  to 
which  J  ohn  alluded,  without  obtaining  it  below,  and  concerning 
which  he  unconsciously  spake  when  he  said  : — I  have  need  to  be 
baptized  of  Thee.  All  this  our  Lord  clearly  saw  when  He  came 
to  the  Jordan ;  and  as  He  finally  spoke  of  His  sufferings  as  a 
Baptism,  so  does  He  now  already  contemplate  in  Baptism  His 
sufferings.  For  now  His  wisdom  is  perfect,  and  He  no  more 
needs  to  increase  in  it.  In  that  last  word  of  His  childhood  the 
beginning  of  His  consciousness  concerning  His  own  person 
broke  forth ;  when  this  was  grown  perfect  and  finally  sealed, 
this  decisive  word  of  his  manhood  utters  His  full  consciousness 
concerning  His  Work.  This  honour  is  reserved  for  Him,  to 
testify  of  Himself,  before  the  sign  from  heaven  seals  His  testi- 
mony. He  presents  Himself,  saying — Behold  I  come,  to  do  Thy 
will ;  before  the  Father's  response — This  is  my  beloved  Son ! 
This  acceptance  and  obligation  is  to  Him  what  the  confession  of 
sin  is  to  the  sinner.  Therein  our  sins  are  confessed  as  done 
away  in  His  righteousness,  and  the  future  baptism  for  the  true 
forgiveness  of  sins,  which  should  be  ours  by  virtue  of  His  Baptism, 
is  fore-announced. 

And  because,  finally,  the  Baptism  which  He  thus  prepares  for 
us,  finds  its  consummation  only  in  the  essential,  actual  fellow- 
ship of  His  death  and  resurrection ;  we  remark,  that  the  "us" 
in  which  He  includes  Himself  in  His  humble  condescension 
before  John,  means  in  its  deepest  signification,  us  all.  He  utters 
it  as  the  Son  of  Man  in  the  name  of  humanity,  as  the  Forerunner 
in  the  name  of  His  own,  with  whom  He  here,  at  the  very  be- 
ginning contemplating  the  uttermost  end,  most  entirely  unites 
3 


34  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

Himself.1  He  indeed  is,  pre-eminently,  the  Fulfiller ;  but  all  who 
become  participators  of  His  Kighteousness,  fulfil  in  Him  and 
through  Him  the  same  righteousness  and  in  the  same  way.  Thus 
it  becometh  us  to  become  like  Him,  as  it  became  Him  in  our  like- 
ness to  overcome  sin,  and  render  obedience.  This  will  immediately 
become  manifest  in  the  wilderness  of  Temptation,  where  the  Son 
of  God  not  as  the  Son  for  Himself,  but  as  Man,  as  the  Second 
Adam  and  the  True  Israel,  spoils,  by  faith  in  the  Word,  the  power 
of  Satan. 


THE  FIRST  WORDS  OF  VICTORY  OVER  THE  TEMPTER. 

(Matt.  iv.  4,  7,  10 ;  Lu.  iv.  4,  8,  12.) 

These  three  words  are,  in  their  ascending  connexion,  to  be 
reckoned  as  one ;  and,  indeed,  as  a  third  First  Word,  approaching 
still  nearer  to  the  goal  of  His  being,  and  drawn  from  the  yet 
deeper  depth  of  the  mystery  of  God  the  Father  and  His  Son. 
As  the  Son's  first  word  of  all  concerning  the  Father,  Lu.  ii.  49, 
embraced  the  whole  inner  life  of  His  own  most  essential  person- 
ality; and  the  second  concerning  His  Eighteousness,  Matt.  iii. 
15,  the  entire  work  of  His  active  and  passive  obedience  for  us; 
so  now  the  fulfilment  of  all  righteousness  in  its  three  great 
branches,  is  maintained  and  asserted  against  the  Tempter  to 
unrighteousness.  His  Obedience  approves  itself  in  the  renun- 
ciation of  all  Enjoyment,  of  all  Honour,  of  all  Possession  in 
opposition  to  the  Prince  of  this  world  :  thus  does  He  overcome 
him  in  the  abasement  of  faith,  to  which  he  had  descended  from 
His  Divine  Power ;  and  leads  human  nature  back  to  God  again, 
through  the  selfsame  way,  by  which  it  had  fallen  from  Him. 
Concerning  the  Temptation  of  Christ  in  itself,  its  innermost 
ground  in  the  Father's  holy  justice,  its  redeeming  might  and 
typical  signification  for  us,  and  especially  the  Satanic  unity  of 
design  in  the  three  temptations  of  the  wilderness  ;  we  shall 

i  u He  desired  and  received  baptism  in  the  name  of  the  people" 
says  Nitzsch  (Prac.  Theol.  i.  167)  but  too  concisely.  Mark,  moreover, 
what  is  said  there  with  perfect  truth,  that  He  who  comes  with  Water 
and  the  Word  of  the  Prophet  to  fulfil  all  the  types  must  also  come 
with  Bloody  then  finally  and  fully  with  Spirit 


MATTHEW  IV.  4,  7,  10.  35 

enter  into  no  detailed  description  here.  It  is  our  purpose  only  to 
expound  the  words  of  Jesus,  and  to  point  particular  attention  to 
that  which  is  unfolded  in  them. 

But  the  words  of  Jesus  on  this  occasion  are  not  new,  and 
distinctively  His  own ;  they  are  God's  words  long  ago  uttered, 
and  taken  from  the  ancient  Scriptures,  which  he  as  the  Fulfiller 
appropriates  to  Himself.  This  is,  at  the  outset,  of  great  significance. 
The  child  had  grown  and  become  strong  in  Spirit,  had  increased 
in  wisdom;  the  man,  arrived  at  the  mature  priestly  age,  and 
anointed  for  the  Inauguration  of  His  office,  is  now  full  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  Lu.  iv.  1.  But  as  afterwards  the  first  word  of  the 
Spirit  at  the  Pentecost  was  a  proclamation  of  what  had  been 
said  by  the  Prophet  Joel,  so  here  the  First  Words  of  the  Lord 
spoken  from  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit  are  only  quotations  from  the 
Holy  Scripture  !  He  has  now  learned  them  entirely,  He  is  a 
Master  in  the  use  of  them,  and  will  prove  Himself  such  first  of 
all,  against  the  enemy,  whom  the  Word  of  truth,  which  he  has 
perverted  into  a  lie,  must  again  beat  down.  What  virtue  and 
dignity  in  the  holy  letter,  which,  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
now  becomes  only  Life  and  Truth !  Christ  makes  his  appeal, 
when  that  old  "  yea  hath  God  said"  is  brought  against  Him,  not 
to  the  heavenly  voice  which  He  had  just  heard,  but  to  the  Word 
of  God,  written  in  the  book  of  Moses.  The  living  Eternal  Word 
Himself  vests  Himself  in  the  written  word,  which  in  its  deepest 
foundation  is  written  by  Him  and  for  Him.  Let  men  think 
upon  this!  Let  this  be  remembered  by  that  theology,  which 
refuses  to  accept,  even  from  the  consciousness  of  Christ,  the 
entire  and  full  authority  of  that  which  was  Holy  Scripture  to 
Him, 

But  He  does  not  confront  Satan  with  any  one  of  those  many 
and  clear  words  of  prophecy  which  are  written  concerning  the 
future  bruiser  of  the  Serpent's  head.  Satan  well  knows  these, 
but  does  not  understand  the  mystery  hitherto  folded  up  in  them, 
the  human  abasement  and  self-renunciation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
which  is  indeed  the  central  mystery  of  all  Scripture,  and  the 
essential  secret  of  His  victory  over  the  enemy.  That  enemy 
must  first  perceive  this  in  its  fulfilment.  Here  in  the  wilder- 
ness for  the  first  time,  he  earnestly  scrutinises  it,  at  once  doubting 


BO 


THE  FIEST  WORDS. 


and  trembling ;  but  does  not  thoroughly  penetrate  it,  for  he  comes 
again  at  the  Cross  with  his  temptations,  and  once  more  foolishly 
brings  forward  his  already  repelled  "art  thou  the  Son  of  God, 
then  save  thyself!"  The  Lord  does  not  permit  Himself  to  meet 
him  with  an  express— lam  He :  He  was  indeed,  and  would  thus 
have  shown  Himself  Satan's  Lord,  but  would  not  then  have  been 
his  conqueror  for  us.  The  first  word  which  He  opposes  to  him, 
says  rather— man  !  It  is  taken,  as  is  also  the  second,  from  the 
temptation  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness,  for  Israel  is  a  type  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  the  Servant  of  God  for  righteousness,  that  One  to 
come,  in  whom  alone  that  nature  is  consummated  into  perfect 
righteousness,  which  in  all  men  else  is  ever  sinking  into  deeper 
sin.  Adam  stood  not,— Israel  after  the  flesh  stood  not,  when  the 
Lord^His  God  tempted  him,  but  rather  like  Satan  tempted 
His  God  :  but  now  comes  the  second  Adam,  God's  true  Servant 
Israel,  through  whose  obedience  the  way  of  life  is  made  known, 
and  actually  thrown  open— that  man  truly  lives  by  the  power 
and  in  the  strength  of  the  Eternal  Word. 

As  Eve  in  the  beginning  rightly  opposed  the  tempter  with 
God  had  said!  but  alas,  did  not  persist  therein— even  so  now  the 
Lord,  but  He  holds  firm.      Satan  knows  well  the  word  of  God, 
and  must  admit  its  force ;  when  in  full  faith  and  entire  obedience 
it  is  used  in  answer  against  him,  the  might  of  his  lying  delusion 
is  broken.     Satan  will  challenge  the  wonderful  power  of  God  in 
nature— and  His  Son,  if  He  be  truly  such,  should  make  stones 
out  of  bread  :  but  this  is  not  the  power  which  drives  him  out  of 
that  human  nature,  in  which  he  now  sees  with  doubting  astonish- 
ment the  eternal  Son  standing  before  him.      That  at  least  the 
bold  challenger  knew  full  well,  and  He  knew  it  still  better,  who 
was  come  to  be  victor  in  this  fight.      Christ  answered  and  said, 
placing  Himself  as  man  in  the  obedience  of  faith.      Thus  and 
not  otherwise  does  God  reply  to  the  Devil,  and  indeed  through 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  man.      He  Himself  hi 
His  humility— submitting  to  be  tempted  in  order  to  conquer— 
is  that  living  answer  of  God  to  Satan,  which  in  holy  right  resists 
and  casts  out  Satan's  right  to  humanity.     Satan  must  now  learn 
this,  and  has  not  finished  learning  it  yet ;  for  he  has  not  even 
yet  betaken  himself  to  his  darkness  again,  but  continues,  and 


MATTHEW  IV.  4,  7,  10.  37 

will  continue  to  tempt  the  members  of  the  Head  with  the  same 
temptation,  until  he  shall  also  in  them  all  be  overcome  and  con- 
demned. 

The  first  temptation,  which  through  our  earthly  body  is  most 
obvious  to  universal  human  nature,  is  that  of  seeking  the  enjoy- 
ment and  nourishment  of  life  against  the  will  of  God  and  indepen- 
dently of  His  gift;  to  make  for  ourselves  our  bread  in  the  misuse 
of  God's  power,  entrusted  to  us  over  the  lower  nature  and  the 
creature.  Our  own  age  exhibits  the  development  of  this  in 
those  mimic  miracles  which  seek  the  world's  dominion  by  the 
industry  which  conquers  nature.  Adam  entering  into  this  temp- 
tation, would  eat  as  the  Son  of  God,  that  of  which  God  has  said 
— thou  shall  not  eat  of  it.  That  was  the  case  in  paradise,  even 
without  hunger,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  enjoyment  of  all  the 
fruits  of  the  garden  of  Eden  which  were  not  forbidden  and  in 
that  first  fall  every  other  was  wrapped  up.  It  was  exhibited 
again,  especially,  when  Israel  cried  in  the  wilderness  :  if  we  are 
God's  people,  why  have  we  not  bread  and  flesh  at  His  hands 
according  to  our  desire  1  Then  did  God  humble  His  son  Israel, 
and  suffered  him  to  hunger,  to  show  him  what  was  in  his  heart. 
The  true  salvation  from  this  unbelief  could  not  yet  then  appear,  it 
was  only  typically  made  known  to  the  unbelievers,  that  man  doth 
not  live  by  the  creaturely  bread,  but  by  the  word  of  God.  Here 
in  Christ,  who  abundantly  makes  good  what  fallen  man  has 
turned  to  evil ;  who  in  voluntary  abnegation  fasts,  in  entire  obe- 
dience hungers,  and  thus  is  released  from  the  creature,  in  which 
Adam  is  sinfully  held  captive  ;  here  in  Christ  does  that  ancient 
word,  written  concerning  manna,  find  its  new  and  complete  sig- 
nificance— that  for  the  sake  of  which  it  was  before  provided  in 
the  Holy  Scripture. 

Man  doth  not  live  by  bread  only,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth 
out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  doth  man  live.  Continually,  and 
in  a  thousand  ways,  has  the  Spirit  since  then  used  and  applied 
these  words  among  the  children  of  God,  and  every  interpretation 
which  the  Spirit  truly  puts  upon  it,  is  included  in  its  meaning. 
For  this  He  caused  it  to  be  written  in  the  prophecy  of  Moses, 
and  then  to  be  used  in  reply  to  the  Arch-Liar  by  the  lips  of  the 
Fulfiller.  We  seek  now  only  to  indicate  briefly  the  leading  prin- 
ciples of  its  interpretation. 


38 


THE  FIRST  WORDS. 


Bread  is  in  its  general  acceptation  the  food  of  man's  life, 
regularly  appointed  for  him  as  the  creaturely  instrument  of  the 
Divine  word    of  creation  and  preservation  :-— thou   shalt   live 
thereof.     (The  Book  of  Wisdom  (xvi.  26)  says  instead,— it  is  not 
the  growing  of  fruits  that  nourisheth  man).     Gen.  i.  29,  iii.  19  j 
Ps.  civ.  14.     To  this  stands  opposed  rTJHpD  fofterb  that  is,' 
most  obviously,  as  was  demonstrated  in  the  case  of  Israel  in  the 
wilderness,  any  particular  word  of  commandment  or  will  issuing 
from  the  power  of  the  Creator  and  Preserver,  which  become^ 
what  man  may  live  upon  ;— any  kind  of  food  given  independently 
of  the  established  order  of  things,  as  was  the  miraculous  manna. 
But  such  manna  itself,  again,  is  only  a  veil  of  God's  power ;  a 
pledge  and  symbol  which  is  condescendingly  reached  forth  to 
weak  faith,  in  order  that  there  may  be  something  in  man's  mouth. 
Wherefore  does  God  work  miracles,  and  not  leave  man  only  and 
entirely  to  live  upon  ordinary  bread,  but  thus  oftentimes  create  a 
new  thing  for  him  ?  That  He  may  make  man  know  that  even  in 
the  ordinary  and  natural  course  it  is  by  no  means  nature  and  the 
creature  which  have  and  give  the  life,  but  Himself  alone.     Even 
in  bread  man  lives  not  by  bread  only,  for  is  not  the  life  more 
than  meat  f      Is  not  the  Word,  the  Will,  the  Power  of  God  in 
everything;  so  that  we  do  not  inhale  our  very  breath  from  the 
air,  but  from  the  breath  of  God  ?       Word  stands  not  as  such  in 
the  Hebrew  text,  but  is  taken  here  from  the  old  exegetical  trans- 
lation.     What  is  the  rfirT^D  H2to  of  which  Moses  wrote? 
The  breath  of  the  creating  effluence  from  the  eternal  Power  and 
Godhead,  the  Spirit,  in  and  of  whom  all  life,  even  bodily  life 
consists,  Num.  xvi.  22  ;  Ps.  civ.  29,  30.    But  the  Spirit  goes  out 
indeed  only  in  one  prepared  form,  and  that  form  is  the  Word. 
In  the  deepest  meaning  of  the  essential  and  only  truth,  which 
ever  contradicts  the  lie  of  Satan,  all  Things  in  the  world,  after 
their  kind,  are  only  variously  embodied  words  of  the  Creator, 
inasmuch  as  by  His  mighty  word  alone  they  are  upheld  in  being! 
(Hence   ^  and  prjfza  in  the   Scripture  signify  also  thing.) 
"  God  does  not  speak  grammatical  vocables,  but  true  essential 
things.     Thus  sun  and  moon,  heaven  and  earth,  Peter  and  Paul, 
Thou  and  I,  are  nothing  but  words  of  God  "  (Luther).     Thus  the 
creature  lives  not  by  any  other  creature,  any  more  than  it  lives 


MATTHEW  IV.  4,   7,  10.  39 

of  itself,  but  because,  and  how  and  whereof  God  will.  There- 
fore the  first  meaning  of  the  saying  of  Jesus  here — obvious  in 
its  profoundness — is :  u  I  commit  the  sustentation  of  my  life 
entirely  into  the  hands  of  God."  Moses  in  the  presence  of  the 
Lord  needed  neither  bread  nor  water  for  forty  days  (Ex.  xxxiv. 
28).  The  man  Jesus  died  not  in  forty  days'  fast ;  but  then  only 
at  length,  when  the  strength  of  the  Spirit  returned  to  Him  that 
there  might  be  place  for  temptation,  felt  He  hunger. 

But  we  penetrate  deeper  with  the  question,  which  is  not 
always  one  of  simple  unbelief — how  may  this  be  ?  and  how  is 
this  to  be  understood  1  Then  may  we  reasonably  ask — what  is 
Man  ?  Not  the  body  with  its  earthly,  animal  soul,  but  the  true 
and  proper  man,  that  is,  the  living  spirit  which  came  forth  from 
God,  which  only  lives  in  and  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  con- 
tinually goes  forth  as  Word  for  the  preservation  of  the  creature. 
Even  as  the  body — the  abiding  product  of  its  soul — only  subsists 
through  a  continual  formative  impulse  of  corporeity,  so  do  the 
body  and  soul  of  man,  as  of  a  living  soul  in  the  moulded  dust  of 
the  earth,  subsist  only  by  the  Spirit.  The  outer  man  lives  by 
the  inner,  as  this  again  by  the  Word  of  God.  Shouldst  thou 
say — by  bread  !  and  determine  in  any  case  to  have  it,  and  in  thy 
hunger  to  procure  it  for  thyself,  even  at  the  cost  of  disobedience 
— any  way  thou  canst  or  the  Tempter  places  it  at  thy  hand — 
then  art  thou  captive  in  that  idolatry  and  delusion,  which  serves 
the  creature  with  and  instead  of  the  Creator  (Rom.  i.  25).  Then 
art  thou  in  the  way  to  worship  the  Arch-Liar,  who  promises 
to  give  that  of  which  God  ever  continues  the  sole  giver  and 
Lord. 

Think  not,  too,  that  thou  livest  at  all  as  man,  that  is,  according 
to  thy  pure  creation  as  a  Son  of  God,  in  His  image,  if  thou  art 
finding  a  so-called  life  of  thine  own  hand  in  the  greatness  of  thy 
way  (Isa.  lvii.  10).  For  thou  art  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins, 
although  the  bread  and  the  pleasures  of  the  world  should  plenti- 
fully abound  to  thee.  Here  belongs,  further,  that  most  true  sense 
of  this  sacred  saying,  according  to  which  it  is  preached  to  those 
who  only  labour  for  the  perishable  bread  of  this  world,  and  seek 
not  the  everlasting  bread  of  God.  But  this  leads  us  further  and 
further ;  and  "  not  alone  "  vindicates  again  the  true  life  of  man 
in  God,  against  such  as  in  their  error  cleave  to  any  institution  of 


40  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

the  means  of  life,  as  if  it  was  not  God  alone  in  them  that  gave 
them  efficacy.  As  a  general  rule  the  word  of  God,  externally 
written  and  preached,  is  given  for  the  food  of  the  inner  man ; 
but  inasmuch  as  the  living  word  of  God  in  the  word,  is  the  true 
word,  thou  mayest,  if  it  be  His  will,  without  Scripture  and 
preaching,  live  by  His  Spirit;  without  intercourse  with  brethren, 
be  connected  with  the  Church  ;  even  without  the  physical  bread 
of  the  sacrament,  receive  nevertheless  the  heavenly  bread. 
Every  manna  given  by  God  in  the  creaturely  form,  is  a  witness 
that  points  beyond  itself  to  the  immediate  outgoing  of  God's 
life  for  the  life  of  man,  out  of  God's  mouth  into  the  believing 
mouth  of  man. 

So  does  the  letter  of  the  written  word  testify  here  in  the 
believing  mouth  of  Christ,  to  its  own  most  essential  Spirit.  And 
the  Lord,  at  the  same  time  that  He  avows  himself  to  be  man  in 
the  life  of  God,  gives  to  Satan  the  true  and  mysterious  answer  as 
to  who  Himself  is,  and  that  is  the  last  and  profoundest  sense  which 
makes  the  old  word  His  own,  and  transforms  it  into  a  new  word, 
now  fully  for  the  first  time  exhibited  in  its  truth.  Christ,  verily, 
is  the  Original  Man,  recovered  from  the  fall,  Adam  and  the  Son 
of  God  in  one.  The  Son  of  God  gave  Himself  to  human  nature, 
and  incorporated  Himself  with  it ;  Satan's  temptation  would,  for 
he  now  first  half  understands  this,  detach  Him  from  it  again, 
and  thereby  destroy  His  mediatorial  nature  through  something, 
that  for  it  would  have  the  nature  of  sin.  Art  thou,  poor  hungry 
child  of  man,  the  Son  of  God  !  Then  use  thy  might !  But  He 
has  wrapped  up  His  might  in  entire  self-renunciation,  in  order  to 
overcome  the  enemy,  and  thus  does  He  overcome  him  in  simple 
human  faith.  He  is  Himself  the  bread  come  down  from  heaven 
to  give  unto  the  world  everlasting  life,  and  shall  He  make  for 
Himself  bread  out  of  stones  for  His  own  proper  life  ?  Against 
the  Tempter's  challenge— art  Thou— Re  only  binds  Himself 
more  firmly  to  us  all :  I  am  man,  I  am  humanity,  I  am  man- 
kind !  (Just  as  that  us  is  used  in  Matt.  iii.  15).  There  is,  indeed, 
a  twofold  nature  in  humanity,  the  earthly  Adam  and  that  which 
came  forth  from  God  in  him  ;  but  both  in  their  inseparable  unity 
constitute  the  proper  man,  and  as  such  he  is  re-established  in  Christ, 
the  God-man.  That  in  Him  Adam  lives  entirely  by  the  Logos — 
is  the  last  and  super-abounding  f ulfilment  of  the  meaning  of  this 


MATTHEW  IV.  4,  7,  10.  41 

word,  which  thus  goes  far  beyond  its  application  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  poor  fallen  man. 

Satan  has  not  yet  fully  apprehended  what  was  said  to  him :  for 
it  penetrates  too  deeply  into  that  eternal  original  truth,  from 
which  he  is  fallen,  and  which  he  no  longer  desires  to  understand : 
yet  he  is  not  repelled,  but  rather  stimulated  to  a  renewed  and 
more  earnest  attack.  The  Tempter  comes  again — for  this  is  his 
manner,  and  the  second  temptation  proceeds  very  much  like  the 
former.  The  Deceiver  had  taken  his  position  upon  a  word  of 
God  (thou  art  my  beloved  Son  !)  though  only  to  pervert  it  as 
the  deducer  of  false  consequences  ; — he  still  persists  in  this 
method.  Holdest  thou  so  firmly  to  that  which  is  written  ?  Then 
I  know  yet  another  word,  which  will  suit  thee  well.  Dost  thou 
expect,  strong  in  thy  faith,  the  miraculous  help  of  thy  God,  even 
as  only  man  I  Then,  instead  of  waiting  and  hungering  here  in 
the  wilderness — for  thou  art,  nevertheless,  the  Son  of  God,  and  to 
that  I  hold — wilt  thou  not  spring  down  from  the  pinnacle  of  the 
temple  among  the  people,  as  if  Thou  earnest  down  from  heaven, 
and  thus  announce  thyself  with  becoming  dignity  ?  Thus  both 
the  half-mocking  audacity,  and  the  impious  enticing  cunning  of 
the  Tempter  became  more  intense.  He  knows  the  letter  of  scrip- 
ture, and  may  also  use  it  for  temptation,  just  as  he  has  free  access 
to  the  holy  city  and  the  temple.  He  takes  his  word  from  that 
psalm  of  faith's  offence  and  defence  against  His  own  hellish 
might  (Ps.  xci.  5,  6,  13),  which  may  have  already  in  times  past 
done  him  much  injury;  and  designs  in  his  malice  and  presump- 
tion to  turn  that  well-known  promise  of  angel-protection  for  mor- 
tal man,  to  the  destruction  of  this  wonderful  Son  of  Man,  who  in 
this  conflict  will  assume  to  be  nothing  more.  But  the  Lord 
answers  him,  in  words  which  are  for  ever  the  true  defence  and 
reply  to  every  one-sided  perversion  of  a  saying  of  Scripture : — it 
is  written  again  !  This  irakiv  means  not  contra,  for  no  one  word 
of  the  Bible  contradicts  any  other :  but  it  simply  signifies  that 
one  Scripture  teaches  us  how  to  understand  and  use  another. 
We  are  only  fully  armed  against  the  cunning  of  Satan,  who 
presses  upon  us  with  isolated  and  wrested  sentences  of  the  Bible, 
when  we  are  thoroughly  grounded  in  a  clear  perception  of  the 
inner  unity  of  the  whole  Scripture,  which  supplements  itself  and 
explains  its  own  meaning.     Our  Forerunner  teaches  us  here  to 


42  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

use  the  word  as  our  weapon  in  our  own  succeeding  warfare,  and 
teaches  us  especially  to  lay  hold  upon  this — again  it  is  written  ! 
Moreover,  Satan's  perversion  consisted  not  in  this,  that  he  would 
have  the  figurative  expression  taken  literally,  for  that  is  here 
actually  permitted  to  faith  in  God's  word,  and  Jesus  acknow- 
ledges without  contradiction  this  interpretation ;  hut  the  again 
instructs  us  in  the  qualification  which  averts  its  abuse. 

Jesus  continues  near  to  his  first  quotation.  The  Lord  proved 
in  the  wilderness  His  people  Israel  (Deut.  viii.  2),  whether  they 
would  tempt  Him  or  not,  and  alas !  Israel  many  times  tempted 
his  God,  so  that  afterwards  in  warning  reference  to  the  Past,  it 
was  said  to  him  by  Moses — ye  shall  not  tempt  the  Lord  your  God 
(Deut.  vi.  16).  Wherein  consists  the  tempting  of  God  on  the 
part  of  man  I  It  is  the  complete  opposite  of  the  seeking  in  faith, 
of  the  waiting  upon  God  in  the  obedience  and  confidence  of 
trust,  a  self-willed  demand  of  the  mighty  help  of  God ;  and,  con- 
sequently, unbelief,  disobedience,  and  distrust  are  its  innermost 
principles.  Thus  did  the  children  of  Israel  demand  flesh  for  their 
souls  (that  is,  according  to  their  own  lusts)  and  said :  can  God 
furnish  a  table  in  the  wilderness  ?  So  limited  they  the  Holy  One 
of  Israel  (Ps.  lxxviii.  18,  19,  41),  and  put  Him  arrogantly  to  the 
test : — so  now,  if  He  does  this  according  to  our  will,  it  shall 
be  well.  The  manna  was  before  their  eyes,  and  further  sup- 
plies might  come  from  the  word  and  command  of  God :  but 
they  anticipated,  by  the  word  of  their  own  self-will,  the  Word 
of  God  upon  which  they  should  wait ;  and  this  is  tempting  God. 
This  would  the  Lord  have  done  now,  if  He  had  challenged  the 
angel-guard  of  His  God  according  to  the  promise,  in  order  to  His 
passage  through  the  air,  which  was  not  His  prescribed  way  accord- 
ing to  the  Divine  guidance.  As  He  might  not  himself  make 
bread  for  himself,  so  neither  could  he  seek  such  a  way.  Satan's 
cunning  omitted — in  all  thy  ways  ;l  our  Lord,  however,  did  not 
think  fit  to  point  out  and  dwell  upon  this  omission  :  but  instead 
of  such  discussion,  set  another  decisive  word  of  Scripture  over 

1  St  Luke  omits  this,  though  he  lias  rov  8ia<j)v\d£ai  o-e.  When  v. 
Gerlach  supposes  that  this  omission  should  have  no  stress  laid  upon  it, 
as  it  was  only  meant  to  say,  "  wherever  thou  goest" — he  most  unjusti- 
fiably presses  down  the  everywhere  profound  word  of  Scripture  to  the 
narrow  limits  of  our  ordinary  human  speech. 


MATTHEW  IV.  4,  7,  10.  43 

against  that  which  he  had  quoted.  The  Lord  knows  His  own 
way,  the  way  of  humility  and  not  of  vain-glory ;  the  way  of  wait- 
ing upon  His  God,  and  not  of  premature  running  and  anticipa- 
tion of  His  will ; — therefore,  the  word  that  is  written,  remains 
ever  a  lamp  to  His  feet. 

Every  sin  in  its  innermost  principle  is,  properly  speaking,  a 
tempting  and  challenging  of  God :  since  he,  who  should  obey, 
tests  the  Almighty  whether  the  way  of  his  own  self-will  shall  not 
prosper.  But  then,  particularly,  when  the  unbelief  and  dis- 
obedience of  self-will  presses  forward  in  what  is  false  presumption, 
though  seemingly  only  a  firm  confidence  in  promised  assistance, 
as  if  God  must  and  should  hearken  to  it ;  this  is  the  masked 
aggravation  of  sin,  to  which  Satan  here  allures.  Uncalled  re- 
formers, daring  enthusiasts,  even  actual  miracle-workers  of  their 
own  will  and  for  their  own  honour,  have  all  fallen  into  this  sin, 
because  they  have  forgotten  the  Word  of  the  Master  spoken  here 
in  faith  and  obedience.  What  if  before  the  eyes  of  men  they 
have  prospered  at  first  in  their  airy  way,  it  is  not  because  angels 
have  borne  them  up,  but  the  Prince  of  darkness  (who  would,  it 
may  be,  have  carried  the  Lord  also  in  safety  down,  even  as  he 
had  lifted  Him  up),  yet  only  to  their  final  fall  into  the  abyss. 

Christ  remains  Lord  over  Satan  in  the  simplicity  and  assurance 
of  His  human  way  according  to  the  word  of  God.  Power  over 
His  body  may  the  Tempter  exercise  by  the  permission  of  theFather, 
His  Spirit  remains  free  and  firm  in  obedience  to  the  truth.  If, 
as  we  perceived,  the  first  answer  struck  the  right  point,  and  pro- 
tested against  Satan's  fundamental  lie,  that  in  the  creature  of  it- 
self a  life  was  to  be  sought  ;  the  second  answer  advances  still 
nearer  to  the  crisis,  even  as  the  temptation  advanced  nearer.  If 
the  first  answer  had  already  sharply  and  clearly  defined  the  boun- 
dary between  the  Lord  God  and  His  creature  (in  whose  stead, 
and  in  whose  nature,  the  Eternal  Son  here  stands)  ;  the  second 
defines  it  still  more  sharply,  and  gives  to  Satan  a  further  lesson 
and  one  peculiarly  appropriate  to  him,  which  indeed  he  may  not 
be  able  to  receive.  For  it  is  Satan  himself  who  in  the  permitted 
abuse  of  his  remaining  angel-power,  for  deceit  and  destruction 
against  the  Word  and  will  of  God,  absolutely  and  now  in  the  most 
unreserved  manner,  tempts  the  Lord  his  God.  Therefore  did  Christ 
change  the  letter  of  the  Scripture,  and  say :  thou  shalt   not, 


44  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

although  it  is  written  in  Moses,  ye  shall  not  tempt.  This  is  for- 
sooth the  Spirit's  power  in  the  weakness  of  the  tempted  one,  that 
while  he  only  thinks  to  cover  himself  and  to  hide  himself  in  the 
sheltering,  defending  word  ;  that  same  humble  word  approves 
itself  as  a  sharp  weapon  of  attack  and  of  judgment  against  the 
Tempter's  pride. 

Then  does  the  evil  one  begin  finally  to  mark  that  in  this  Man 
he  has  to  do  with  the  Lord  his  God,  who  will  maintain  over  him 
His  right  :  yet  is  he  unwilling  to  admit  it.  He  gathers  all  his 
might  and  greatness  for  one  more  last  and  decisive  onset ;  but  the 
result  is  that  he  hears  more  decisively  and  openly  pronounced  that 
which  befitted  his  own  true  character.  Probably  the  Lord  knew 
not  immediately  Himself  with  what  kind  of  person  he  had  imme- 
diately to  do.  In  manifest  bodily  appearance  Satan  cannot,  indeed, 
appear,  for  such  corporeity  in  him,  if  it  may  so  be  called,  would 
be  for  us  the  most  frightful  horror.  Therefore  does  He  disguise 
and  mask  Himself,  now  as  he  had  from  the  beginning — yet  still 
comes  as  a  person.  Probably  the  Tempter  drew  near  the  first 
time  in  human  form  as  a  good  friend  and  adviser ;  the  second 
time  it  may  be  he  showed  Himself  as  an  angel  of  light  who  might 
bear  Him  up  in  his  hands.1  The  Lord,  without  much  question- 
ing, had  both  times  replied  to  the  Satanic  design  in  the  temptation, 
and  mediately  therefore  to  Satan  himself;  but  now  the  "  God  of 
this  world"  comes  forward  in  his  naked  grossness  with  the  horrible 
and  undisguised  demand — -worship  me  !  If  thou  altogether 
declinest  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  then  serve  me  for  that  recom- 
pense which  is  in  my  power  and  which  I  will  give  thee  !  He  pro- 
mises to  give  that  which  is  not  his,  that  which  at  least,  when  held 
and  received  from  him,  is  perverted  from  glory  into  ruin :  and  the 
price  which  he  demands  is  what  belongs  only  to  God.      Then 

1  Lange,  indeed,  thinks  that  such  mask-work  and  illusion  must  have 
been  quite  ineffectual  upon  Christ,  the  Pure  One,  just  as  children 
are  not  deceived  by  such  jugglery  in  tales.  But  the  self-renun- 
ciation of  Christ,  and  the  Father's  counsel  to  give  Him  up  to 
temptation,  are  on  such  a  supposition  quite  forgotten.  Might  not  the 
same  argument  be  used  against  the  anguish  and  the  obscuration  at 
Gethsemane  and  at  the  cross  ?  To  show  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
at  one  glance  was,  undoubtedly,  an  illusion,  for  the  letter  of  St  Luke's 
account  knows  nothing  of  "  highly  coloured  description,  which  turned 
a  high  and  extensive  prospect  in  the  wilderness  to  a  symbolical  ac- 


MATTHEW  IV.  4,  7,  10.  45 

does  the  Lord  recognize  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  the  Archfiend, 
whom  He  has  come  to  eject  out  of  a  world  that  he  had  usurped  ; 
and  to  whom  He  can  now  reply  in  His  own  might  and  dignity, 
as  peremptorily  as  the  demand  was  plain :  get  thee  behind  me, 
Satan  I  This  is  necessarily  the  last  temptation  and  victory : 
for  the  order  observed  by  St  Luke,  while  it  has  a  meaning  of  its 
own,  must  not  regulate  here  the  order  of  time.  For  the  first 
and  the  second  are  so  immediately  and  strictly  connected  accord- 
ing to  St  Matthew,  that  we  cannot  imagine  anything  interven- 
ing :  and  the  Repelled  One  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  returned 
again  immediately  after  the  third.1 

This  away  from  me  might  have  been  enough.  But  the  humi- 
lity of  the  Lord,  which  itself  must  have  been  the  keenest  con- 
demnation of  the  Father  of  pride,  does  him  a  superfluous  honour, 
and  even  adds  a  reason  from  Scripture.  This  word"  is  found,  again, 
near  to  the  former  (Deut.  vi.  13,  14),  but  is  here,  in  its  entire 
appropriation,  more  severed  than  that  from  its  literal  connexion. 
In  the  words  which  had  before  fallen  from  the  Lord's  lips,  Ye 
shall  not  tempt,  had  become  Thou  shalt  not  tempt,  for  Himself 
and  at  the  same  time  for  the  Devil ;  but  now  it  refers  especially 
and  in  all  its  significance  to  the  Devil  alone  ;  according  to  Christ's 
conscious  purpose,  when  he  fell  back  in  this  encounter,  upon  that 
great  central  word  and  fundamental  commandment  of  the  whole 
Old  Testament,  yea  of  the  whole  Scripture  : — thou  shalt  toorship 
the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve.2  This  answer 
forms  one  of  the  sublimest,  most  comprehensively  significant  criti- 
cal moments  in  the  history  of  His  kingdom:  and  is  the  most  distinc- 

1  The  apostolical  authority  of  St  Matthew  decides  the  literal  truth  of 
his  connection  :  St  Luke  arranges  the  events,  evidently,  according  to 
another  point  of  view.  Tore  7rapaXa/z/3ai>«,  7r  a  X  t  v  irapaXayi^dvu,  r  6t€ 
d(f)lr)aiv  in  St  Matthew  import  something  more  than  St  Luke's  mere  Km. 
He,  in  his  account,  has  the  two  places  in  his  view  and  joins  them — first 
wilderness  and  mountain,  afterwards  returning  to  the  second  : — and  he 
had  brought  him  (already  between  the  two)  even  to  the  pinnacle  of  the 
temple  1  The  well-considered  omission  in  St  Luke  of  the  vnaye  ktX.  is 
worthy  of  notice  ;  for  (as  Alford  remarks)  he  could  not  well  have  left 
these  words  in  his  inverted  account. 

2  See  the  connexion  Deut.  vi.  4,  14 :  and  Samuel's  Serve  him 
only !  1  Sam.  vii.  3.  Hence  it  is  in  the  LXX.  and  Vulg:  dvra  /uo'vw, 
illisoli.  Even  if  this  pouti  of  St  Luke  originated  in  the  LXX.,  yet  we 
have  it  also  authentically  in  St  Matthew. 


46  THE  FIRST  WORDS, 

tive  and  definitive  Explanation  with  Satan.  Luther  ventured 
with  a  good  intention  to  add  his  well-known  little  word  alone  to 
the  sacred  text  (Rom.  hi.  28)  ;  and  in  justification  of  this  addition, 
the  Lord's  example  has  been  appealed  to,  who  here  does  the 
same.  But  it  is  not  entirely  the  same,  even  apart  from  the  dif- 
ference between  our  Lord  and  Luther  as  to  supplementing  the 
Word  of  God.  The  false  emphasizing  of  "  faith  alone"  wrought 
much  evil  in  the  Church  from  that  time,  till  men  learned  to  ac- 
knowledge, that  St  James'  not  strawy  epistle  is  also  right  with  its 
enforcement — not  through  faith  alone.  But  to  worship  the  Lord 
alone,  to  serve  one  God  alone  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  high 
and  stern  truth  of  this  Scripture ;  and  this  alone  can  never  be  too 
rigorously  brought  forward  in  the  contest  with  the  lie  of  Ido- 
latry in  all  its  forms.  It  rejects  all  the  Pleasure,1  Power,  and 
Glory  of  the  whole  world,  as  soon  as  this  rises  against  its  Creator; 
and  here,  at  the  close,  upholds  the  worship  of  the  One  Eternal 
independently  of  and  above  the  world.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
Temptation  this  distinction  between  God  and  His  creature  was 
not  so  express,  but  in  the  "  not  by  bread  alone  "  the  creaturely 
holds  its  proper  place  through  the  Immanence  of  the  Creating 
Word. 

Perhaps  the  most  profound  among  the  many  views  of  the 
process  and  connexion  of  the  history  of  the  Temptation,  (all  of 
which  may  be  more  or  less  right  according  to  its  many-sided 
truth), — the  most  essential  extract  of  its  spirit,  appears  to  us 
that  of  Zinzendorf,  who  deduces  lessons  from  it  concerning 
the  Mysteries,  the  Right  Understanding,  and  the  Fundamental 
Truths  of  the  Word  of  God.2  The  mystery— if  thou  be  the  Son 
of  God — is  brought  forward  at  the  wrong  time  and  in  a  wrong 
application  by  the  Tempter,  therefore  the  Lord  opposes  to  it 
that  other  mystery,  which  was  suited  to  the  occasion.  The  appre- 
hension of  the  promised  angel-protection,  though  right  in  itself,  is 
used  partially  and  turned  to  temptation,  therefore  the  Lord  shows 
the  truth  in  its  completeness,  by  exhibiting  its  other  side. 
Finally,  when  the  Arch-Liar  overturns  the  fundamental  truth, 

1  Not  excluding  even  the  remark,  that  Enjoyment  entices  the  Youth, 
Honour  the  Man,  and  Possession  or  Power,  finally,  the  Old. 

2  In  the  Discourses,  which  he  delivered  in  1742  as  Pastor  at  Phila- 
delphia in  Pennsylvania. 


MATTHEW  IV.  4,  7,   10.  47 

that  God  alone  is  to  be  worshipped — the  Lord  can  only  re-erect 
it  by  asserting  it  simply  again.  For  to  quote  llamann  :  "  The 
victory  of  men  over  Satan  is  then  most  easy,  when  he  most  plainly 
reveals  himself.  The  ten  commandments,  if  they  are  written  in 
our  heart,  and  we  use  them  in  defence  against  him,  will  ever  drive 
him  away." 

Thus,  for  this  reason,  do  the  conqueror  and  the  conquered 
separate — symbol  and  type  of  all  future  temptation  of  the  Head 
and  the  members.  The  original  fundamental  truth,  in  which 
Satan  stood  not  fast,  and  which  lie  never  more  will  learn  or  can, 
comes  to  him  as  his  judgment  from  the  mouth  of  this  humble  Son 
of  Man.  While  the  Son  of  God  as  man  worships  and  serves  with 
us,  He  reveals  Himself  as  the  Lord  and  God  of  the  god  of  this 
world,  who,  instead  of  worshipping  has  tempted  Him  in  vain. 
From  this  time  forward  the  Devil  knew  Jesus.  Mark  i.  24 — 34, 
iii.  11,  v.  7. 

Thus  also  is  the  distinction  established  between  the  Redeemer 
from  Satan's  Power,  the  rightful  King  of  the  whole  earth,  to  whom 
the  ends  of  the  world  had  been  already  given  by  the  Father  (Ps. 
ii.) ;  and  that  false  Messiah  whom  carnal  Israel,  through  fellowship 
with  the  deceiving  idolatry  of  the  world,  had  learned  to  expect. 
What  an  earthly-glorious  Jewish  Messiah  would  then  have  been, 
Antichrist,  the  Man  of  Sin,  will  in  the  last  days  actually  exhibit, 
and  with  an  open  rejection  of  the  name  of  God.  The  time  is 
come  and  now  is,  when  the  worship  of  the  ancient,  secular 
Jehovah,  as  He  revealed  Himself  in  the  Old  Testament  and 
through  His  Incarnate  Eternal  Son  has  wrought  our  redemption, 
should  cease  ;  the  Father  of  lies  offers  to  men  the  glory  of 
this  world,  and  all  who  consent  to  His  lie  thereupon  abase 
themselves  to  worship  him,  concerning  whom,  nevertheless, 
they  desire  to  know  nothing.  But  he  has  here  thus  early 
exposed  and  discovered  himself,  constrained  by  Christ :  and  all 
who  abide  in  the  way  of  Christ,  are  equipped  with  the  sure 
armour  of  that  word  of  truth  which  He  Himself  first  victoriously 
proved. 


48  THE  FIliST  WORDS. 

THE  FIRST  WORDS  OF  THE  MASTER  TO  THE  FIRST  DISCIPLES- 

(John  i.  38,  39-42,  43—47,  48—50,  til.) 

All  this  was  decidedly  spoken  and  done  after  the  Temptation, 
for  the  Baptism  recorded  by  St  John,  ver.  32,  was  immediately 
followed  by  the  Spirit's  leading  into  the  wilderness.  This  also 
was  now  past,  and  the  mission  to  the  Baptist  in  ver.  19,  did  not 
take  place  until  the  fortieth  day  at  least,  because  the  testimony, 
vers.  20—27,  cannot  have  been  uttered  before  the  Baptism  of 
Jesus.  John  deems  himself  not  yet  authorized  to  announce 
publicly  Him  who  was  to  come :  but  waits  till  that  Mysterious 
One  who  had  retired  from  the  Jordan  into  the  desert  returned  to 
him  again,  which  he  probably  did  as  soon  as  the  victory  in  the  wil- 
derness was  achieved.  When  he  saw  Him  once  more,  He 
could  point  Him  out,  ver.  29.  Further,  those  pregnant  words, 
"  there  standeth  One  among  you,  whom  ye  know  not,"  obvi- 
ously imply,  I  know  Him  now  as  erewhile  I  knew  Him  not.  So 
clearly  is  established  the  real  harmony  of  the  Gospels  when  they 
are  rightly  read.  Tfj  iiravpvov  in  vers.  29,  35,  43  successively, 
can  only  retain  its  consecutive  and  unbroken  sense  when  we 
regard  them  as  following,  not  only  the  day  of  the  Baptism,  but 
the  forty  clays  of  the  Temptation  also.  To  forget  this,  as  the 
most  recent  expositors  have  glaringly  done,  and  insert  them 
between  vers.  28  and  35,  is  entirely  to  contradict  the  chronology  ' 
of  our  Evangelist,  which  preserves  the  strictest  coherence.1 

The  vanquisher  of  Satan,  to  whom  the  angels  ministered — the 
Lamb  of  God  and  God's  own  Son,  walks  in  sublime  silence  by 
the  Jordan,  waiting  for  the  further  guidance  and  direction  of 
His  Father.     He  has  come  back  to  the  Baptist,  for  He  knows 

1  Hence  the  unbelieving  criticism  of  this  method  of  harmonizing 
protests  that  John  makes  the  insertion  of  the  history  of  the  temptation 

after  the  Baptism  impossible.     There  is  but  one  true  answer  to  this  : 

the  baptism  and  the  temptation  precede  ver.  19.  The  Evangelist  con- 
fines himself  here,  as  before  in  vers.  7  and  15,  to  the  subsequent  testi- 
mony of  the  Baptist.  Compare  Gemberg's  remarks,  in  allusion  to 
Schleiermacher  (Stud.  u.  Krit.  1845  i.  105.) 


john  i.  38—51.  49 

that  Himself  must  not  first  utter — I  am  He — in  the  presence  of 
the  people  of  Israel ;  but  that  His  Forerunner  must  bear  witness 
of  Him,  and  that  his  testimony  was  now  ready.  The  first  day 
passes — John  points  to  Him  as  He  thus  walks,  and  directing 
attention  to  His  whole  appearance  and  bearing,  saith — Behold — 
This  is  He !  not  one  of  the  marvelling  and  inwardly  musing 
hearers,  however,  ventures  to  follow  Him.  But  when  on  the  next 
day  the  testimony  to  Jesus  still  walking  thus,  is  repeated — behold 
the  Lamb  of  God! — its  meaning  is  then  understood — the  two 
disciples  at  that  time  with  John  begin  to  follow  the  Lamb.  Only 
two  indeed  at  the  first,  but  in  them  we  see  the  first  strivings  of  the 
great  impulse  of  all  after  following.  Another  new  and  sublime 
initiatory  crisis  !  Beginning  of  the  congregation  of  disciples, 
and  inauguration  of  the  great  Teacher  into  His  office  ;  not  indeed 
as  yet  in  public  ministration  to  the  people,  but  according  to  the 
appointed  and  unostentatious  procedure  of  His  course,  in  gentle 
words  to  those  who  are  first  gathered  around  His  presence. 
These  first  words  of  the  Teacher  and  Master  bear  upon  them 
that  express  and  wonderful  stamp  of  majesty  in  lowliness  and 
lowliness  in  majesty,  which  is  impressed  upon  the  whole  of  His 
subsequent  speech  and  action.  They  commence  with  the  most 
simple  utterances  of  human  language,  springing  up,  apparently, 
from  the  circumstance  of  the  moment.  What  will  ye  ?  come, 
then,  and  see  !  But  when  we  think  whose  mouth  uttered  these 
words,  we  perceive  the  beginning  of  the  shining  forth  of  His 
glory  in  them :  and  soon,  indeed,  does  the  Master-word  rise  to 
its  fall  dignity  in  giving  the  new  name,  in  piercing  the  hidden 
heart,  in  disclosure  of  what  was  secret,  and  in  the  promise  of  yet 
greater  things.  The  whole,  moreover,  is  brief  and  sufficing, 
simple  and  clear,  with  no  more  words  than  arise  out  of  the  occa- 
sion. But  these  are  spoken  in  lowliness  as  profound  as  their 
majesty  is  sublime  :  while  they  have  their  simply  human  and 
external  aspect,  they  have  a  profoundly  significant  and  majestic 
background.  These  first  words  to  the  seeing  and  hearing  dis- 
ciples have  their  own  glory,  full  of  grace  and  truth — before  the 
days  of  mighty  miracles  and  preaching.  These  also  verily  are 
spirit,  and  they  are  life. 

John  saw  Jesus  walking,  in  silent  meditation  ;  waiting  for  His 
hour,  and  His  Father's  command :  in  full  preparation  for  the 
4 


50  THE  FIKST  WORDS. 

■    f) 

world  and  its  sin  ;  equipped  for  His  testimony  to  the  truth  with 
that  armour,  which  has  been  tested  and  approved  in  his  first 
great  conflict ;  and  for  the  utterance  of  those  new  Words  of  God, 
which  the  Father  has  given  Him.  The  two  disciples  had  heard 
the  Baptist  speak  of  Him,  and  have  so  far  understood  his  words, 
that  they  now  vehemently  desire  to  be  the  disciples  of  the  true, 
the  higher  Master.  They  follow  Him  in  silence,  venturing 
on  no  address,  nor  any  introduction  of  their  own.  But  Jesus  is 
conscious  in  His  spirit  of  the  hour  that  has  now  come,  and 
turneth — beautiful  picture  for  the  devout  pencil  of  the  artist ! 
Will  not  some  one  now  come  to  me  1  Such  a  question  lay  in 
that  turning — springing  from  His  consciousness  that  the  time 
was  now  come,  and  from  the  longing  of  that  love  which  would 
soon  call  all  men  to  Himself.  Then  looketh  He  upon  the  two, 
as  the  first  given  Him  of  the  Father,  and  opens  His  mouth  in 
affectionate  words.  But  however  humanly  and  humbly  He  may 
begin  to  speak,  yet  must  what  He  says  become  at  this  crisis  and 
from  His  lips,  an  involuntary  revelation  of  the  deep  significance  which 
lies  in  the  high  and  peculiar  presage  of  this  crisis.  He  cannot, 
and  He  will  not  avoid  this :  He  knows  full  clearly  with  what 
deep  meaning  He  speaks.  If  we  may  so  stammer  our  human 
thoughts  concerning  Him,  in  whom  all  is  human  as  well  as 
divine : — a  certain  struggle  between  His  dignity  as  God  and 
His  humility  as  the  Son  of  man,  resolves  itself  into  a  most  pro- 
found concert  of  both.  Like  a  true  Master,  He  will  not  at  the 
very  first  speak  words  of  instruction  to  His  coming  disciples,  but 
rather  awake  and  excite  their  own  consciousness.  Thus  will  He 
commence  their  training  as  disciples.  The  question-word  with 
which  He  begins  will  be  found  to  have  a  latent  fulness  of  mean- 
ing, conveying  an  essential  truth  which  is  applicable  to  all  who 
ever  come  to  Him ;  and  leading  immediately  to  that  word  of  in- 
vitation which  is  the  germ  and  type  of  all  His  future  exhortation 
and  teaching. 

Tt  &TeiT6  ;  What  will  ye  f  that  is,  though  He  designedly  omits 
to  say  so,  of  me?  with  me?  Wherefore  come  ye  thus  behind 
me  !  Spoken  with  any  other  tone  and  look,  this  question  would 
not  have  had  more  than  the  ordinary  meaning  with  which  we  may 
suppose  a  man  asking  it  in  such  circumstances ; — it  would  have 
been  even  repulsive : — What  would  you  seek  in  my  footsteps  \ 


john  i.  38 — 51.  51 

leave  me  to  my  own  way  I1  With  His  look  and  tone,  on  the 
contrary,  it  already  glides  by  a  gracious  transition  into  the  fol- 
lowing Come  !  Yet  is  there  a  distinction  between  them.  That 
first  word  of  all  contained  a  solemn  question,  designed  to  pene- 
trate the  hearts  of  those  who  are  coming  :  and  this  must  not  be 
lost  sight  of  in  the  invitation.  He  whom  they  seek,  and  who  is 
the  object  of  the  unconscious  seeking  of  all  humanity  :  He,  who 
afterwards  stands  before  the  whole  world  and  testifies,  "  come 
ye  all  unto  me  and  find  rest  to  your  souls" — He  says  not  now, 
whom  seek  ye  %  For  whom  do  ye  take  me,  that  ye  thus  seek  to 
be  near  me?  Although  this  is  involved  in  the  matter,  He  does 
not  express  it,  but  as  yet  conceals  that  great  u  lam  He"  (which 
might  have  been  the  response  to  the  Baptist's  "  this  is  He !' ')  ; 
and  speaks  apparently  as  if  there  were  nothing  in  Him  to  seek, 
in  order  that  they,  again,  may  bethink  themselves  how  all  is  to 
be  sought  and  found  in  Him.  He  thinks  not  first  of  Himself, 
but  first  of  those  who  are  coming  to  Him.  Those  only  who  seek 
come  truly  to  Him,  but  as  they  come  they  are  met  by  the  testing 
word — what  seek  ye  ?  And  wherefore  from  me  ?  First  must 
we  in  some  degree  know,  by  the  revelation  of  the  ground  of  our 
hearts  through  the  face  of  the  Searcher  of  hearts  turned  full 
upon  us,  and  be  taught  by  the  question  which  He  asks,  What 
it  is  that  we  as  men  and  sinners  seek  and  need  :  then  shall  we 
more  and  more  discover  that  it  is  only  Himself  whom  we  seek,  be- 
cause in  Him  all  that  man  seeks  is  found.  It  is  our  Lord  Him- 
self, in  general  ever  seeking  the  lost  till  He  finds  them,  who 
meets  us  in  our  own  way,  with  that  first  word  of  the  Divine 
manifestation,  which  would  not  give  the  sinner  up :  Adam,  where 
art  thou  ?  Strive  not  so  hard  after  death  in  the  error  of  thy  life  ! 
Seekest  thou  to  live?  Thou  shalt  not  find  it  in  departing  from 
me  ;  return  therefore  to  me  as  I  return  to  thee.  But  here  are 
Israelites  coming  to  him,  disciples  of  John,  prepared  in  the  old 
covenant  of  preparatory  grace,  by  the  hidden  Christ,  for  the 
Christ  revealed,  when  He  should  come.  And  now  that  He  is 
come,  they  come  to  meet  Him,  and  should  know  well  the  fit  answer 
to  the  first  question  of  the  Lord.     John  and  Andrew  heard  it, 

1  As  a  late  Bishop  of  the  Moravian  Brethren,  when  one  following 
would  join  him  as  he  walked,  with  the  question,  M  Wherefore  thus 
alone?"  made  answer,  "  I  would  rather  be  so."     Not  so  the  Lord. 


52  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

too,  but  they  reflect  not  immediately  upon  the  inner  significance 
of  this  startling  question,  as  John  may  have  understood  it,  from 
their  subsequent  report.  They  simply  reply  as  well  as  they  can 
to  its  most  obvious  meaning.  They  could  not  yet  say — "  we 
seek  the  Messiah , Thyself  " — until  they  had  already  begun  to  find 
Him.  That  remained  secret  in  the  depth  of  their  consciousness. 
But  because  Jesus  stands  so  humanly  before  them,  they  are  bold 
to  speak  in  human  language — "  Rabbi," — that  is,  we  would  be 
thy  disciples.  This  would  have  sufficed  as  their  self-dedicatory 
profession,  Thou  art  our  Master.  His  question,  however,  was  so 
gracious,  that  they  gather  confidence  to  go  farther  —  where 
lodgest  thou?  That  is,  we  would  this  day  enter  into  Thy  nearer 
fellowship,  we  would  be  with  Thee,  hear  Thee,  and  learn  of  Thee. 
The  direct  answer  is  concealed  in  their  words,  and  it  is  from  a  right 
feeling  of  mingled  reverence  and  shame,  that  they  hold  it  back: — 
behold,  Thou  art  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  the  Son  of  God ;  we  are 
sinners  of  the  world,  Israelites  who  wait  for  Thee,  and  expect  from 
Thee  all  that  our  souls  yet  need.  If  their  counter-question  seems 
to  have  in  it  something  of  uncourteous  abruptness — yet  how  pro- 
foundly humble  is  it,  and  how  full  of  trust ! 

He  said  unto  them,  Come  and  see  !  If  that  first  word  might 
have  been  construed  by  one  who  was  excessively  timid,  or  one 
who  was  insincere,  into  a  repulse  ;  this  second  carries  with  it  its 
immediate  tone  of  permission,  and  friendly  acceptance — ye  are 
welcome  to  me  ; — but  its  deepest  tone  is  much  more  than  merely 
permission.  He  who  has  come  speaks  in  gracious  invitation  and 
with  the  gentle  command  of  love  :  come !  and  we  catch  here 
already  the  key-note  of  all  His  preaching  and  doctrine.  Behold 
— the  Baptist  had  said — and  now  they  shall  behold.  The  chal- 
lenge to  come  and  see  was  an  ordinary  manner  of  speech  in 
common  life  :  but  in  some  circumstances  used  with  great 
solemnity,  as  of  the  grave  of  Lazarus  (John  xi.  34)  ;  with  great 
majesty  in  the  Canticles  (hi.  11)  concerning  the  magnificence  of 
King  Solomon  ;  as  in  the  Revelation  (vi.  1,  3,  5,  7)  of  the 
heavenly  visions — and  in  the  Psalms  (lxvi.  5 ;  xlvi.  9)  concern- 
ing the  wonderful  works  of  God.  It  was  at  the  same  time  the 
common  saying  of  the  Rabbi  to  his  disciples  (as  frequently  in 
the  Talmud,  ;-|N*Y)  Nil?  come  and  let  ft  De  explained  to  thee). 
They  came  and  saw  where  He  abode — but  their  Lord  had  more 


john  i.  38—51.  53 

than  merely  where  in  His  view.  They  tarried  with  Him,  as  St 
John  adds  with  emphasis :  and  saw  all  they  might  see  in  Him, 
His  glory  full  of  grace  and  truth ;  they  tasted  and  saw  that  the 
Lord  was  gracious  (Ps.  xxxiv.  9) :  they  beheld  in  faith  the 
heaven  open  upon  the  Son  of  man,  ver.  50,  51.  All  this  the 
Lord  promised  them  in  that  lowly-sublime  invitation,  which  con- 
ceals His  majesty,  yet  permits  some  rays  of  it  to  pierce  through  : 
— come,  and  ye  shall  see,  experience,  receive  and  find  all  that 
ye  seek.1  That  is  the  rule  and  process  of  His  discipleship  ;  the 
immediate  and  self-evidencing  testimony  of  the  truth  in  Christ, 
as  Philip,  an  apt  scholar,  begins  already  to  use  it  against  Natha- 
nael's  doubt,  ver.  46.  This  is  the  sum  of  the  apologies :  the 
missionary  appeal  to  all  the  world ;  the  testimony  of  every  true 
divine,  of  John  the  Evangelist  as  of  John  the  Forerunner,  who 
having  himself  seen,  can  bear  his  witness  against  all  the  perverse 
blindness  of  unbelief. 

What  the  Two  who  came  so  readily,  found  or  saw  or  heard  at 
that  time,  is  buried  in  silence :  it  was  so  much,  however,  that 
Andrew  can  already  testify  to  his  brother  Simon  —  we  have 
found  the  Messiah !  When  this  Third,  afterwards  to  be  first^ 
comes  forward,  we  hear  another  word  of  the  Master,  still  more 
authoritative  and  majestic.  Jesus  looked  upon  him  and  said — 
thou  art  Simon,  the  son  of  Jonas — I  know  thee,  who  and  what 
thou  art,  from  thy  birth  till  thy  present  coming  to  me  I  The 
allusion  which  has  been  over-critically  detected  in  the  etymology 
of  the  old  name  in  its  allusion  to  the  new,  we  mention  and 
leave  undecided  : — the  hearer,  disciple,  heretofore  son  of  the 
timid  dove,  which  flies  among  the  rocks,  shall  become  the  shelter- 
ing rock  of  the  dove.  So  lately,  again,  Lange,2  although  the 
reading  'Icodvov,  'Iwavvov  is  not  lightly  to  be  rejected.  Enough, 
that  in  this  place,  the  design  and  reference  is  especially  to  the 
new  disciple-name,  and  such  allusion  and  antithesis  can  scarcely 
be  deemed  consonant  with  the  dignity  of  the  occasion.  Thou 
shalt  be  called  Cephas  : — I  now  give  thee  thy  new  name ;  for  I 
know  what  I  shall  make  thee  in  my  discipleship  and  for  my 

1  Bruno  Bauer's  cunning  eye  detects  here  "  feeble  pomp,  empty 
superfluity,"  and  is  sure  that  Jesus  never  could  have  spoken  thus. 

2  Better,  at  least,  than  Sepp's  j-j^i  imbecillitas,  oppressio. 


54  THE  FIKST  WORDS. 

kingdom !  Be  my  "  disciple  "  henceforth,  and  out  of  what  thou 
art,  thou  shalt  become  something  new.  The  new  name  which 
He  gives  is,  first  of  all,  the  revelation  in  the  light  of  His  own 
countenance  of  Simon's  peculiar  and  natural  character,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  sons  of  thunder  (Mar.  hi.  17)  ;  it  specifies  his 
danger  and  the  temptation  of  his  inhorn  nature,  and  also  its 
transformation  and  sanctification  in  the  new  birth.  Thus  it  is 
given  as  a  promise  as  well  as  a  warning.  He  who  receives  his 
new  name  from  the  Lord,  and  well  sustains  it,  will  become  that 
to  which  he  is  called.  As  in  the  Old  Testament,  Jehovah,  in 
His  supreme  authority,  gave  the  new  names  of  promise  Abraham 
and  Israel ;  so  also  now  does  the  Son  in  His  father's  power,  and 
marks  out  Peter  here  as  an  originator,  to  lay  the  foundation,  and 
as  a  spiritual  progenitor  of  the  new  people  of  God  in  the  simili- 
tude of  those  two  great  public  persons.  As  "  Israel "  indicates 
penitent,  wrestling  praying  faith,  so  "  Peter"  refers  to  the  con- 
fession, and  the  building  of  the  church  upon  the  profession  and 
testimony— although  it  is  the  Lord  Himself  who  makes  Peter, 
and  all  who  are  like  him,  the  foundation  upon  which  He  Him- 
self builds. 

Eising  still  higher  in  its  tone  of  authority  is  the  Masterword 
to  Philip  ;  whom  He  finds  and  to  whom  He  forthwith  gives 
a  direct  summons— follow  me  !  It  appears,  at  first,  like  a 
second  "  come  and  see,"  but  has  a  farther  reach  of  meaning. 
It  expresses  in  one  word  the  whole  disciple-life  of  all  who  have 
come  and  have  seen  :  and  is  the  early  type  of  all  that  is  wrapped 
up  in  the  same  oft-repeated  call,  and  of  that  which  is  connected 
with  it  when  it  is  last  heard  at  the  close  of  the  gospel  of  St 
John.  (xxi.  19,  22.) 

And  now  comes  the  fifth  in  this  rapid  formation  of  the  first 
circle  of  disciples1— Nathanael.  He  is  not  placed  in  the  first 
rank  of  influence,  but  coming  as  he  now  does  in  virtue  of  the 
preparing  grace  which  he  had  received,  he  may  be  regarded 
rather  than  Peter,  or  even  than  John  (who  has  here  faithfully 
recorded  the  praise  with  which  his  Master's  lips  greeted/wm)  as  the 
fittest  type  of  all  disciples— such  as  the  Lord  will  receive  and 

1  How  and  bv  what  means  ?  "  Nothing  but  personal  influences,  few 
words,  trust  awakening  trust."     (So  Nitzsch,  Sermons  vi.  Select.) 


john  i.  38 — 51.  55 

greatly  rejoice  over  when  they  come  to  Hiin.  Ah  that  they 
all  were  such !  The  precipitancy  of  his  hasty  question  which 
only  catches  at  the  last  word — can  any  good  thing  come  out 
of  Nazareth  ?  was  redeemed  from  its  error  by  its  very  sincerity. 
The  error  of  prejudice,  though  indeed  indirectly  connected 
with  sin,  does  not  deepen  into  the  sin  of  offence  as  in  the 
case  of  the  other  Israelites.  Nathanael  in  Cana,  two  hours 
from  Nazareth,  had  no  personal  knowledge  of  Jesus, — that 
was  certainly  not  his  fault.  Jesus  now  sees  him  coming 
just  as  man  should  come,  seeking,  seeking  earnestly  without 
guile.  Oh  how  few  such  earnest  seekers  are  there  !  Here  is  a 
true  Israelite  in  whom  there  is  no  guile,  whose  sin  is  already 
covered,  and  his  iniquity  not  imputed  to  him.  It  is  not  the 
humble  man  himself  whom  the  Lord  addresses,  for  that  would 
not  have  been  as  appropriate  as  in  the  other  instance — Thou  art 
Simon — which  involved  a  warning.  He  spoke  to  the  others  con- 
cerning him — (somewhat  as  the  Baptist  had  spoken  about  Him- 
self.) Behold,  those  who  come  like  this  man  are  my  joy,  these 
are  the  disciples  whom  I  would  have,  thus  might  and  thus  ought 
all  Israel  to  be  prepared  for  me  their  Messiah.1  Though  still  far 
from  recognizing  in  the  Nazarene  the  King  of  Israel,  this  upright 
man  hears  not  in  vain  the  "  come  and  see,"  he  goes  at  his  friend's 
suggestion  that  he  may  see,  and  soon  is  his  prejudice  lost  in  his 
happy  experience.  This  is  the  sure  and  direct  way  to  that  end. 
But  he  who  would  walk  in  it  to  Christ,  like  Nathanael,  must  first 
have  gone,  through  grace,  in  penitent,  wrestling,  seeking  faith  the 
way  of  Jacob-Israel — in  Jacob's  nature  before  this  first  new 
birth,  there  is  yet  deceit  and  guile.  If  a  sinner,  like  Zacchaeus, 
believes,  the  Lord  says  of  him — this  also  is  a  son  of  Abraham. 
When  one  who,  like  Nathanael  waiting  in  preparatory  grace  for 
the  perfect  grace  to  come,  frankly  receives  what  is  freely  offered 
to  him,  the  Lord  terms  him  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  the  purest 
sense  of  the  word  and  name.  So  blessed  a  commencement  of  his 
ministry  has  the  Father  prepared  for  Him,  that  in  two  days  five 
seeking  souls  are  gathered  around  him  : — the  last,  however,  the 

1  Nazareth  was  even  among  the  Galilseans  held  in  small  estimation, 
nay,  despised.  More  surely  is  signified  than — as  Alford  supposes — 
out  of  so  small  a  place  so  great  a  thing !  for  it  is  added — n  dyadov. 


56  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

loveliest,  whose  first  misapprehension  is  at  once  requited  with 
commendation  from  his  Master's  gracious  heart. 

Nathanael  is  ashamed  and  embarrassed ;  and  the  more  so  as  he, 
in  his  still  life,  had  been  intimately  known  by  only  a  few  such  as 
Philip.  Whence  knowest  thou  me  ?  The  doubt  and  scruple  of 
his  pure  spirit  which  shrinks  from  the  Searcher  of  hearts,  is  still 
less  displeasing  to  Him  than  the  first  surprise  on  account  of 
Nazareth.  If  He  has  seen  and  spoken  to  thee,  and  thou  ask 
Him  the  same  question  in  the  same  spirit  as  Nathanael ;  He  will 
rejoice  thereat,  and  thou  shalt  soon  experience,  how  entirely  He 
knows  and  has  ever  known  thee.  The  inferior  human  life  of  the 
Lord  reflects  already  the  relations  of  His  exalted  state,  and  we 
see  in  it  even  His  Omniscience  and  Omnipotence  ;  although  He 
was  not  actively,  in  His  estate  of  self-abnegation,  either  Omni- 
potent or  Almighty,  any  more  than  everywhere  present.  Whence 
knows  He  Nathanael  ?  May  it  have  been  through  an  instantane- 
ous revelation  of  the  Father,  even  as  on  other  occasions,  for 
instance  in  the  case  of  the  Samaritan  woman,  whose  husbands  He 
reckons  1  Was  it,  besides  this,  through  that  knowledge  of  man 
which  belongs  to  the  First  man,  everywhere  penetrating,  by  a  true 
physiognomy,  through  the  outer  into  the  inner  being,  and  which 
knows  individual  men  because  it  knows  what  was  in  man  1  (ch, 
ii.  24,  25.)  Neither  of  these  must  be  entirely  excluded  here,  yet 
the  expression  of  the  Lord,  I  saw  thee,  points  in  its  simple  mean- 
ing to  something  past.  As  the  eyes  of  the  Crown  Prince  have 
been  wont  silently  to  seek  out  the  true  men  in  the  land,  that  he 
may  collect  them  around  himself  when  he  ascends  the  throne  ; 
so  also  had  Jesus,  during  His  long  eighteen  years  at  Nazareth, 
the  seclusion  of  which  must  at  least  have  been  broken  by  the 
festival  journies  to  and  from  Jerusalem,  most  observantly  looked 
around  upon  men.  Hence  he  knows  Simon,  to  whom  he  gives 
his  name ;  Philip  also,  and  Matthew,  whom  he  calls  to  fol- 
low him ;  so  did  He  also  actually  with  His  bodily  eyes  behold 
Nathanael  under  the  fig-tree,  but  at  the  same  time  he  read 
the  thoughts  of  his  heart  with  eyes  opened  by  the  Father. 
Therefore  does  he  plainly  tell  him,  —  I  see  thee  not  now,  as 
thou  comest,  for  the  first  time  ;  reminds  him  by  the  expressive 
before  that  Philip  called  thee — of  the  prejudice  against  Nazareth 


john  i.  38—51.  57 

which  he  had  manifested  (at  least  thus  does  Nathanael  feel,  as 
the  Lord  knew) ;  and  thus  gives  him  an  answer  to  his  question 
which  mightly  demonstrates  His  own  Divine  dignity ;  a  mira- 
culous word  which  goes  straight  to  his  heart,  as  if  the  all-know- 
ing One  Himself  should  speak — I  know  thee  from  everlasting,  I 
penetrate  thee  through  and  through.  And  here  is  pretypified 
how  now  "  Christianity  grounds  the  claim  to  be  entirely  trusted 
in  for  the  revelation  of  the  Divine  treasure  to  faith,  upon  the 
immediate  experience  of  every  conscientious  man  ;  since  as  soon 
as  it  is  known,  it  seizes  him  by  a  glance  that  penetrates  him 
through  and  through."1  Nathanael's  exclamation,  "  Rabbi"  thou 
art  more  than  Rabbi,  more  than  many  in  Israel  deem  the  Messiah 
to  be,  "  thou  art  the  Son  of  God"  is  uttered  with  a  feeling  akin 
to  that  in  Psalm  cxxxix — Lord  thou  has  searched  me  and  known 
me !  Thou  knowest  all  that  pertains  to  me,  that  which  even 
Philip  knows  not,  what  I  thought  known  to  God  alone. 

An  Israelite  in  the  kingdom  of  the  King  of  Israel  was  said 
to  dwell  under  his  fig-tree,  1  Kings  iv.  25.  But  in  speaking 
thus  distinctively  of  the  fig-tree  under  which  He  had  seen  Na- 
thanael, the  Lord's  meaning  went  beyond  this  proverbial  use  of 
the  expression,  and  signified  more  than  merely — in  thy  habita- 
tation  in  Israel.  Nathanael  understands,  as  is  obvious  to  remark, 
something  special  and  mysterious,  connected  with  a  time  when 
he  had  repaired  to  his  fig-tree,  not  for  refreshment  and  solace, 
but  according  to  the  pious  custom  in  Israel,  as  a  place  of  medita- 
tion, reflection,  and  prayer.  There  had  been  a  solemn  transaction 
with  his  God — quite  alone  as  he  thought :  the  prayer  of  repent- 
ance which  left  him  without  guile,  the  prayer  of  deep  longing  for 
the  consolation  of  Israel,  and  what  else  Nathanael  will  reveal  to 
us,  when  all  that  has  been  kept  secret  becomes  known.  I 
saw  thee — said  the  Lord — thy  inner  man  before  God,  the  true 
Israelite  in  thee.  We  may  receive  His  word,  each  one  for  him- 
self, as  the  assurance  : — I  have  known  thee  from  the  beginning  in 
all  thy  ways  !  Let  every  one  think  of  his  fig-tree,  of  the  places 
of  his  pleasure  and  his  prayer,  before  he  was  called  to  Jesus. 
He  whom  his  Lord  can  meet  with  the  testimony :  Thou  art 
an  Israelite  indeed, — may  and  indeed  shall  cry  out  in  joyful 
response  :  and  thou  art  my  King  ! 

1  Beck,  Introduction  to  the  Syst.  of  Ch.  Doct.,  p.  163. 


58  THE  F1IIST  WOEDS. 

Then  does  the  King  and  the  Master,  in  the  last  and  the  subli- 
mest  of  these  His  first  words  of  kingly  authority,  bestow  a  still  fur- 
ther commendation  upon  Nathanael : — He  distinctly  specifies  and 
praises  that  one  thing,  for  which  His  eyes  have  looked  from  the 
beginning  and  ever  shall  look  (Jer.  v.  3),  with  which  man  must 
come  to  Him,  in  order  from  Him  to  learn  it  still  better — Faith.1 
New,  great  word  of  His  mouth — thou  believest !  Well,  thou 
art  come  in  the  right  way;  thou  hast  longed,  and  thou  hast 
sought ;  thou  art  come,  just  as  Philip  asked  thee,  to  come  and 
see  ;  thou  hast  seen  and  heard,  and  because  I  have  said  to  thee 
what  only  I  could  say,  thou  believest ; — then  I  say  for  thy  fur- 
ther faith :  thou  shalt  see  greater  things  than  these  !  Yes,  verily, 
this  promise  holds  good  in  its  widest  sense  for  all  believers  who 
abide  with  Him  :  —  greater  and  yet  greater  things  shall  they 
continue  to  see,  even  up  to  the  last  f?  blessed  art  thou  who  hast 
believed !" 

And  now  that  all  the  relations  of  the  Master  to  His  disciples 
may,  in  this  first  history,  be  shadowed  out,  His  words  advance 
another  step  in  sublime  elevation  ;  and  we  hear  His  first  "  Verily, 
verily  I  say  unto  you."  But  He  utters  it  as  the  Son  of  G  od  in  the 
unity  of  the  Father,  and  not  like  the  Prophets — thus  saith  the 
Lord.  He  utters  it  with  His  highest  dignity,  combined  with  the 
gracious  condescension  of  the  Son  of  Man.  Hence  He  appends, 
as  a  testimony  against  unbelief,  the  Verily  of  swearing  by  Him- 
self; though  without  it  all  that  He  may  say  must  be  believed, 
even  because  He  has  said  it.  What  follows  is  spoken  to  Natha- 
nael, but  yet  He  says  to  you,  for  He  addresses  in  the  person  of 
Nathanael  all  His  disciples,  and  gives  a  promise  which  is  recorded 
for  all  who,  like  Nathanael,  come,  see,  believe,  and  in  that  faith 
abide  with  Him. 

Henceforth — after  ye  have  thus  become  my  disciples— shall  ye 
see,  more  and  more  intimately  and  gloriously  experience,  the  full 
meaning  of  my  first  word,  come  and  see.  The  coming  in  faith 
leads  to  the  seeing,  yea  ultimately  to  the  highest  vision  of  all  glory ; 
but  this  is  only  through  the  being  seen,  the  being  penetrated  by 

1  No  shadow  of  "  slight  blame"  here  (von  Gerlach)— for  such  "  swift- 
ness "  to  believe  as  this,  is  a  precious  simplicity,  which  should  not  be 
supposed  caoable  of  considering  all  at  once  the  "  necessity  of  higher 
evidences." 


john  i.  38—51.  59 

His  eye.  The  genuine  disciple-faith  of  the  true  Israelites,  to 
which  His  praise  and  His  promise  are  given,  is  that  which  needs 
no  other  miracle  for  its  confirmation  than  the  miracle-word  of 
the  Searcher  of  hearts ; — such  was  found  also  in  Samaria  (ch. 
iv.29). 

But  what  is  that  miracle  which,  nevertheless,  the  Lord  does 
here  predict  ?  Ye  shall  see  heaven  open,  and  the  angels  of  God 
ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of  Man.  Was  this  exter- 
nally and  literally  fulfilled  to  those  who  heard  these  words  first  ? 
By  no  means,  assuredly,  else  would  it  have  been  recorded.  We 
know,  however,  that  both  had  just  occurred; — the  heaven  had 
been  opened  upon  the  Son  of  Man  when  He  was  baptized,  and 
the  angels  had  ministered  to  Him  in  the  wilderness.  But  the 
former  was  seen  only  by  the  Baptist — the  latter  by  no  man. 
They  were  secret  and  mysterious  introductory  miracles,  designed 
as  testimonies  for  the  Lord  Himself  and  not  for  the  world  ;  the 
visible  attesting  seals  of  the  Father's  voice,  which  by  the  Spirit 
ever  more  said  to  His  Spirit — Thou  art  my  Son.  One  includes 
the  other  as  a  natural  consequence  ;  there,  where  He  now  is,  is 
heaven  open  upon  Him  and  for  Him  (Jno.  iii.  13) ;  but  where 
heaven  is,  there  must  also  be  the  service  and  commerce  of  angels. 
So  much  we  thus  understand,  that  the  Lord  Himself,  with  all 
His  humiliation  and  self-renunciation,  must  have  had,  since  His 
baptism  and  temptation,  an  unveiled  view  of  His  Father  in 
Heaven,  and  a  sure  experience  of  the  presence  of  the  angels 
around  Him.  What  further  voices  and  manifestations  from 
above ;  what  further  appearances  and  interpositions  of  the  minis- 
tering spirits  occurred  to  Him  in  the  mystery  of  His  solitude,  it 
is  beyond  our  province  to  determine;  but  we  are  justified  in  pre- 
suming that  there  were  such  by  what  is  recorded  in  connexion  with 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration  (Matt.  xvii.  5)  and  the  garden  of 
anguish  (Lu.  xxii.  43).  But  of  that  Transfiguration  only  the 
three  were  the  witnesses, — not  Nathanael,  Andrew,  or  Philip, 
not  all  His  disciples ;  and  that  angel-manifestation  was,  when  it 
took  place,  witnessed  by  no  one.  The  notion  that  the  disciples 
may  have  often  seen  appearances  of  angels  around  their  Lord  as 
He  prayed,  or  slept,  or  retired  into  secret  from  His  enemies, 
which  they  have  not  recorded,  belongs  to  some  imaginary  and 
poetical  Messiah.      When  the  Lord  here  promises  in  general 


60  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

terms  that  those  who  had  come  to  Him  should  from  that  time 
forward  (that  is,  withal,  since  they  occurred  to  Himself  at  the 
Jordan  and  in  the  wilderness)  see  these  things  with  Him ;  we 
must  not  suppose  Him  to  have  intended  it  externally  and  literally, 
but  symbolically.  He  takes  from  the  first  secret  miracles,  (espe- 
cially from  that  first  one  of  all,  which  the  Baptist  had  made 
known  to  the  disciples,  and  which  the  "other  followed  as  a  conse- 
quence), the  expression  by  which  He  signifies  all  the  miracles  in 
general  which  they  should  behold  with  Him ;  and  were  these  not, 
too,  heaven-openings  and  the  service  of  angels  ?  He  teaches 
them  that  they  are  so  to  be  regarded ;  for  they  are  signs  and 
tokens  of  that  open  communication  which  subsists  between  this 
Son  of  Man  upon  earth,  and  the  heavenly  powers  and  messen- 
gers. For  that  reason  it  is  that  He  terms  Himself  the  Son  of 
Man,  in  the  full  and  pregnant  sense  of  that  name,  which  He 
henceforward  commonly  assumes  to  Himself:  thereby  at  the 
same  time  responding  to  Nathanael's  confession,  ver.  49,  "  Yes, 
I  am  the  Son  of  God  in  humanity."  He  had  made  latent  refer- 
ence to  Jacob-Israel's  history  when  He  spake  of  the  Israelite  with- 
out guile  ;  He  recurs  to  it  once  more,  and  refers  to  what  once 
symbolically  occurred  at  Bethel.  It  is  written  in  Moses,  con- 
cerning that  ladder  of  heaven,  that  the  angels  of  God  ascended 
and  descended  upon  it ;  and  the  disciples  could  not  but  think  of  it 
when  the  Lord  uttered  these  well-known  words.  This  first  word 
of  instruction,  consequently,  which  begins  to  unlock  the  Scrip- 
ture to  them,  was  designed  to  teach  them  in  the  symbolical  style 
of  Holy  Writ,  "  where  I  am,  there  is  in  the  reality  of  its  fulfil- 
ment, the  house  of  God  and  the  gate  of  heaven ;  and  this  ye 
shall  all  see  and  experience  by  faith.  He  who  in  the  old  time 
stood  above  that  ladder  with  His  elect  Israel  upon  the  earth 
below,  has  now  descended,  as  the  Son  of  Man,  Himself  the  true 
and  proper  Israel,  in  whom  the  calling  and  regeneration  of  all 
Israelites  is  perfected.  The  angels  of  God,  long  round  about 
man  upon  earth  (wherefore  it  was  there  said — they  ascended  and 
descended)  are  all  now  gathered  together  around  the  person  oi 
the  Son  of  God,  and  the  Son  of  Man,  through  whom  heaven  is 
once  more  opened  to  all  who  believe  in  Him.  Oh  how  often 
may  we  suppose  them  afterwards  at  sublime  critical  moments  of 
the  revelation  of  His  glory,  and  not  merely  when  signs  and  mira- 


john  ii.  4,  7,  8.  Gl 

cles  are  wrought,  to  have  recalled  these  words  ; — how  often  was 
it  to  their  faith,  as  if  they  had  seen  that  which  He  had  spoken  of! 
But  what  our  faith  thus  sees,  is  truly  and  really  more  distinctly 
seen  than  with  the  bodily  eye  it  could  be.  Fellowship  with  the 
unseen  world  is  opened  up  once  more  in  Christ.  This  is  the 
first  of  all  the  promises  which  He  gave  to  His  disciples.1 


THE  FIEST  WOKD  OP  HIS  DIVINITY  AT  THE  FIRST  MIRACLE. 

(Jno.  ii.  4,  7,  8.) 

What  was  Mary's  design  in  mentioning  that  the  wine  had 
failed  1  What  wrould  she  thereby  signify  to  her  Son  %  Assuredly 
not2  the  expediency  of  now  breaking  up,  in  order  to  save  their 
kind  hosts  from  being  throwrn  into  embarrassment.  Such  depar- 
ture before  the  customary  and  appointed  time  would  have  been 
still  more  unbecoming  and  offensive :  besides  which  our  Lord's 
answer,  which  certainly  must  correspond  with  Mary's  thoughts, 
bears  a  different  application.  Neither  does  so  decisive  a  rejec- 
tion of  His  Mother's  interference  befit  a  simple  suggestion  as  to 
the  propriety  of  departing  :  nor  concerning  that  can  we  suppose 
him  to  have  said — My  time  is  not  yet  come.  Furthermore, 
Mary  says  not  expressly — they  have  no  more  wine  :  but  simply 
— wine  is  wanting.  But  that  is  not  otherwise  to  be  understood 
than  as  conveying  a  hint,  question  and  supplication  : — shouldst 
thou  not  have  resources  and  help  for  this  emergency  ?  Is  not 
this  the  fit  hour,  to  manifest  Thyself  in  might  of  miracle  ?  (By 
supplying,  may  it  be,  the  marriage-present  omitted  by  us  in  our 
poverty?)  Mary  has  very  long,  and  with  constant  longing, 
waited  for  such  manifestation  of  her  Son.  He  has  not  yet 
accomplished  any  miracles,3  though  greater  than  Moses  and  Elias: 
and  she  is  amply  justified  in  expecting  them,  especially  since 
the  witness  of  John  and  His  own  public  presentation  of  Himself. 

1  See  Oetinger — Schrift  von  Auberlen  p.  537. 

2  Though  even  Bengel  thought  so. 

3  For  the  apocryphal  legends  concerning  earlier  miracles  are  utterly 
discredited  by  a  word  of  St  John  (ver.  11)  —  this  beginning  of 
miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana.    Tavrrjv — who  could  have  imagined  this  ? 


02  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

If  the  first  disciples  (in  whose  company  they  were  at  this  time) 

had  spoken  ought  of  the  promise — "  hereafter  ye  shall  see" 

this  would  have  stimulated  her  expectation  to  the  highest  inten- 
sity. She  is  even  warranted  to  infer,  from  His  acceptance  of 
the  invitation  to  the  wedding,  that  He  would  not  deem  such  a 
first  use  of  His  miracle-working  power  unseemly :  she  perceives, 
indeed,  with  exquisite  discernment,  the  intention  of  the  Lord ; 
His  will  responds  to  her  prophetic  wish.  It  is  her  prerogative 
alone,  to  be  capable  of  conceiving — before  it  takes  place — the 
amazing  grace  and  condescension  of  His  first  miracle.1 

And  does  He,  nevertheless,  repel  her  I     Does  He,  neverthe- 
less, rebuke  her  suggestion,  and  in  such  wise  as  to  prevent  her 
from  ever  so  speaking  again  1     He  actually  accomplished  after- 
wards, what  she  by  gentle  insinuation  had  asked  of  Him, — 
because  she  divined  His  thought  as  no  other  did — and  yet,  be- 
fore He  does  so,  there  is  this  severe  sharp  word  instead  of  the 
glad  acknowledgment,— yes,  thy  thoughts  are  also  my  thoughts. 
Wherefore  was  this  ?    Because  with  all  that  was  sound  and  right 
in  her  motive,  there  is  yet  mingled  a  certain  human  impatience, 
an  over-curious  intermeddling  with  a  matter,  about  which  even 
His  Mother  must  now  keep  silence  and  wait : — the  slightest 
possible  touch  of  the  purest  womanly-motherly  complacency  (we 
know  no  other  word)  prompting  in  her  the  desire  to  see  her  son 
honoured  in  her  presence.  Because,  also,  from  this  time  forward, 
He,  in  His  office  and  function,  may  no  more  be  her  son  ;  and 
therefore  takes  the  first  occasion  to  tell  her  so  once  and  for  all. 
Here  lies  the  deep  significance  of  this  another  First  Word,  by 
which,  conformably  with  that   meet  dignity   with   which   His 
heavenly  Father  had  invested  Him,  He  releases  and  disengages 
Himself  from  every  relation  of  regard  and  dependance  which,  as 
child,   He  had  sustained  to  His  Mother  according  to  the  flesh. 
The  holy  woman  who,  after  having  borne  Him  as  Virgin,  became 
Joseph's  wife  and  widow,  is  nothing  more  than  this  throughout : 
nor  ever  may  be  more,  as  in  heaven  she  is  not,  so  neither  upon 
earth.     He  who  is  not  Joseph's  son,  but  the  Son  of  God,  at  the 

^  i  Thus  much  we  admit — but  no  more.  That  Jesus  had  previously 
given  a  hint  of  His  intention,  of  which  Mary  only  too  prematurely 
reminded  him,  we  hold  to  be  quite  improbable,  as  unsupported  by  any 
intimation  whatever. 


john  ii.  4,  7,  8.  C3 

very  assumption  of  His  Prophetic  office,  and  through  all  its  func- 
tions, shows  that  He  deems  Himself  not  the  son  of  Mary,  hut 
Him  whom  the  Father  had  sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world. 
How  does  the  idolatrous  fancy  of  His  Mother's  interposition  with 
Him  in  heavenly  mediation,  fade  away  before  this  clear  utterance 
at  the  outset !  Yea  rather,  even  when  she  approaches  nearest 
to  the  inner  comprehension  of  His  divine-human  purpose,  even 
there  will  her  fallible  humanity  betray  its  want  of  perfect  har- 
mony: and  the  Spirit  of  the  Father  in  Him,  provident  for 
futurity,  prompts  this  solemn,  and  earnest,  and  decisive  utter- 
ance, as  a  witness  against  all  the  Mariolatry  of  His  future 
grossly-erring  church.  Further  on,  this  error  is  again  most 
distinctly  aimed  at,  in  that  other  word — who  is  my  mother? 
Whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven, 
the  same  is  my  brother  and  sister  and  mother.  Matt.  xii.  48, 
50.  And  again  :  blessed  indeed  is  she  whose  womb  bare,  and 
she  whose  breast  hath  nourished  me ;  but  only  blessed  because 
she  hath  believed,  in  common  with  all  who  hear  the  word  of  God 
and  keep  it.  Lu.  xi.  27,  28.  In  what  way  He  addressed  and 
how  He  honoured  His  mother,  as  her  child  and  son,  the  Scrip- 
ture records  not ;  but  it  is  recorded,  that  His  first  word  to  her  in 
His  ministry,  and  the  last  to  her  upon  the  Cross— though  the 
testament  of  His  filial  love — terms  her  woman  and  nothing  more. 
The  German  translation  "Weib,  was  hast  du  mit  mir  zu 
schaffen  V  (Eng. :  woman,  what  hast  thou  to  do  with  me  ?)  fails 
in  many  ways  to  convey  the  spirit  of  the  original  text.  First  of 
all,  the  appellation  should  close  the  sentence,  because  the  reason 
why  she  is  not  termed  mother,  must  at  the  beginning  be  indicated 
in  order  that  such  a  repulse  might  be  justified  to  all  other  women. 
Their  "  frau"  (woman)  bears  quite  a  different  meaning  from  the 
"  weib"  of  our  day  : — it  is  an  appellation  by  no  means  deroga- 
tory, but,  under  the  circumstances,  very  affectionate,  as  in  Jno. 
iv.  21,  xx.  15.  Lastly,  rl  ijxbi  kcu  croc1 — more  correctly : — What 
have  /in  common  with  thee?  since  His  person  by  right  and  honour 

i  This  formula  e.g.  also  2  Sam.  xvi.  10 ;  1  Kin.  xvii.  18,  signifies 
nothing  hard  or  severe.  Whether  it  was  a  common  phrase  of  men 
towards  women  in  general,  and  not  at  all  for  worthy  gentlewomen,  as 
Lange  supposes,  I  much  doubt,  and  can  find  nothing  to  corroborate  it 

in  yvvai. 


61  TI1E  FIRST  WORDS. 

must  have  precedence— involves  no  more,  no  less  than  this: 
when  my  office  and  its  ministry  are  concerned,  is  it  not  for  thee 
to  retire,  and  forget  that  thou  art  my  mother  1  "  That  which  in 
me  works  miracles  was  not  born  of  thee."  (Augustine.) 

This  is  the  first  part  of  our  Lord's  word,  ever  solemn  and 
severe  as  a  testimony  for  the  truth  in  all  nearer  and  remoter 
futurity.  But  no  sooner  has  He,  in  holy  submission  to  the 
Father,  thus  denied  the  affections  of  His  human  filial  heart,  than 
He  changes  His  voice,  and  so  modifies  His  speech,  as  to  console 
her  with  all  affection  for  the  restriction  and  repression  to  which 
His  words  had  subjected  her.  The  other  part  of  this  saying, 
which  is  now  adjoined,  tends  to  assure  her  :•— thou  hast  under- 
stood me,  as  I  understand  thee,  I  will  and  shall  do  what  thou 
meanest.  That  Mary  has  so  understood  him,  her  own  next 
words  to  the  servants  (clinging  as  they  do  to  His  last  word,  per- 
sisting in  expectation  of  a  miracle,  and  more  confident  than  ever) 
most  decisively  attest : — whatsoever  He  saith  unto  you,  do  it ! 
Yet  does  it  become  the  holy  dignity  of  the  Lord  to  prescribe  a 
set  time,  in  order  that  Mary,  and  with  her  whosoever  may  read 
this  First  Word  at  the  beginning  of  His  miracles,  should  observe 
and  take  good  heed,  that  all  His  works  are  done,  only  in  the 
manner  and  at  the  time  when  the  Son,  under  the  authority  of  the 
Father,  wills  :  that  their  time  and  their  hour  are  fore-appointed, 
independently  of  human  will  and  wish— My  hour  is  not  yet 
come  !  And  though  it  were  not  even  a  matter  of  a  day  earlier 
or  later  (as  afterwards  when  He  repeats  the  same  saying  to  His 
brethren  concerning  going  up  to  the  feast),  but,  as  here  to  all 
appearance  about  something  still  less  important :  nevertheless, 
He  doeth  all  things  great  and  small  alike,  at  their  own  critical 
moment.  That  is  a  word  of  divine  value,  which  is  written  inEcc. 
iii.  11.  Hence  did  the  Evangelist  derive  it,  when  he  once  and 
again  testified :— His  hour  was  not  yet  come,  Jno.  vii.  30  ;  viii.  20. 
He  Himself  knew  and  bore  witness  when  His  hour  had  finally 
come  (Jno.  xii.  27;  xiii.  1 ;  xvii.  1 ;  Matt.  xxvi.  45.) 

That  was  the  last  great  hour  of  the  glorification  of  the  Son  of 
Man  in  sufferings :  but  here  He  speaks  not  of  that.  Of  what 
hour  then  ?  Does  He  refer  merely  to  the  right  hour  and  moment 
for  the  performance  of  the  miracle  at  the  marriage  in  Cana?  If 
we  have  felt  the  depth  of  meaning  in  all  the  other  first  words  of 


john  ii.  4,  7,  8.  65 

the  Lord,  we  shall  be  scarcely  induced  to  believe  that  this 
sublime  expression,  so  sublimely  repeated  by  Himself  at  His 
passion,  "  My  hour  is  not  yet  come,"  means  no  more  now  when 
He  utters  it  first  than  just  to  intimate  for  the  present  occasion — 
a  few  minutes  more  and  then  is  the  right  time.  No,  for  we 
observe  finally,  that  the  error  which  was  checked  in  Mary  in- 
volved something  more  than  the  before-mentioned  forwardness  of 
motherly  longing  and  interference.  There  was  fundamentally 
mixed  up  with  it  the  notion  which  was  to  the  last  shared  by  all 
the  disciples,  of  the  earthly  glory  of  His  kingdom.  The  error 
of  supposing  that  He  was  come  to  supply  all  their  need,  to  defend 
them  from  all  want,  to  create  around  them  happiness  and  joy,  had 
in  some  degree  contributed  to  the  expectation  that  He  would  now 
furnish  the  wine.  It  is  to  this  that  the  Lord's  wisdom,  which 
looks  through  the  immediate  occasion  into  the  widest  connexions 
of  His  truth,  and  contemplates  in  the  individual  circumstances  of 
the  present  the  last  futurity  which  they  pretypify,  addresses 
itself  now.  When  He  says,  My  hour  is  not  yet  come,  He  is  think- 
ing, we  may  presume,  in  His  secret  mind  (we  dare  so  boldly  to 
penetrate  the  depths  of  His  thought)  of  that  time  when  all  shall 
be  fulfilled,  which  the  wedding-feast  at  Cana,  and  the  cheerful 
wine — the  first  gift  of  His  saving  power  and  kindness — symboli- 
cally foretold.  That  hour  of  His  established  kingdom,  when  the 
fruit  of  the  grape  shall  be  drunk  new,  is  not  yet-  come — we  must 
say  this  even  yet1 — but  as  surely  as  the  sufferings  of  Christ  did 
come,  and  in  His  church  continue,  the  hour  of  glory  will  come 
after  them. 

Mary's  confident  faith  after  this  humiliation  hastened  the 
hour ;  so  that  it  was  probably  for  the  sake  of  her  word  that  He 
turned  to  the  servants.  We  may  say  generally  concerning  the 
words  recorded  as  having  been  spoken  to  the  servants,  that 
they  are  an  example  of  those  altogether  external,  earthly,  and 
merely  human  words  which  the  Lord  must  have  often  spoken 
amid  the  circumstances  of  His  life  in  the  flesh,  but  which  are 
in  general  not  preserved.  Yet  when  we  look  more  narrowly 
into  them,  we  find  the  reason  why  the  evangelist  who  relates  so 

1  And  also  learn,  that  the  very  last  hour  of  need  must  previously 
come,  when  the  Church  will  appear  ready  to  give  up  the  ghost.     See 
the  beautiful  reference  to  the  impatience  of  the  "  English  apostles"  in 
Bottiger's  essay  upon  them,  p.  102. 
5 


66  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

concisely,  and  with  so  much  omission,  the  history  of  the  miracles, 
has  not  passed  them  over  :  yea  rather  this  example  begins  to  im- 
press it  upon  us  that  the  Lord  can  have  spoken  scarcely  any  thing 
without  some  deeper  meaning  underlying  the  manner  and  matter 
of  his  words.  He  calls  the  water  to  bear  witness  of  the  existing 
gift  and  creature  of  God,  which  He  will  wonderfully  change ; 
for  every  miracle  designedly  attaches  itself  to  something  natu- 
ral, which  it  may  elevate  and  transfigure.  Only  Dr  Paulus' 
infatuated  perversity  could  suppose,  that  for  a  true  miracle  the 
wine  ought  to  have  been  drawn  immediately  from  the  empty 
pitchers.  Jesus  commands  that  the  whole  of  the  six  waterpots 
which  were  there  for  the  Jewish  purification  (out  of  which  the 
first  manifestation  of  the  glory  of  His  new  grace  should  come 
forth)  should  be  filled,  in  order  that  not  a  little  of  the  miraculous 
wine  should  remain  over  as  a  dowry  :  for  this  was  as  befitting  on 
the  present  occasion  as  in  Elijah's  gift  out  of  God's  fulness,  when 
the  oil  ceased  not,  till  there  was  no  longer  a  vessel  to  receive  it. 
The  servants  fill  them  to  the  brim —  strictly  complying  with 
Mary's  direction,  that  they  should  do  whatever  He  said  unto 
them ;  and  now  they  wait,  looking  at  Him  and  not  at  the  water, 
which  in  the  mean  time  is  made  wine.  Then  speaks  He  majesti- 
cally, precisely  defining  the  instant  of  the  creating  miracle : 
draw  out  now1 — and  nevertheless  in  His  humility  discloses  not 
what  was  transpiring.  It  would  not  have  been  possible  for 
Him  to  say :  draw  out  now  the  water,  it  shall  have  become 
wine ; — or,  the  water  which  has  been  now  made  wine,  as  St  John 
afterwards  says.  Finally,  His  directing  the  servants  to  carry  the 
wine  to  the  governor  of  the  feast,2  appertains  to  the  entire  and 
gracious  condescension  of  the  whole.   It  stands  a  solitary  example 

1  This  now  manifestly  indicates  the  critical  moment ;  after  ye  have 
filled,  look  then  at  what  ye  will  draw  forth  !  So  that  by  no  means  merely 
what  was  drawn  became  wine.  Let  the  text  be  looked  at,  in  which  to 
vdap  in  ver.  9,  is  parallel  with  vdaros  of  ver.  7.  And  why  else  the 
specification  of  the  quantity  ? 

2  For  we  must  insist  that  this  apx^TpUXivos  is  by  no  means  a  table- 
server  or  kitchen-master  (which  for  Cana  is  not  to  be  thought  of)  but 
the  {rvimoa-iapxns  or  magister  convivii,  chosen  from  among  the  guests  to 
be  president  of  the  banquet,  in  order  to  regulate  the  quantity  of  the 
drinking,  and  to  administer  all  the  various  usages  of  social  festivity. 
Ecclus.  xxxii.  1 — 3.  How  does  this  graceful  mention  and  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  title  of  such  an  office  put  to  shame  all  our  pedants. 
This  man,  who  is  in  no  marvelling  humour,  and  whose  ignorance  of  the 


john  ii.  16—19.  67 

in  the  evangelical  history,  of  His  most  full  and  benignant  approxi- 
mation to  human  order  and  custom ;  and  that  in  a  matter  which 
belongs  rather  to  the  slighter  things  of  life,  rather  to  its  hilarity 
than  its  earnest  work. 


THE  FIRST  PUBLIC  OFFICIAL  WORDS  TO  THE  HOSTILE 
GUARDIANS  OF  THE  TEMPLE. 

(Jno.  ii.  16—19.) 

The  Lord  spake  more  than  the  world  itself  could  have  con- 
tained, had  every  one  of  His  words  been  written  in  books. 
Which,  then,  out  of  the  multitude,  should  be  committed  to 
record  for  the  world  and  the  church  f  Those  which  beyond  the 
rest  had  especial  importance,  although  no  word  of  the  Word 
upon  earth  could  be  deemed  unimportant.  The  selection  and 
arrangement  were  not  left  with  man,  but  were  the  prerogative  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  concerning  whom  the  Lord's  promise  was,  "  He 
shall  glorify  me,  for  he  shall  take  of  mine  and  show  it  unto  you." 
That  Spirit  took  a  historical  picture  out  of  the  Lord's  whole  life 
and  work  from  His  birth  to  His  ascension,  and  so  shewed  it  to 
the  Evangelists  that  in  their  mutually  supplementary  records, 
the  glory  of  the  only  begotten  Son  shines  forth  to  us  full  and 
unimpaired.  The  Spirit  of  inspiration  in  his  mysterious  control 
over  those  records  has  also  so  ordered  it,  that  we  have  likewise 
received  through  the  remembrance  of  St  Matthew  and  St  John, 
the  careful  investigation  of  St  Luke,  and  the  simple  ministry  of 
St  Mark  combined,  the  substance  of  our  Lord's  discourses,  in  a 

miracle  warrants  the  goodness  of  the  wine,  even  as  the  knowledge  of  the 
servants  does  the  reality  of  the  miracle  (according  to  Michter's  striking 
observation),  makes  a  light  remark  upon  it — half  praising,  and  half 
in  jocose  blame.  From  this,  as  well  as  from  our  Lord's  disguising 
manner  of  speech,  ver.  8,  we  observe,  of  course,  that  all  the  guests  were 
not  likely  to  be  acquainted,  and  were  not  acquainted  with  the  transac- 
tion. 

1  Schmieder  has  some  important  remarks  upon  this  in  its  relation  to 
Scripture  in  his  u  Preliminaries  to  a  fundamental  vindication  of  the 
Biblical  history."     Haumburg  bei  Klaffenbach,  1837. 


68  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

true  and  genuine  abstract.     The  art   and  truthfulness  of  all 
historical  writing,  which  aims  to  condense  out  of  an  abundance 
of  events  a  succinct  narrative,   consists,   among  other  things, 
mainly  in  this,  that  the  beginnings  and  turning  points,  the  buds 
and  germs  of  development,  should  be  made  prominent  with  as 
much  fidelity  to  their  truth,  as  skill  in  their  presentation  ;  just 
for  instance  as  we  see  it  realized  in  that  perfect  pattern — the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles.    But  where  beginnings  and  turning  points 
occur  in  the  earthly  history  of  the  Lord's  life,  we  may  expect 
that  His  words  will  have  an  especially  outbeaming  character. 
Accordingly  we  find  in  the  Gospels  a  preliminary  series  of  First 
words,  which  the  Spirit  has  selected  as  the  most  critical  in  their 
occurrence,  and  most  distinctive  in  their  expression.     These  are 
together  the  critical  moments  of  our  Lord's  development  until 
He  reached  the  time  of  His  proper  teaching  and  testimony  before 
the  people  and  His  disciples  :  each  one  of  them  is  indicated  by  a 
profound  Word  which  expresses  the  true  nature  of  the  crisis. 
The  Lord  did  actually  thus  speak  them,  but  His  Spirit  alone 
could  with  perfect  fidelity  reproduce   them  in  the    Scripture, 
and  hand  them  over  to  the  Church.     What  He  spake  to  His 
parents  as  their  child  when  He  ceased  to  be  their  child  and 
entered  into  the  developed  consciousness  of  His  being  the  Son 
of  the  Father ; — what  He  spake  to  the  forerunner  as  a  man  at 
His  anointing  to  His  office,  and  what  to  Satan  in  that  first  con- 
flict which  immediately  followed;  how  He  received  the  first 
disciples,  and  at  His  first  miracle  released  Himself  once  more 
from  His  mother  according  to  the  flesh,  as  He  had  before  done 
in  that  word  of  His  childhood,  and  gave  Himself  entirely  up  to 
that  eternal  Spirit  who  ordered  all  things  in  Him  in  their  time 
and  hour ; — all  this  we  have  already  seen.  Now  follows  His  first 
public  official  word  spoken  to  the  present  adversaries  of  His  life 
and  teaching,  to  the  desecrating  occupants  of  the  temple,  whom 
He  is  constrained  by  His  zeal  for  God's  house  to  chastise,  and 
who  therefore  crucify  Him,  by  that  very  act  paving  the  way  for 
the  resurrection  of  the  new  temple  out  of  the  old.      Another 
great  turning-point  in  His  life,  in  which  we  discern,  through  the 
light  thrown  upon  it  by  the  accompanying  Word,  the  infolded 
germ  and  symbol  of  a  future  glorious  development. 

How  great  is  the  contrast  between  the  manifestation  of  His  lov- 


john  ii.  16—19.  69 

ing  kindness  before  His  mother  and  disciples  at  the  humble  Gali- 
lsean  wedding-festival,  and  that  of  His  judicial  severity  before  the 
Jews  and  their  rulers  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  The  glory 
that  was  full  of  grace  was  also  full  of  truth.  He  who  came  to 
diffuse  joy,  is  come  also  to  fan  the  threshing-floor,  and  vigorously 
to  correct  all  that  is  ungodly  in  God's  people  and  house.  Not 
here  where  the  desecration  reigns  did  He  give  the  first  of  His 
signs ;  but  before  He  begins  in  Jerusalem  at  the  Passover  to 
work  miracles,  He  announces  Himself  with  all  His  holy  severity 
in  His  Father's  house,  by  an  act  of  testimony  and  authority. 
And  with  that  act,  which  is  itself,  equally  with  the  miracles,  a 
sign,  He  speaks  a  prophetic  miracle-word,  which  till  this  begin- 
ning had  reached  its  end  in  the  building  of  the  new  temple  of 
the  new  Church  through  His  resurrection — points  to  that  great 
miracle  as  the  end  and  aim  of  all  others. 

The  messenger  sent  before  His  face  had  prepared  His  way. 
Now  came  to  His  temple  the  Lord  whom  they  had  sought  there 
in  all  their  worship,  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant  whom  they 
desired,  but  could  not  abide  the  day  of  His  coming.  He  began 
His  refining  and  purifying  by  an  act  of  zeal  which  every  true 
zealot  in  Israel,  whether  with  or  without  office,  would  have  been 
justified  and  indeed  was  bound  to  execute;  but  no  man  per- 
formed it,  the  traders  and  money-changers  sat  in  the  temple, 
speaking  signs  of  its  decline  and  perversion.  Then  is  His  Spirit 
stirred  by  the  holy  indignation  of  chastising  truth ;  He  does  not 
merely  speak,  for  no  simple  word  alone  would  have  said  enough 
duly  to  denounce  this  omission  of  duty ;  He  begins  Himself  to 
act,  drives  with  the  scourge  the  men  and  their  cattle  out  of  the 
temple,1  pours  out  their  mammon,  overturns  those  unsanctified 
tables  in  the  sanctuary,  which  exhibited  to  Him  at  His  very 
entrance  the  Jewish  nation  of  traffickers ;  then  in  full  self-pos- 
session, and  by  design  He  softens  His  utterance,  and  passes, 
after  affectionately  sparing  the  doves  (in  which  He  sees  not  mere 
sacrifices  as  in  the  sheep  and  oxen,  but  also  the  symbol  of  the 
Holy  Ghost)  to  that  word  which  illustrates  and  explains  the 

1  He  never  drives  into  the  temple  with  the  scourge — as  it  is  very 
thoughtfully  remarked  in  the  evang.  Kirchenzeitung  1845,  p.  93. 
That  He,  moreover,  did  not  merely  drive  out  the  cattle  with  the  scourge 
is  expressly  stated  in  ver.  15. 


70  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

deed:— -Take  these  tilings  hence;  make  not  my  Father's  house  a 
house  of  merchandise. 

In  this  first  decisive  command,  beginning  with  three  majestic 
words,  He  neither  mentions  the  temple  nor  the  objects  which 
desecrate  it,  but  merely  accompanies  the  self-explaining  act  with 
— these  things  hence  !  He  speaks  the  language  of  emotion  and 
holy,  divine-human  anger,  which  must  have  excited  within  the 
minds  of  all  who  heard  a  response  that  would  carry  its  own  con- 
viction— belong  these  things  here  t  Eemove  them  hence  !  This 
indignation  has  gathered  in  His  soul  from  one  festival  to 
another,  as  the  disorder  met  His  eyes :  the  time  is  now  come, 
and  it  breaks  out  in  an  act,  which  may  partly  be  regarded 
as  long  before  projected  and  prepared  for,  partly,  as  the  instan- 
taneous product  of  a  sudden  internal  resolve.  This  first 
severe  word  is  followed  (as  in  Cana,  to  His  mother)  by  one 
more  gentle,  which  gives  ample  explanation  of  His  conduct. 
It  is  not  without  a  silent  remembrance  of  that  word  which 
His  Father  gave  Him  on  His  first  entering  the  temple  eighteen 
years  before,  that  He  now  publicly  calls  God  His  Father.  He 
does  not  reveal  Himself  before  the  world,  however,  with  an  in- 
dependent and  self-asserting  testimony — I  am  His  son  ! — He 
avoids  every  appearance  of  bearing  loftily  His  own  honour,  and 
utters  it. as  the  unpremeditated  and  self-understood  expression  of 
His  inner  being,  arising,  as  in  the  former  instance  when  He  was 
a  youth  of  twelve  years  old,  out  of  the  circumstances  of  the  pre- 
sent occasion.  It  was,  indeed,  and  must  ever  have  been  to  all 
who  heard  it,  a  word  of  new  and  mighty  significance,  that  any 
son  of  man  should  call  the  Jehovah  of  Israel  simply  and  dis- 
tinctively his  Father.  It  should  have  been  for  all  the  scribes, 
who,  like  Nathanael,  had  learnt  in  prophetic  Scripture  concerning 
the  Son  who  was  to  come,  a  full  and  distinct  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion : who  art  thou,  and  by  what  authority  dost  thou  thus  act 

and  command  I  But  they  who  now  first  heard  this  word,  the 
most  important  of  all  that  He  said,  appear  remarkably  enough 
to  have  scarcely  seized  its  significance,  in  the  heat  of  their  vexa- 
tion and  in  the  confusion  of  what  was  taking  place.  They  stood, 
indeed,  in  silence,  and  listened  to  every  word,  when  the  Lord  after 
His  silent  act  began  also  to  speak;  but  it  was  only  afterwards 
that  they  found  calmness  rightly  to  reflect  upon  the  word  which 


john  ii.  16—19.  71 

they  had  heard.  The  Lord  had  withal  referred  to  a  passage  of 
the  Scripture,  to  that  rebuke  which  the  Lord  of  Hosts  had  admi- 
nistered to  His  people  in  Jer.  vii.  1 — 11  :  trust  ye  not  in  lying 
words,  saying,  the  temple  of  the  Lord  are  these !  Is  this  house 
which  is  called  by  my  name,  become  a  den  of  robbers  in  your 
eyes  !  But  it  is  only  at  the  second  temple-cleansing  at  the  close 
of  His  ministry  that  He  quotes  this  saying  in  all  its  severity ;  for 
the  present  He  softens  the  expression,  and  says  instead  : — make 
not  my  Father's  house  a  house  of  merchandize  !  Whether  they 
detected  therein  the  tone  of  that  prophetic  saying  must  remain  a 
question.  We  read  that  the  Jews  (as  St  John  always  markedly 
designates  the  rulers  of  the  people  in  Jerusalem)  do  not  as  yet 
lift  up  their  contradiction — how  callest  thou  God  thy  own  pecu- 
liar Father  ?  For  this  declaration  they  pass  over  for  the  moment ; 
they  must  examine  it  again  and  again  :  it  must  first  excite  oppo- 
sition in  the  reluctance  of  their  rebellious  hearts,  before  they 
can  strengthen  themselves  to  oppose  it  in  words.  We  do  not 
read,  further,  that  they  committed  themselves  to  any  justification 
of  the  commerce  in  the  Temple,  for  which  subsequent  reflexion 
might  have  placed  many  arguments  at  their  command.  For  the 
impression  of  His  sudden  act,  and  the  irresistible  conviction  of  the 
words  which  followed  it — take  these  things  hence  !  have  so  entirely 
overpowered  them,  that  they  can  find  no  words  of  defence.  But 
how  this  man,  rabbi,  zealot,  prophet,  or  what  else,  should  have 
the  power  to  assail  the  time-honoured  abuses  which  they  them- 
selves had  tolerated  and  even  established,  and  that  so  summarily, 
not  merely  in  word  but  in  act,  this,  although  the  most  super- 
ficial part  of  the  whole  procedure,  absorbs  their  thoughts,  be- 
cause it  is  an  injury  to  themselves,  an  invasion  of  their  official 
prerogative.  Forgetting  the  word  in  the  act,  and  in  the  act  for- 
getting the  right  of  the  thing  done  in  the  right  of  the  person 
doing  it — as  always  happens  in  similar  circumstances — they  speak 
in  pitiable  folly  while  thinking  themselves  wise: — what  sign 
shoioest  thou  unto  us,  seeing  that  thou  doest  these  things  ?  Not : 
is  it  then  true  that  merchandize  and  money-changing  become  not 
the  temple  1  but : — who  art  Thou,  who  bearest  such  vigorous 
witness  to  this  truth  ?  (Acts  vii.  35).  Though  He  has  already  told 
them  : — I  am  the  Son  of  God,  whose  house  this  is,  they  come 
as  the  official  temple-police  and  rulers  of  Israel  with  their  ques- 


72  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

tion  :  wilt  thou  arrogate  to  thyself  the  right  of  a  'prophet  ?  Not 
further  than  this,  but  so  far  at  least,  must  the  Lord's  act  have 
moved  them,  that  they  were  constrained  to  bring  back  to  their 
thoughts  those  long-gone  times  when  men  of  God  appeared  before 
Israel,  condemning  even  kings  and  priests,  and  vindicating  their 
right  to  do  so  by  signs  from  heaven.  John  the  Baptist  had 
already  brought  the  times  of  the  prophets  near  to  them  :  but  he 
did  no  miracle,  and  his  word,  as  the  voice  of  a  preacher  in  the 
wilderness,  had  left  their  temple-trading  undisturbed.  If  now 
this  man  (who  had  been  with  the  Baptist,  and  many  reports  of 
singular  incidents  in  connexion  with  him  were  circulated)  assumes 
the  right  to  go  so  much  further  in  reproof  than  he,  his  pretension 
must  be  justified  in  our  presence,  according  to  the  law  of  Moses 
for  the  testing  of  prophets.  Thus  their  question  had  the  appear- 
ance of  a  prudent  and  righteous  restraint  within  lawful  bounds, 
when  dealing  with  what  was  wrong  ;  and  yet  it  was  full  of  folly 
and  blindness.  A  right  was  conceded  at  that  time  to  every 
zealot  or  earnest  man  for  the  removal  of  abuses  and  corruptions 
in  Israel,  without  any  miraculous  assertion  on  his  part  of  pro- 
phetical dignity  :  but  what  the  Lord  had  now  done,  spoke  suffi- 
ciently for  itself :  His  neglected  word  was  with  the  act  itself  a 
mighty  and  miraculous  sign  of  divine  authority. 

The  Lord  did  not  now,  as  He  never  afterwards  did,  show  the 
Jews  a  sign  at  their  demand  :  he  gives  them  a  sign  instead  which, 
according  to  the  word  of  Moses  (Deut.  xiii.  1,  2)  should  come  to 
pass  in  its  own  time,  and  thus  fulfils  all  legal  righteousness,  so 
far  as  their  question  was  actually  grounded  upon  that.  He  leaves 
unanswered  the  evil  of  their  question,  and  yet  says  to  them : — 
destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up.  A  second 
word  of  mystery,  in  which  His  enemies  found  much  food  for 
their  speculation,  even  till  under  the  cross,  and  at  the  stone  ot 
the  sepulchre.1 

That  the  comment  of  the  holy  evangelist— He  spake  of  the 

i  Pity  that  Hauff  (Stud.  u.  Krit.  1849.  1.  p.  106)  should  spoil  his 
beautiful  and  tolerably  correct  confirmation  of  the  Johannean  inter- 
pretation, by  maintaiiing  at  the  outset,  that  inspiration  did  not  so  far 
secure  from  error,  as  to  make  the  meaning  of  the  words  of  Jesus  per- 
fectly plain  ! !  To  wish  to  be  better  instructed  than  the  apostles,  is 
now-a-days  the  incorrigible — folly  of  the  learned. 


john  ii.  16—19  73 

temple  of  His  body — must  through  the  Holy  Ghost  be  the  true 
one,  admits  of  no  doubt  to  a  believing  student  of  Scripture,  how- 
ever hard  it  may  be  to  understand  it.  That  the  Lord  when  He 
said  "  this,"  should  have  pointed  to  His  own  body,  is  in  itself  a 
strange  idea,  and  is  refuted  by  the  instant  apprehension  of  the 
Jews  : — forty  and  six  years  was  this  temple  in  building — rather, 
so  long  has  it  already  been  in  building !  They  could  not  pos- 
sibly have  overlooked  so  manifest  a  finger-sign.  It  is  equally 
certain,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Lord  must  have  spoken  of 
that  temple,  of  that  desecrated  house  of  His  Father,  about  which 
the  question  then  was ;  for  He  proceeds  now  as  ever,  from  the 
present  circumstance  to  the  deeper  truth  which  He  attaches  to 
it ;  He  speaks  to  the  understanding  of  His  hearers,  so  that  they 
might  understand,  even  where  they  will  not.  But  no  man  could 
have  immediately  thought  of  the  temple  of  His  body  at  that  time, 
as  even  the  disciples  perceived  that  latent  meaning  only  after  the 
resurrection.  How  can  the  question  be  solved  but  thus,  that  the 
Lord  speaks  of  both  at  the  same  time? 

And  so,  indeed,  it  was.  This  mysterious  wonder-word  has  not 
a  misleading  double  sense  ;  but  the  two  sides  of  its  deep  meaning 
are  in  reality  one.  For  what  is  the  new  temple  built  by  Christ, 
after  that  old  one,  new-built  by  Herod,  was  destroyed,  but  His 
church,  the  new  people  of  God,  the  house  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  the  sanctuary  of  the  Holy  Ghost  1  And  is  not  this  church 
His  body,  raised  up  and  nourished  out  of  His  risen  body  ?  Again, 
did  not  the  Jews,  in  destroying  His  body  upon  the  cross,  cast 
down  their  typical  temple,  and  effect  and  work  out  its  destruc- 
tion ?  For  this  temple  on  which  they  in  hypocrisy  rely,  while 
they  honour  not  its  Lord  and  receive  Him  not  when  He  comes 
to  it,  is  a  shadow  and  type  of  the  body  and  the  church  of  the  Lord. 
This  is  the  plain  key  to  the  mystery  which  the  Lord's  saying,  in 
its  sublime  and  profoundly  simple  wisdom,  gives  to  the  foolishly 
wise  in  Israel  to  think  upon.  His  word  points  impressively,  and, 
as  it  ever  is,  in  strict  harmony  with  the  occasion,  from  the 
shadow  to  the  substance,  thus  opening  up  the  mystery  of  that 
substance.  He  prophecies  in  the  beginning,  while  they  are 
asking  Him  for  proof  of  His  prophetic  offioe,  concerning  the  end ; 
He  unveils  to  them,  if  perchance  they  might  apprehend  it  in 
subsequent  reflection,  the  entire  relation  of  His  sanctified  person 
to  them  and  their  temple-service  ;  tells  them,  as  the  Searcher  of 


74 


THE  FIEST  WORDS. 


hearts,  how  well  He  knows  that  they  themselves,  who  should  be 
the  defenders  of  the  temple,  would  be  guilty  of  its  destruction ; 
and  yet,  that  by  the  marvellous  pre-arrangement  of  the  counsel 
of  God,  the  evil  which  they  should  do  to  the  temple  of  His  body 
would  subserve  at  the  same  time  the  removal  of  all  shadows,  and 
the  resurrection  of  the  new  and  abiding,  out  of  the  death  of  the 
old.  I  knowr  what  I  have  to  expect  from  you,  and  whither  things 
will  tend,  better  than  ye  yourselves  now  know :  my  zeal  will 
still  irritate  your  anger  till  that  takes  place  for  which  I  came 
into  the  world :  till  through  my  death  at  your  hands  the  veil  is 
rent  asunder,  and  in  my  resurrection  through  the  hand  and 
power  of  God,  the  foundation  of  the  true  and  real  temple  is  laid. 
For  I  am  indeed  not  come  merely  to  punish,  but  to  renew :  yea, 
to  restore  again  what  ye  destroy. 

As  the  obvious  literal  sense  of  the  restoration  of  the  destroyed 
temple  in  three  days  involved  what  was  utterly  inconceivable, 
and  it  was  not  possible  that  they  could  consciously  and  intel- 
ligently ascribe  such  a  meaning  to  the  Lord,  as  He  now  and 
henceforward  manifested  Himself  to  them, — it  was  necessary  that 
they  should  think  out  some  solution,  and  for  that  very  purpose 
was  this  word  given  to  them.  That  they  did  so  is  evidenced 
by  their  recollection  and  use  of  it  at  the  cross  and  the  sepul- 
chre, where  they  show  themselves  to  have  finally  approached  very 
near  to  a  right  understanding  of  its  meaning.1  Yet  there  they 
distort  it,  however,  and  conceal  the  testimony  of  their  conscience, 
by  perverting  the  former  part  of  His  words  in  the  testimony  of 
the  false  accusers,  as  if  it  was  himself  that  proposed  to  destroy, 
whereas  He  said  "  destroy  ye  /"  and  in  this  conscious  perversion 
they  betrayed  that  they  had  marked  whither  the  Lord's  words 
had  tended.  Therefore  do  they  clamour  Him  in  bitter  mockery 
to  the  cross,  thus  actually  performing  what  he  had  predicted. 

Destroy  !  This  was  spoken  prophetically  and  permissively.  I 
know  that  it  will  be  in  your  hearts,  and  that  ye  will  be  permitted 

1  What  they  affirm  in  Matt,  xxvii.  63  the  Lord  had  never  uttered  in 
their  hearing  in  so  many  words — but  it  may  be  regarded  as  their  right 
interpretation  of  the  discourses  concerning  the  building  again  in  three 
days,  and  the  sign  of  Jonas,  taken  together.  Lange  has  well  observed 
against  Hase  (ii.  3.  1625)  how  natural  it  was  that  they  should  under- 
stand earlier  and  better  than  the  Apo3tles,  the  Lord's  hint  that  they 
would  put  Him  to  death,  and  how  then  ex  opposito  the  saying  concern- 
ing His  resurrection  would  make  itsslf  plain  to  them. 


john  ii.  16— 19.  75 

to  do  it — then  be  it  so  and  let  it  be  done !  That  their  persisting 
in  opposition  to  the  truth  of  God  might  lead  so  far  as  to  bring 
upon  them  yet  another  destruction  of  their  temple,  as  the  due 
punishment  of  their  own  act  and  guilt — so  much  at  least  must 
immediately  have  touched  their  conscience,  and  it  was  that  which 
the  Lord  addressed.  That  this  might  take  place  as  the  conse- 
quence of  their  putting  Him  to  death,  became  more  and  more 
plain  to  them  in  the  after  time.  But  that  His  death  would  issue  in 
a  Resurrection,  and  thereby  in  a  demolition  of  the  typical  temple 
in  order  to  the  building  of  a  new  one,  nay  rather  to  the  specific 
building  again  in  its  fulfilled  design  of  that  which  had  been 
abolished  (I  will  raise  it  up) — this  is  the  great  prophecy  which 
the  Lord  utters  to  them  here  ;  this  is  already  the  self-same 
sign  which  He  afterwards  gives  at  their  demand,  the  sign  of  the 
Prophet  Jonas,  that  one  last  sign  which  was  chosen  as  appropri- 
ate to  the  wicked  spirit  that  demanded  it. 

There  remains  now  only  the  question  whether  the  Jews  then 
perceived  a  connexion  between  this  temple  and  the  temple  of  His 
body,  as  the  central  idea  of  the  entire  saying ;  and  thence  were 
capable  of  understanding  the  double  meaning  of  His  word.  We 
must  here  take  into  account  the  whole  nature  of  the  case,  and 
the  tone  of  feeling  between  the  Lord  and  the  rulers  of  the  people 
must  be  presupposed.  John  had  announced  the  Messiah's 
kingdom  as  nigh  at  hand;  afterwards  boldly  proclaimed  that  He 
who  was  to  come  after  him  was  already  in  the  midst  of  the 
people ;  and  at  last  had  publicly  pointed  out  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
Even  if  the  heads  of  the  people  in  Jerusalem  had  received  no  in- 
telligence of  this  last  open  indication  of  Jesus  (which  is  impro- 
bable) yet  must  that  which  preceded  it  have  been  sufficient  to 
raise  in  them  such  a  degree  of  expectation,  that  if  any  one  should 
follow  the  Baptist  and  strikingly  announce  Himself  with  the 
authority  of  a  divine  call,  this  must  be  the  Messiah.  To  such 
preparation  rightly  to  hear  and  understand  it,  did  the  first  word 
of  Jesus — "  my  Father's  house  " — make  its  appeal  ;  and  yet 
that  word  is,  in  the  unthinking  excitement  of  their  anger,  and 
not  without  a  wanton  disregard,  utterly  disregarded.  For  it  was 
most  clearly  and  significantly  spoken.  But  when  their  counter- 
question,  losing  sight  of  the  "  Son  of  God,"  only  asks  after  His 
prophet-authority  ;  such  reply  as  this  was  in  the  highest  sense 


76  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

natural : — I  am  more  than  a  Prophet,  as  I  have  already  told 
you,  if  ye  had  been  willing  to  hear  aright.  This  is  the  general 
tone  of  the  second  word,  as  it  strikes  their  conscience  in  order 
to  open  their  ears.  It  was  not  spoken  to  be  understood  at  the 
moment  precisely,  but  for  their  subsequent  consideration,  when 
calmness  should  return :  but  then  the  scribes  in  Israel  might  well 
understand,  how  the  Messiah  should  speak  of  the  temple  and  His 
own  person  in  connexion,  as  if  in  a  certain  sense  they  both  were  the 
same.  For  it  was  a  doctrine  that  was  familiar  in  the  more  recent 
orthodox  biblical  learning  of  the  Jewish  writings,1  founded  particu- 
larly upon  Dan.  ix.  24,  as  generally  upon  that  deeper  understand- 
ing of  typical  relations  which  was  not  altogether  wanting ; — that 
the  Messiah  was  Himself,  and  should  be  called  the  Holy  of  Holies. 
Consequently  our  Lord  speaks,  however  enigmatically  for  the 
present  moment,  yet  plainly  enough  for  after  reflection ;  and 
admonishes  the  wicked  guardians  of  the  temple  to  think,  in  con- 
nexion with  the  type  and  shadow — to  which  indeed  its  own 
honour  is  due — of  that  higher  significance  of  meaning  in  them 
of  which  they  were  not  altogether  unaware.  He  deals  with  the 
scribes  by  their  theology,  with  the  men  by  their  conscience. 
The  process  of  thought,  which  would  be  excited  by  this  striking 
and  not-to-be  forgotten  word,  was  somewhat  as  follows  : — "what 
meant  this  mighty  one, — who  acted  and  spake  before  our  eyes 
and  our  ears  in  so  marvellous  a  manner,  that  we  had  no  spirit  to 
reply  to  him  otherwise  than  by  the  demand  of  a  sign — by  that 
strange  saying  which  He  so  undisguisedly  and  with  such  dignity 
spake  to  us  I  Assuredly  he  spoke  not  as  a  builder,  who  could  build 
anew  the  temple  !  That  we  should  destroy  the  temple  !  Its 
ruin  to  be  our  guilt !  Did  He  mean  that  it  would  be  through 
our  opposing  Him,  and  laying  hands  upon  His  holy  person  I 
What  if  he  were  truly  the  Messiah  !  For  he  spake  before  indeed 
of  His  Fathers  house.  But  can  then  the  Messiah  be  put  to 
death,  may  His  holy  body — itself  a  temple  of  God — be  destroyed  I 
That  second  word,  again,  was  so  peaceful,  so  resigned  to  all 
that  we  might  do  to  Him  and  through  Him  to  the  Temple  :  He 
appeared  not,  with  all  His  anger  and  zeal,  as  if  He  would  op- 

1  Here  must  be  sought  the  historical  ground  of  it — and  not  in  those 
gnostic  reveries,  to  which  e.g.  Hilgenfeld  amusingly  refers  this  vaos, 
(Clementin.  Recogn.  p.  111). 


John  ii.  16—19.  77 

pose  us  with  force.  Well,  we  understand  it : — it  is  that  He 
himself  is  the  Archetype  of  the  temple,  and  He  signifies,  that  if 
we  destroy  the  temple  of  His  hody,  this  that  is  made  with  hands 
will  fall  with  Him  ! "  Had  their  thoughts  proceeded  so  far, 
then  indeed  the  remaining  sentence  would  have  intimated  to 
them : — do  this,  /  shall  nevertheless  conquer,  and  in  a  short 
time  the  destroyed  Temple  will  be  erected  anew  I  I  myself — by 
my  own  authority  will  raise  it  up.  But  this  was  more  than 
their  theology  of  the  person  of  the  Messiah  was  wont  to  attribute 
to  Him. 

In  three  days — is  by  no  means  a  proverbial  expression  for  a 
short  time :  but  the  Lord  thus  early  declares,  although  like 
most  other  prophecy,  it  was  only  understood  in  its  fulfilment, 
what  He  knew  in  His  spirit  from  the  Scripture  ; — that  He  should 
rise  again,  in  order  to  raise  up  the  church  from  His  body,  on 
the  third  day  I  1  Cor.  xv.  4 ;  Matt.  xii.  40,  xx.  19 ;  Hos.  vi.  2. 
How  clearly  did  He  see  the  future  from  the  beginning  !  How 
deep  consciousness  had  He  of  the  way  and  goal  of  His  life  and 
death,  what  an  insight  of  consummate  wisdom  into  the  whole 
counsel  and  plan  of  His  Father !  He  knows  His  relation  to 
the  masters  of  the  present  temple  who  opposed  the  truth,  and 
with  whom  by  this  public  signal  He  now  begins  the  fore- 
appointed  warfare  of  His  testimony ;  He  knows,  that  He  himself 
is  the  true  temple  of  which  that  typical  one  prophecied  in  its 
time ;  that  He  must  yield  himself  up  to  receive  death  at  the 
hands  of  the  Jews,  in  order  that  the  true  sanctuary,  after 
the  shadow  has  in  natural  consequence  passed  away,  may  rise 
up  from  His  resurrection.  He  is,  finally,  prepared  to  yield 
Himself  up,  for  He  knows  that  thus  shall  He  bear  the  sins 
of  those  who  slay  him,  and  who  thereby  fulfil  the  design  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  order  to  a  new  and  everlasting  covenant  of 
grace,  in  which  the  essential  truth  of  the  old  covenant  comes 
forth  to  perfection.  This  still,  calmly-sublime  preparation  for 
the  dedication  of  Himself  to  that  warfare — through  blood  lead- 
ing to  victory-T-with  the  blind  ministers  of  that  Divine  counsel 
which  indeed  He  only  as  yet  penetrates ;  this  clear  all-compre- 
hensive consciousness  of  the  near  approach  of  the  end,  and  fulfil- 
ment, and  glorification  of  the  Old  Testament  economy,  as  also  of 
the  inner,  essential  relation  of  His  own  sanctified  person  to  the 


78  THE  FIRST  WORDS. 

whole ;  this  is  the  central  spirit  of  the  Word  which  He  utters  at 
this  great  crisis  of  His  life.  He  utters  it,  assuredly,  rather  for 
the  hearing  and  understanding  of  the  disciples  who  stood 
around  Him,  and  who  afterwards  when  the  sign  had  come  to 
pass,  should  think  upon  it,  and  should  believe  the  Scripture  and 
His  words  drawn  from  the  depths  of  Scripture;  than  for  His 
enemies,  who  neither  would  nor  could  understand  Him.  But 
He  utters  it,  at  the  same  time,  with  highest  dignity,  for  the  satis- 
faction of  His  own  consciousness  of  what  was  just  sufficient  to 
that  end.  What  the  later  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  fully 
developes  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  is  already  wrapped  up 
as  a  germ  in  this  early  word  of  our  Lord.     v 

To  prove  them,  whether  they  would  understand,  the  Lord 
spake  this  to  the  Jews,— but  they  would  not.     They  break  out 
again  in  petulant,  hasty,  and  vexatious  objection— which  only 
touches  the  surface  of  the  matter;  and  treat  the  mysterious  word 
which  had  been  spoken  in  such  majestic  calmness,  as  unworthy 
of  their  silent  attention  and  subsequent  thought.      He  there- 
fore keeps  silence,  in  order,  if  possible,   to  force  them  to  re- 
flexion.    They  seem  to  desire  no  specific  second  reply,  therefore 
He  gives  them,  none,  and  for  this  time  they  separate  ;  He  lets 
them  remain,  they  let  Him  go.     Thereupon  He  actually  per- 
forms, after  their  arrogant  demand  had  been  repelled,  those 
miracles  in  His  humility  which  might  bring  many  to  believe  on 
His  name,  although  He  knows  that  the  faith  which  hangs  upon 
miracles  is  not  the  true  one.     Thereupon  one  comes  out  from 
among  the  rulers,  who  has  ingenuously  pondered  what  he  had 
heard  and  seen ;   gives  his  confession  instead  of  all  the  rest 
of  his  colleagues  who  had  suppressed  it  as  it  was  rising  in  their 
consciences;  and  receives  as  the  gracious  recompense  of  his 
coming  in  the  night,  that  new  and  impressive  word  of  the  Light 
of  the  world.     Then  does  the  Lord  retreat  with  His  disciples 
from  the  capital  into  the  land  of  Judea,  and  baptizes  them,  as 
John  had  done,  with  a  transitional  baptism.    When  the  enmity  of 
the  Pharisees  begins  to  be  excited,  He  returns  back  again  to 
Galilee^  the  second  time  since  His  appearance  to  Israel.     He 
speaks  in  the  way  with  the  Samaritan  woman,  performs  in  Cana 
that  other  miracle,  and  begins  at  last  publicly  to  teach  and  preach 
in    Galike,  having  His  abode  in   Capernaum  after  His  own 


john  ii.  16—19.  79 

Nazareth  had  evil  intreatedhim,andfromthencemaking  thecircuit 
of  the  land  and  the  synagogues.  So  that  the  strict  chronological 
order  would  require  the  contents  of  the  third  and  fourth  chapters 
of  St  John,  and  even  of  St  Luke  iv.  16 — 30,  to  be  inserted 
before  we  return  to  the  Gospel  of  St  Matthew.  But  we  are 
disposed  to  leave  the  order  of  time,  which  soon  becomes  indistinct 
in  the  details,  and  is  seldom  of  much  importance  for  the  under- 
standing of  our  Lord's  discourses ;  and  for  the  present  to  follow 
each  Evangelist  singly,  with  references  merely  to  the  parallel 
places  in  the  others,  in  order  to  anticipate  in  their  connexion  the 
whole  of  these  profoundly  significant  first  words.  The  Lord  had 
already  taught  in  their  synagogues  all  round  before  His  rejection 
at  Nazareth  (Lu.  iv.  15)  ;  after  that,  He  went  forth  still  verging 
towards  Capernaum.  St  Matthew  briefly  indicates  this  (iv.  13) ; 
and  condenses  the  whole  Galilsean  preaching  into  one  general 
expression,  as  what  Jesus  from  that  time  began  to  preach  and  to 
teach. 


Off  THE 

[uhiveef.ity; 


(     81     ) 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 


THE  SUBSTANCE  OP  THE  FIRST  PREACHING  TO  THE  PEOPLE. 

(Matt.  iv.  17  ;  Mar.  i.  15.) 

Again  therefore  another  First  word — the  seventh  as  far  as  it 
may  be  connected  with  the  sixth  already  touched  upon — the  first 
public  word  of  Preaching  to  the  people.  There  intervene,  how- 
ever, occasional  testimonies  to  individual  men,  recorded  by  St 
John,  and  the  first  preaching  in  Nazareth  ;  which  St  Luke  gives 
us,  runs  nearly  parallel  with  it.  It  is  not,  further,  so  much  a 
single  utterance,  once  spoken  on  a  specific  occasion,  as  a  compen- 
dious summary  of  his  first  preaching,  which  repeated  itself  in 
words  of  which  these  are  a  type.  Thus  it  may  be  regarded  as  an 
introduction  of  that  connected  series  of  Discourses,  which  St 
Matthew  gives  us  first  of  all,  and  with  him  St  Mark  and  St 
Luke. 

The  Lord  commences  His  preaching  with  the  same  words  which 
the  Forerunner  had  already  uttered  (Matt.  iii.  2)  ;  in  order  that 
He  may  prepare  the  way  for  Himself  and  His  announcement  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  which  had  now  appeared — the  gospel  glad- 
tidings  revealed  to  faith.  For  He  is  ever  and  throughout  His 
whole  preaching  and  prophetic  office  His  own  peculiar  Fore- 
runner ;  the  preparer  of  His  own  way  to  His  mediatorial  and 
kingly  office.  This  is  the  first  thing  which  St  Matthew  records, 
in  order  to  indicate  that  same  transition  from  John  to  Jesus, 
which  we  discern  also  in  St  John's  history  of  the  baptism  (iii.  26  ; 
iv.  1).  It  is  not  immediately  said — I,  the  King  of  this  king- 
dom, am  come ;  nor  is  it,  My  kingdom  ; — the  Lord  preserves 
the  first  utterance  of  this  lofty  expression  for  His  disciples,  in 


82  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

His  humiliation  (Lu.  xxii.  30)1,  and  before  Pilate  ;  leading  the 
way  to  it  by  the  expression — the  Son  of  Man  and  His  kingdom 
(Matt.  xiii.  41 ;  xvi.  28  ;  comp.  xx.  21).  The  kingdom  of  heaven  : 
— an  expression  which  was  hardly  then  already  extant  among  the 
Jews,  but  probably  originated  in  the  Baptist's  words  as  a  most 
decisive  protest  against  false  notions  of  an  earthly  kingdom,  and 
thence  passed  over  into  the  later  Rabbinical  doctrine  to  denote 
the  idea  of  the  Messianic  kingdom,  which  had  indeed  existed  from 
the  beginning.  This  expression  does  not  occur  in  all  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, but  is  prepared  for  in  such  passages  as  Dan.  ii.  44.  The 
word  of  expectation  which  had  been  hitherto  familiar — the  king- 
dom of  God — was  taken  from  the  Prophets,  and  indeed  transi- 
tionally  developed  in  the  Apocrypha  (Ecclus.  x.  10).  This 
continues  to  be  the  expression  in  the  Gospels  of  St  Mark,  St 
Luke,  and  St  John  (only  Jno.  iii.  3,  5),  and  throughout  the 
New  Testament,  with  the  exception  of  St  Matthew,  who,  bring- 
ing into  prominence  the  opposition  between  the  true  fulfilment 
and  the  Jewish  expectation,  joins  with  "  the  kingdom  of  God" 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  in  his  record  of  our  Lord's  discourses. 
But  the  apostles  use  this  word  no  more,  as  the  Prophets  have 
it  not  at  all. l 

It  is  at  hand,  says  the  Lord  again,  as  the  Baptist  had  said,  and 
as  His  messengers  were  to  say  at  their  first  mission  in  Israel,  ch. 
x.  7.  It  is  exhibited  as  just  descending  from  heaven  to  earth, 
where  a  state  of  imperfection  is,  and  the  dominion  of  sin :  after- 
wards it  is  said  more  decisively : — the  kingdom  of  God  is  come 
to  you  (e^Oaaev,  ch.  xii.  28),  is  in  your  midst,  present  within  you 
(Lu.  xvii.  21).  But  where  the  expression  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
used,  the  word  always  includes  a  reference  to  the  Future  of  its 
true  consummation,  as  connected  with  the  secret  preparations  for 
that  Future,  as  will  be  more  fully  seen  in  Matt.  v.  3, 10,  20. 

It  comes  otherwise  than  Israel  supposed ;  therefore  is  the  neces- 
sary condition  of  repentance  prefixed.  It  demands  a  new  and 
heavenly  mind,  with  the  rejection  of  the  old  spirit ;  it  requires 
and  brings  with  it,  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit,  Ezek.  xviii.  31. 
That  was  the  impressive,  unexpected  preaching  of  the  Baptist : 
but  only  unexpected,  because  Israel  had  forgotten  what  was  the 

1  For  2  Tim.  iv.  18  is  a  quite  different  form  of  expression. 


MATTHEW  IV.  17.  83 

substance  and  result,  the  tenor  and  conclusion  of  all  the  prophecy 
and  preaching  of  the  Prophets.  The  last  and  greatest  Prophet 
before  Christ  utters  at  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  this  great 
and  comprehensive  word  :  and  Christ  Himself  as  the  Prophet  of 
His  new  kingdom  of  grace,  takes  it  up  again,  for  it  is  the  essential 
word  of  connexion  betwen  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments.  It 
remains  also  the  ever-recurring  word  of  preparation  for  faith,  and 
the  reception  of  grace;  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  belongs  only  to 
the  spiritually  poor  and  mourners  in  heart.  All  the  apostles  preach 
repentance  and  faith  ;  purification  from  all  former  sins  may  never 
be  dispensed  with  till  the  final  entrance  into  the  everlasting 
kingdom  (2  Pet.  i.  9 — 11);  and  even  from  heaven  the  Lord  cries 
to  His  church  below — Repent!     Rev.  ii.  5 — 16  ;  iii.  3,  19. 

Mark  further  this  "for"  between  the  two  phrases,  which  is  the 
true  link  between  the  preaching  which  demands,  and  the  promise 
which  bestows  : — a  word  which,  though  it  contains  the  pith  of 
the  sense,  has  been  omitted,  alas!  from  our  German  Bible  in  both 
places  !  u  The  desire  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  should  be  the 
motive  of  repentance."1  No  true  and  perfect  repentance  can 
spring  merely  from  the  terror  of  the  law ;  the  law  preaches  no 
distinctive  repentance,  but  life  for  the  righteous  and  death  to  all 
sinners.  But  all  the  prophets  and  John  had,  on  the  ground  of 
promised  grace,  exhorted  to  repentance  :  thereby,  as  in  a  word 
of  mercy,  offering  also  the  gift  of  repentance  unto  life,  even  as  the 
Lord  and  His  Apostles  do.  Acts  v.  31,  xi.  18.  Thus  is  folded 
up  in  this  introductory  word  of  the  Lord  the  whole  substance, 
the  essential  principle  of  all  the  exhortations  of  God  to  sin- 
ners. It  binds  in  indissoluble  and  inscrutable  connection  the 
divine  gift  and  the  free  acceptance  of  man  : —  Will  ye  and  Grace  ! 
That  is  here  foreshadowed  which  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
only  further  develops.  But  he  who  hears  not  and  does  not  this, 
who  is  not  made  willing  to  repent  in  sincere  poverty  of  spirit 
for  the  sake  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  to  him  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  comes  only  near,  alas !  without  being  his  portion  and  con- 
solation (Lu.  x.  11). 

St  Mark  gives  us  another  compend  of  this  first  preaching  of 

1  Synod  of  Bern  :  Orders  for  the  regulation  of  the  doctrine  and  life 
of  ministers  and  preachers  in  the  town  and  canton  of  Bern,  &c.  1632, 
A  most  weighty  encyclical  I 


84  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

our  Lord ;  and  announces  more  fully  what  the  Lord  had  said 
on  another  occasion,  when  He  had  advanced  a  step  further 
into  His  own  more  distinctive  preaching.  The  publican  Mat- 
thew stops  at  the  preaching  of  repentance,  which  the  Baptist 
had  made  so  emphatic  to  himself:  he  would  now  lay  stress  upon 
it  for  the  people  of  Israel  as  the  Messiah's  preaching  also.  St 
Mark,  on  the  other  hand,  takes  up  that  addition  which  he  had 
received  from  Peter,  the  man  of  faith,  and  represents  the  Lord 
as  saying — repent  and  believe  the  Gospel.  In  that  first  brief 
exhortation,  indeed,  in  which  Christ  and  John  hold  the  same 
language,  faith  was  understood  as  the  unexpressed  middle- 
term  ;  just  as  in  the  believe  of  the  later  purely  evangelical 
preaching  repentance  is  always  presupposed  without  being  men- 
tioned, as  preceding,  accompanying,  and  following  faith.  Both 
are  inseparably  and  essentially  joined  in  the  true  fieravoelv, 
which  in  the  very  abandonment  of  sin  presses  on  to  lay  hold 
upon  mercy.1  But  yet  Christ's  ministry  of  grace  more  mani- 
festly exhibits  itself  in  this  advancement  in  the  expression  :  for 
the  announcement  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  comes  forward  into 
the  foreground  by  this  addition  especially, — believe  the  Gos- 
pel. This  is  a  new,  fundamental,  and  principal  idea.  The  word 
which  denotes  it  is  found  in  the  Old  Testament  in  a  general 
human  sense  (2  Sam.  xvfii.  25) ;  and  in  prophetic  preparatory 
allusion  (Ps.  xl.  10,  p-f$  *PTite — ^s*  x^  %  ni*  %  ^X1*  1  >  -ku.  1Vt 
18) ;  but  as  the  most  distinctive  designation  of  the  last  and 
finished  tidings  of  grace  to  human  faith  it  is  found  first  in  the 
lips  of  Christ.  That  was  also  glad  tidings  which  the  Baptist 
announced  (Lu.  iii.  18  iv7]>yrye\igaTo)  ;  but  it  is  the  Lord  wTho  first 
preaches  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom,  by  proclaiming  its  actual  exis- 
tence, Mark  i.  1 ;  Matt.  iv.  23,  xi.  5 ;  Lu.  iv.  43  ;  xvi.  16.  For  it 
was  His  alone  to  say  : — The  fulness  of  the  time  is  come  !  Gal.  iv.  4. 
The  design  of  the  Old  Covenant  is  accomplished ;  the  set  time  of 
waiting  and  preparation,  which,  according  to  the  hidden  counsel 
of  God,  was  necessary  for  the  sake  of  humanity  at  large,  has 

1  It  is  not  a  proper  use  of  the  Lord's  word,  though  otherwise  appli- 
cable enough  to  a  memorial  of  Luther,  and  only  too  significant  for  our 
own  age,  that  upon  the  monument  at  Wittenberg  the  inscription  is  cur- 
tailed : — Glaubet  an  das  Evangelium  (believe  the  Gospel) — without 
the  little  word  that  precedes — Repent ! 


MATTHEW  IV.  19.  85 

expired.  The  Son  is  born,  has  grown  to  maturity,  has  been 
anointed  and  tempted.  The  testimony  of  him  who  was  to  bear 
Him  witness  has  been  uttered,  and  now  He  bears  witness  to  Him- 
self. Now  begins  that  last  speaking  of  God  by  His  Son  (Heb.  i. 
2),  the  Gospel,  which  henceforth  is  to  be  preached  in  all  the  world 
till  the  end  cometh,  Matt.  xxiv.  14.  What  a  glance  into  the  Past 
and  the  Future  is  this  !  What  an  announcement  is  this,  wrap- 
ping up  in  mystery  the  deep  things  of  the  counsel  of  God  (cast- 
ing down  every  unlawful  question — why  not  before  ?),  and  yet 
revealing  to  the  penitent  sinner  all  that  is  necessary  for  his  faith  ! 
The  time  is  fulfilled,  the  hour  is  come.  I  am  come — come  then 
all  to  me  and  see,  but  come  with  repentance,  taste  and  see  in 
faith!  He  does  not  indeed  say  openly  at  this  beginning — 
believe  in  Me  !  but  that  this  is  His  meaning  was  plainly  to  be 
understood.  For  what  else  could  be  faith  in  the  coming  fulfil- 
ment of  all  that  had  been  promised  ! 


THE  CALLING  OF  THE  FISHERS  OF  MEN. 

(Matt.  iv.  19 ;  Mar.  i.  17  [Lu.  v.  4, 10]). 

The  Evangelists,  according  to  the  wisdom  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
whose  influence  and  direction  they  only  unconsciously  felt,  were 
under  the  necessity  of  distributing  in  portions  what  was  allotted 
to  them  to  record.  Thus  here  in  the  calling  of  the  two  pairs  of 
brothers  from  their  fishing-nets  to  the  permanent  following  of  the 
Lord.  That  their  release  from  their  earthly  toil  and  calling  was 
gradual  and  progressive,  as  we  gather  from  St  John,  St  Matthew, 
and  St  Luke  together,  might  have  been  presupposed  as  more 
natural  and  likely :  although  St  Matthew's  call  afterwards  appears 
to  present  an  example  of  an  almost  instantaneous  enlightenment 
and  separation  from  all.  St  Matthew,  when  he  mentions  Simon 
with  the  addition,  "  who  was  called  Peter" — presupposes  the  giv- 
ing of  the  new  name  at  his  former  confession,  of  which  he  could 
scarcely  have  been  ignorant:  but  St  Luke's  account,  ch.  v. 
3 — 5,  requires  no  more  than  that  some  such  earlier  relations 
between  the  Lord  and  these  fishermen  must  be  understood  by 
his  readers. 


86  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

That  Peter,  especially,  was  designed  for  a  distinctive  personal 
position  in  this  now-approaching  kingdom  of  God;  that  the  Lord 
purposed  to  form  him  into  something  especial,  his  new  name, 
according  to  the  analogy  of  such  namings  in  the  Old  Testament, 
had  sufficiently  foretold.     The  preparation  for  this  was  indicated 
in  the  early  beginning  of  the  formation  of  a  circle  of  apostles  and 
disciples  around  the  Lord  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  command 
— -follow  me  !  now  developed  a  still  more  comprehensive  mean- 
ing.     Yet  those,  who  already  surrounded  the  Lord  as  "  His 
disciples"  at  Cana,  went  back  in   the  interim  to  their  fishing 
again  ;  and  it  is  at  a  subsequent  critical  moment  that  the  Lord 
clearly  reveals  it  to  them,  that  the  time  is  come  when  they  must 
leave  their  ships  and  their  nets  as  an  ordinary  occupation.     Then 
they  followed  Him  altogether,  remained  wholly  in  his  company; 
as  in  past  times  the  servants  and  disciples  of  the  prophets  had  done 
according  to  custom  and  propriety,  and  in  a  later  age  the  scholars 
of  those  who  were    called  Rabbi  among   the  Israelites  {Aevie 
oiriaw  yuof,  <v-)p(N  ^,  1  Kings  xix.  20,  21).      This  St  Matthew 
significantly  records,  without  relating  more  concerning  the  exter- 
nal occasion  of  it,  than  simply  that  Jesus  walking  by  the  sea  saw 
them  casting  their  net  into  the  sea,  and  afterwards  the  two  others 
mending  their  nets.      Had  anything  more  occurred  at  the  time 
(as  in  Lu.  v.),  his  account,  as  we  now  read  it,  would  bear  upon 
it  the  mark  of  actual  untruthfulness.     Thus  the  distinctive  signi- 
ficance of  this  critical  turning-point  lies  altogether  and  only  in 
that  internal  glance  of  our  Lord,  which,  regarding  them  as  fisher- 
men, contemplates  in  this  lower  calling  which  is  revoked,  that 
higher  one,  which  He  now  for  the  first  time  clearly  unfolds  to 
them : — From  henceforth  leave  this  net ;  ye  shall  in  my  disciple- 
ship  be  prepared  to  cast  the  net  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  into 
the  sea  of  the  nations  (ch.  xiii.  47)  ;  remain  fishermen  still,  but 
in  a  higher  style — henceforth  ye  shall  catch  men  ! 

Two  things  claim  our  attention  here: — how  the  Lord's  pro- 
found wisdom  lays  hold  of  everything  lower  and  external  to 
become  the  images  of  things  and  relations  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven ;  and  also  how  familiarly  His  thought  and  language  attach 
themselves  to  those  Old  Testament  typical  expressions  in  which 
the  Spirit  had  already  prophetically  exhibited  all  the  germs  of  the 
New  Testament  consummation.     There  is  in  the  discourses  of 


MATTHEW  IV.  19.  87 

Jesus  much  more  of  such  reference  to  the  language  of  the  Old 
Testament  than  is  discerned  by  ordinary  exposition ;  so  much, 
indeed,  that  we  have  never  finished  tracing  it.  It  is  not  a  casual 
matter,  but  a  real  though  secret  prelude  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that 
the  Lord  named  in  Jeremiah  (xvi.  16),  those  who  were  sent 
forth  for  the  restoration  of  Israel  fishermen  ;  and  again  in  Ezekiel 
(xlvii.  10)  spoke  of  the  fishers  who  should  gather  exceeding  many 
fishes  in  the  new  waters  of  the  living.  That  which  there  pointed 
into  the  most  remote  futurity  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  is  here 
beginning  to  be  manifest ;  and  the  previous  fisher-condition  of 
the  first  Apostles  was  itself  a  pre-intimation  ;  just  as  it  has  pleased 
Divine  Providence  in  the  case  of  many  other  important  persons 
to  shadow  out  their  future  calling  in  their  earlier  relations  in  life 
— in  David's  sheepfold,  for  instance,  his  own  kingdom  and  that 
of  his  greater  Architype. 

Finally :  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men !  This  signifies 
not  merely,  I  now  by  my  prerogative  appoint  and  call  you  to  this ; 
nor  simply,  I  will  from  this  time  forwards,  as  your  new  master, 
train  you  for  this ;  not  merely  even,  I  will  qualify  you  for  it,  by 
creating  you  into  some  new  thing,  which  I  only  can  do.  But 
there  is  included  the  promise  :  ye  shall,  with  success  and  blessing, 
labour  in  the  ministry  of  my  word,  which  shall  catch  men,  even 
as  your  nets  the  fish.  This  latter  meaning  comes  out  with  espe- 
cial prominence  in  the  two  prophetic  draughts  of  fishes ;  at  the 
outset  in  St  Luke  v.  more  remotely,  but  with  perfect  clearness ; 
and  in  the  latter  after  the  resurrection,  the  symbolical  import 
of  which  St  John  points  out  to  us  in  his  own  manner,  in  all 
its  full  significance,  ch.  xxi.  6 — 11.  I  will  make  you  into  fishers 
of  men,  thou  shalt  catch  men — these  words  are  uttered  by  the 
Saviour  of  mankind  with  the  same  emphasis  of  love,  with  which 
He  afterwards  testified  "  I  am  not  come  to  destroy  men's  lives 
but  to  save  them,"  Luke  ix.  56.  How  infinitely  more  excellent 
and  lofty  a  calling  !  Whatever  else  His  grace  made  of  these 
Galilean  fishermen,  themselves  sinful  men  who  had  been  just  by 
Him  gathered  and  saved,  even  up  to  their  thrones  and  crowns  ot 
apostolical  dignity  in  the  regeneration  of  the  world ;  this  one  thing 
remains  the  climax  and  the  crown  of  their  honour  and  dignity, 
that  they  were  made  ministers  and  helpers  of  the  grace  which 
saved  mankind. 


OO  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Now  they  who  would  regard  Luke  v.  1 — -11  as  merely  a  more 
specific  account  of  the  same  circumstance  which  St  Matthew  has 
more  generally  narrated,  do  it  at  the  peril  of  dealing  with  the 
Scripture  as  if  it  were  not  the  holy  word  of  God.  This  cannot 
we  do.  The  positive  expressions  of  the  Evangelist,  Matt.  v. 
18,  19,  mark  out  definitely  a  situation  which  cannot  be  made 
identical  with  the  account  of  St  Luke,  without  imputing  to  a 
fellow  apostle  actual  ignorance  of  these  especial  circumstances  ; 
or  actual  incorrectness,  and  not  merely  concealment,  to  the  Spirit 
who  inspired  the  Gospels,  exercising  a  divine  supervision  and 
moulding  the  human  element  in  them.  The  latter  is  to  us  still 
less  conceivable  even  than  the  former.  Peter  continues  to  hold 
his  house  at  Capernaum  (viii.  14)  and  thereby  his  connexion  with 
his  property.  He  must  not  be  supposed  to  have  sold  and  given 
this  to  the  poor,  but  only  to  have  given  up  his  ordinary  occupa- 
tion. Jesus  many  times  afterwards  sailed  in  his  ship,  sent  him 
away  as  a  fisherman  with  his  hook,  when  there  arose  a  necessity 
''Matt.  xvii.  27)  ;  even  after  the  resurrection  Peter  still  speaks 
quite  naturally  of  going  a  fishing  (Jno.  xxi.  3) — though  nearer 
indeed  than  he  then  thought  to  the  final  call  which  released  him 
from  it  for  ever.  All  this  makes  St  Luke's  account  sufficiently 
plain. 

The  Lord  prayed  Simon  (rjpcoTrjaev,  as  in  St  Lu.  iv.  38,  vii.  3 
— 36),  an  interesting  indication  of  the  human  lowliness  with 
which  the  Master  was  wont  to  speak  to  his  disciples  on  even  such 
matters.  His  language  only  becomes  imperative — though  it 
would  always  befit  it  to  be  so — when  He  is  about,  in  His  wonder- 
ful promise,  to  bless  and  reward  the  service  which  He  asked : — 
Launch  out  into  the  deep,  yet  further  from  the  land,  cast  your 
nets  down  ek  aypav,  i.e.  not  as  on  ordinary  occasions,  with  the 
design  to  catch ;  but  it  is  a  promise  as  in  Jno.  xxi.  6 :  teal 
evprjaere  (comp.  Lu.  v.  9).  Simon  was  already  a  disciple  of 
Jesus,  calls  Him  Master:  now  whether  the  Master  better  under- 
stands fishing,  too,  he  can  scarcely  determine  ;  but  he  soon  turns 
away  from  all  natural  considerations,  to  simple  faith  in  the  word  of 

1  This  does  not  indicate,  as  Roos  supposes,  a  slight  alienation  from 
Peter — for  the  Lord  had  certainly  many  times  made  requests  to  His 
disciples. 


MATTHEW  IV.  19.  89 

Him  who  had  just  been  speaking  the  Word  of  God  from  his  ship. 
The  great  multitude  of  fishes,  whereas  the  whole  night  before  they 
had  taken  nothing,  rightly  appears  to  him  a  miraculous  sign  ;  he 
feels  his  sinfulness,  and  shrinks  before  the  power  of  God  ;  calls  his 
Master  now  also  his  Lord;  and  would  as  simply  as  foolishly  remove 
himself  in  fear  from  His  fellowship.1  Yet  is  his  meaning  better 
than  his  language — he  utters  "  the  noblest  feeling  in  the  most 
unskilful  words."2  It  pleases  the  Spirit  of  God  to  give  him  just 
at  this  instant  such  a  deep  consciousness  of  sin  as  for  the  time 
he  could  not  control :  and  that  is  the  characteristic  moment 
which  the  Lord  seizes  for  repeating,  in  order  to  its  further  and 
decisive  confirmation,  that  which  he  had  once  before  said  to  him: 
From  henceforth  thou  shall  catch  men !  Now  is  the  promise 
which  had  been  contained  in  the  word  which  called  them  first, 
made  more  plain  by  the  miraculous  sign ;  which,  occurring  at  the 
end  of  the  Lord's  sermon,  was  a  fit  type  of  that  preaching  itself. 
Now  also  is  Simon's  unworthiness  and  unfitness  for  that,  which 
the  Lord  designed  to  make  him,  revealed  out  of  the  depth 
of  his  heart ;  and  therefore  further  is  that  sublimely  gracious 
word  added,  which  the  Lord  has  since  then  spoken  to  so  many 
besides  the  first  Apostle,  which  He  speaks  to  us  all : — that  pecu- 
liar word  of  New  Testament  mercy,  with  which  the  angels  in  the 
time  of  consummation  begin  anew :  Fear  not !  This  word  in  His 
lips  raises  to  its  highest  fulfilment  of  force  and  meaning,  that  which 
had  been  from  the  very  beginning  begun  to  be  uttered  in  the  old 
covenant,  where  the  angels  thus  speak  to  terrified  and  sinful  men 
(Dan.  x.  12 — 19)  ;  and  the  revealing  and  witnessing  Lord  Him- 
self, from  the  calling  of  Abraham  down  to  the  latest  encourage- 
ment sent  by  the  Prophets  (Gen.  xv.  1,  xxvi.  24,  xlvi.  3 ; 
Deut.  i.  21 ;  Josh  i.  9,  viii.  1  ;  Judg.  vi.  23 ;  2  Kings  i.  15 ; 
Isa.  vii.  4,  x.  24,  xli.  10,  13,  14,  &c.  down  to  Hagg.  ii.  5;  Zech. 
viii.  13,  15).  Thus  then  is  this  word  now  uttered  by  Jesus,  at 
once  a  word  of  divine  majesty  to  the  iC  sinful  man"  Peter  (Fear 

i  Lu.  iv.  33 — 41.  had  not  taken  place  just  before  in  order  of  time, 
though  in  St  Luke's  Gospel  it  occurs  just  before.  Then  would  Simon's 
conduct  havebeen  strangeindeed — as  Schleiermacher  says  quite  correctly. 

2  So  far  rightly  Lange.  But  that  he  only  feared  for  himself  the 
continued  oppressive  enjoyment  of  this  present  blessing,  does  not  appear. 
There  is  rather  an  actual  putting  away  of  the  Lord's  society. 


90  THR  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

not,  Peter  !  as  before  Fear  not,  Abram  !) — and  a  word  of  kind- 
ness from  the  Son  of  Man,  the  Sinner's  Saviour,  as  if  there  had 
been  already  added,  Be  not  afraid,  only  believe  !  Mark  v.  36  ; 
John  xiv.  1. 

But  when  the  Evangelist  St  Luke,  further  removed  from  the 
event,  closes  the  history  with — they  forsook  all  and  followed 
Him — he  may  be  well  supposed  to  have  designed  to  record  their 
special  and  distinctive  call,  without  a  clear  knowledge  of  that 
earlier  one  :  although  his  history  itself  obviously  implies  relations 
between  the  Master  and  these  fishermen  which  must  previously 
have  commenced. 


THE  SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT. 

(Matt,  v.— vii. ;  St  Luke  vi.  20—49.) 

"We1  deem  it  our  duty  conscientiously  to  abstain  from  bewilder- 
ing ourselves  in  the  strife  of  the  critics,  as  to  whether  these  sayings 
of  our  Lord  uttered,  according  to  St  Matthew's  testimony,  when 
he  was  set  upon  the  Mount,  were  indeed  spoken  as  one  connected 
Discourse.  We  may  not  unite  with  those,  who,  losing  the  sim- 
plicity of  their  attention  to  the  one  only  Teacher  in  their  oblique 
regard  to  this  Doctor  on  one  side  and  that  Rabbi  on  the  other, 
and  sacrificing  more  or  less  the  humility  of  discipleship  to  their 
overmuch  learning ;  yet  are  skilful  and  sharp-sighted  enough  in 
their  own  eyes  to  come  forward  with  their  decisions  upon  what  the 
Holy  Spirit  has  written  for  the  Church,  and  to  decree : — "  Here 
there  is  connexion,  and  there  none" — "  This  or  that  cannot  be  ac- 
cepted because  inconsistent  with  the  Lord's  own  style  of  thought."2 

i  Not  a  formula  merely,  for  we  speak  indeed  in  the  name  of  many 
like-minded  with  ourselves. 

2  On  revision  we  retract  not  one  iota  of  this.  "Wieseler,  indeed,  very 
summarily  decides,  that  the  first  glance  of  the  eye  gives  authentic  evi- 
dence of  its  having  been  collected  from  many  several  discourses — but 
the  glance  of  our  eye  beholds  it  very  differently.  Let  the  incorrigible 
sophistry  of  such,  alas,  as  Lange  persist  in  asserting — "  This  or  that 
would  be  in  this  way  or  the  other  more  appropriate, — the  Evangelist 
intended  or  wished,  &c,  &c."  : — I  know  by  the  testimony  of  my  life- 
long reading,  that  every  thing  is  there  alone  appropriate,  where  the 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  91 

We,  for  our  own  part,  judge  not  those  of  our  faithful  brethren  and 
friends  who  suffer  themselves  to  be  led  by  an  unfaithful  system  of 
interpretation,  so  far  from  the  firm  foundation  :  but  to  us  it  must 
ever  be  matter  of  conscience  and  honour  before  the  supreme  judicial 
throne  of  the  highest  criticism,  to  abstain  from  putting  our  own 
self-willed  construction  upon  that  word  which  we  read  in  com- 
mon with  the  Church,  and  which  should  be  jealously  kept 
inviolate  as  the  holy  text  of  our  preaching  to  the  Church.  Had 
not  the  chair  and  the  pulpit  in  the  present  day  been  so  unhappily 
sundered,  the  perception  of  theologians  otherwise  faithful  could 
not  have  become  so  blunted  as  to  allow  them  to  rise  from  St 
Matt.  v.  1,  2,  vii.  28,  29,  viii.  1,  without  asking  themselves : — 
"  Can  I  expect  the  simple  laity,  the  believing  congregation,  to 
believe  me  when  I  tell  them, — this  is  not  true  in  its  seeming 
sense  !  Will  they  be  either  willing  or  able  to  conceive,  that  St 
Matthew  or  any  other  could  deliberately  collect  together  into 
one,  various  discourses  uttered  by  our  Lord  at  various  times,  and 
then  inventing  an  imaginary  frame  to  the  picture,  report  it  in  so 
many  words,  as  one  discourse  uttered  in  one  place  and  at  the 
same  time  ?"  Let  him  believe  this  who  may  :  to  us  the  thought 
is  incredible  ;  and  that  as  we  are  persuaded,  not  through  wilful 
opposition  to  the  light  of  truth  which  would  enter,  but  through  a 
true  perception  in  their  inmost  minds  of  the  self-evidencing 
truth  of  the  holy  word ;  not  through  their  dulness  which  cannot 
understand  the  grounds  of  critical  evidence,  but  from  that  clear- 
ness of  discernment  which  sees  into  their  groundlessness. 

Yes,  the  Lord's  Spirit  so  brought  the  Lord's  words  to  the 
Evangelists'  remembrance,  that  though  they  might  not  write 
them  down  always  according  to  the  strict  letter  and  word,  yet 
they  were  enabled  to  give  us  their  substance  and  contents  with 
perfect  truth  :  but  the  Spirit  of  Truth  could  never  have  permitted 
the  slightest  untruthfulness  to  have  occurred  in  their  record.  St 
Matthew  and  St  John  had  the  Spirit  in  apostolical  measure ;  St 
Mark  and  St  Luke,  ministers  to  the  Word,  stand  indeed  at  one 
remove  from  them.  But  even  they,  although  liable  occasionally 
(by  way  of  distinction)  to  transfer  or  confuse  things  of  no  im- 


Holy  Spirit,   who  well  understood  and  truly  glorified  the  words  of 
Jesus,  has  written  and  placed  it. 


92  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

portance,  have  never — especially  in  reference  to  the  time,  place, 
and  connexion  of  the  longer  discourses — in  the  very  slightest 
degree  possible  fallen  under  any  such  imputation.  This  every  one 
must  be  constrained  to  admit.  Much  less  can  St  Matthew  and 
St  John  be  thought  to  have  presumed  to  treat  in  any  such  way 
the  words  of  the  Word,  whose  eye  witnesses  and  ministers  they 
were — arranging,  adjusting,  and  working  them  up,  contrary  to 
actual  and  absolute  fact.1  The  deeper  we  penetrate  into  the 
relation  which  here  subsists  between  the  human  and  the  divine, 
the  clearer  we  discern,  having  any  measure  of  faith  in  our  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture,  the  miracle  which  must  have  been  wrought 
by  the  Spirit  in  the  furnishing  of  the  Evangelists  for  the  task  of 
handing  down  the  discourses  and  the  acts  of  our  Lord  :  so  much 
the  further  must  we  recede  from  the  unseemly  thought  that  this 
or  that  was  put  in  order  simply  by  man  ;  or  rather  shifted  and 
deranged,  in  order  that  we,  learned  investigators  of  later  times, 
might  be  needed  to  set  it  right  again. 

We  cannot  conceive  that  St  Matthew  could  have  wrought  up 
sayings  of  our  Lord  uttered  at  various  times  into  one  connected 
whole,  as  if  they  had  been  spoken  at  one  time :  for  as  the  apostolical 
humility  of  his  own  spirit  was  incapable  of  such  an  impropriety,  so 
neither  was  it  possible  that  the  Holy  Ghost  should  guide  and  in- 
struct him  to  record  any  untruth  whatsoever  for  the  Church.  That 
which  St  Luke,  ch.  vi.  20 — 49,  gives  us  as  the  Lord's  discourse, 
with  essentially  similar  notification  of  place,  vi.  17,  and  conclud- 
ing asseveration,  vii.  1,  as  St  Matthew's,  is  manifestly  the  same 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  another  epitome  :  whence  we  should 
gather  that  we  have  only  in  St  Matthew  also  an  abstract, 
though  his  is  more  complete.  The  passages  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  which  we  find  repeated  elsewhere  in  St  Luke  are 
simple  repetitions : — the  Lord  did  indeed  re-utter  them  at  the 
time  and  place  which  St  Luke  mentions  :  and  a  sound  exposition 
will  prove  that  their  mention  there  is  quite  consistent  with  the 
connexion.  That  the  Lord  should  have  uttered  more  than  once, 
not  simply  His  briefer  moral  sentences,  but  also  His  longer  dis- 

1  Even  though  the  nun  of  Diilmen  affirms  it  (Sepp.  ii.  261)  it  is  not 
true  !  and  though  men  of  the  highest  repute  have  for  a  long  time  past 
{e.g.  Kleulcer,  Menschlicher  Versuch,  &c.,  p.  223)  maintained  it — I  will 
protest  from  the  deepest  conviction  ! 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  93 

courses,  is  not  unworthy  of  the  great  Teacher  in  any  point  of 
view ;  is  conformable  both  to  His  human  condescension  and  His 
divine  wisdom,  and  puts  to  shame  the  vanity  of  many  a  poor 
preacher  who  is  ever  striving  to  bring  forth  what,  at  least  in  words, 
will  take  a  novel  form.  Within  the  individual  Evangelists 
such  recurrence  is  incontestible.  For  instance,  St  Matthew  re- 
peats what  was  already  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  ch.  xii. 
33,  xv.  14  (comp.  Lu.  vi.  39),  xviii.  8,  9,  (Mark  ix.  43— 47),  xix.  9 
(yet  again  in  another  place,  Lu.  xvi.  18),  xxii.  5.  Further  repe- 
titions are  to  be  found  in  St  Luke  : — xi.  2 — 4  the  prayer  given 
in  the  same  words,  but  with  a  more  impressive  design  and  mean- 
ing :  xii.  22 — 34,  the  longer  discourse  against  care ;  similarly 
ch.  viii.  16  (Mar.  iv.  21),  xi.  33,  xi.  9—13,  34—36,  xii.  58,  59, 
xiii.  24—27,  xiv.  34,  35  (Mark  ix.  50),  xvi.  13—17.  Finally, 
in  St  Mark,  ch.  iv.  24,  xi.  25,  26.  These  very  repetitions,  which 
the  expositor  must  first  read  in  the  place  where  they  are  found, 
and  then  refer  to  their  connexion  in  the  original  discourse,  serve 
to  indicate  to  us  the  Lord's  Sermon  on  the  Mount  as  what  it 
really  is,  the  preliminary  abstract  of  His  doctrine  :  and  He  Him- 
self in  repeating  them,  points  out  to  us  the  especial  significance 
of  this  His  first  sermon  for  the  instruction  of  all  people. 


The  Lord  spoke  from  a  mountain — upon  one  of  the  level  plat- 
forms of  which  He  stood  surrounded  by  His  disciples — to  His 
disciples  and  to  all  the  people  from  among  whom  He  would  call 
His  disciples.  The  choice  of  a  mountain  had  reference  to  some- 
thing more  than  merely  a  fitting  pulpit ;  as  the  mind  of  the 
Church  has  testified  in  the  fidelity  with  which  this  circumstance 
has  been  retained  to  designate  the  sermon  itself.  As  the  Medi- 
ator of  the  New  Covenant  bringing  grace  for  the  fulfilment  of 
the  law,  opens  here  His  mouth  to  preach  to  us  for  the  first  time 
salvation  (Heb.  ii.  3)  :  we  involuntarily  and  naturally  think  of 
that  mountain  of  the  law,  which  preached  condemnation.  The  Old 
Testament  placed  foremost  the  curse;  the  New,  being  glad  tidings, 
begins  with  blessing.  It  is  not  "  a  second  law"  which  proceeds 
now  from  the  Lord : — who  as  He  then  gave  His  testimonies 
amid  the  tempest  and  darkness  of  Sinai,  now  in  His  love  to  man, 
sits  down  among  them  that  they  may  sit  at  His  feet  and  learn 


94  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

His  words  (Deut  xxxiii.  2,  3)  :— -but  it  is  the  fulfilling  of  that  one 
unrepealed  law  which  is  here  offered  by  grace,  and  which  is  now 
required  through  the  acceptance  of  that  offered  grace  (ch.  v.  17, 
18).  Thus  the  fundamental  principles  of  this  compendious  first 
sermon  are  found  in  that  mysterious  word  "  the  fulfilling  of 
all  righteousness,"  as  also  in  that  first  public  requirement  : — 
"  Repent  ye  /"  We  may  further  say  that  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  teaches  us  wherein  that  repentance  consists,  whereby  alone 
we  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  It  preaches  it,  however,  as  a 
Gospel,  since  it  commences  with  most  gracious  promise,  with 
blessings  pronounced  upon  the  poor,  and  those  who  hunger  after 
righteousness  ;  but  it  deepens  into  a  spiritual  and  strict  interpre- 
tation of  the  letter  of  the  law  (its  only  true  interpretation  as  authori- 
tatively established  by  the  Lawgiver,  the  time  being  now  fully 
come)  ;  and  requires  on  the  ground  of  the  promised  grace  the 
righteousness  of  God  for  the  kingdom  of  God :  yea  it  closes  with 
warning  and  threatening  announcement  of  a  future  judgment 
before  Himself,  who  here  speaks  and  who  already  thus  bears 
sublime  witness  to  Himself  as  Lord  ;  before  Him  who  comes 
to  the  meek  and  miserable  with  grace  as  their  Saviour,  and 
the  power  of  grace  as  their  Sanctifier,  but  will  then  as  judge 
receive  such  only  into  His  kingdom  as  have  been  restored  by 
His  grace  to  the  performance  of  the  will  of  God.  This  gene- 
ral view  suffices  to  show  us  that  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
embraces  in  its  summary  one  connected  design  from  its  begin- 
ning to  its  end ;  and  teaches  us  to  perceive,  between  its  most  at- 
tractive commencement,  where  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  opened 
wide  to  all  the  meek,  and  its  fearfully  threatening  close,  where 
the  strait  gate  is  shut  for  ever  against  all  evil-doers,  the  progres- 
sive advancement  of  a  deeply  significant  development.  The 
gradation  of  all  preaching  is  here  reflected: — from  promise 
through  requirement  to  warning ;  to  which  corresponds  the  pro- 
gress of  the  life  of  the  disciples  of  Christ,  the  children  of  God. 
All  apostolical  preaching  of  the  Gospel  must  begin  with  the 
gracious  commencement  of  this  sermon,  the  conclusion  of  all 
apostolical  warning  and  announcement  of  judgment  must  coin- 
cide with  its  awful  conclusion ;  but  intermediate  lies  all  that  pro- 
gressive teaching  and  exhortation,  which  through  faith  in  its 
fulfiller  establishes  the  law  in  the  believer.     Tliis  arrangement  of 

to 


MATTHEW  V. VII.  95 

the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  has  been  seized  and  reproduced  to  us 
with  such  simplicity  and  clearness  by  St  Matthew — through  the 
Spirit  who,  besides  bringing  to  his  remembrance  what  he  had 
heard,  now  gave  him  to  understand  it  likewise — that  we  can 
only  ascribe  the  anxiety  of  expositors  to  find  another  connexion, 
or  their  inability  to  find  any,  to  a  lack  of  simplicity  in  reading 
and  apprehending  him.  We  may  suppose  that  the  Lord  did  not 
utter  the  individual  weighty  sayings  in  a  manner  quite  so  detach- 
ed, but,  as  was  necessary  to  the  hearers  of  an  oral  discourse,  that 
He  assisted  their  comprehension  by  adding  many  explanatory  and 
connecting  remarks ;  and  probably  not  without  pauses  at  the 
turning  points  which  would  leave  time  for  impression.  But  the 
Spirit  has  taken  an  exact  epitome  of  its  essential  contents,  and 
constructed  it  for  the  Holy  Scripture  into  one  new  and  as  it  were 
glorified  word :  so  that  we  have,  after  all,  through  the  intervention 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  entire  actual  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
which  we  may  hear  and  understand  even  as  it  was  spoken  by  the 
Lord  Himself. 

The  whole  contents  of  the  three  chapters  of  St  Matthew  fall, 
as  we  have  said,  into  three  sections.  The  fulfilling  of  the  law, 
the  perfect  righteousness  of  those  who,  in  becoming  the  disciples 
of  Christ,  may  and  shall  become  again  the  children  of  their 
Heavenly  Father  (ch.  v*  48),  and  only  through  such  righteous- 
ness shall  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  is  alike  promised  by 
Him  who  announced  Himself  as  come  for  its  fulfilment  (ch.  v. 
17),  and  demanded  likewise  by  Him  who  will  only  have  such 
disciples,  and  only  bring  such  children  to  glory,  as  receive  and 
retain  what  He  brings  and  imparts,  even  to  the  consummation 
and  perfection  of  all.  But  both  to  the  inner,  gradual  develop- 
ment, and  the  external  patient  progress  of  the  disciple,  there  cor- 
responds a  progression  in  the  teaching  of  the  sermon — according 
to  its  three  main  gradations.  First  of  all,  there  is  the  general 
attracting  promise,  then  law  with  its  specific  demands  (now  indeed 
the  law  of  the  Spirit,  through  the  life  of  grace  which  has  been 
received)  ;  and  finally  the  warning,  which  in  its  stern  restrictions, 
rejects  the  impure  and  the  disobedient.  Thus  the  discourse  pro- 
ceeds from  the  foundation  of  sanctification  offered  as  a  gift  at  the 
outset,  through  its  outward  manifestation  in  the  life,  demanded 
as  the  acknowledgment  and  evidence  of  that  gift ;  to  the  test  and 


96  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

proof  at  the  close  of  the  disciples'  course,  which  is  exhibited  as 
the  most  pressing  of  all  motives. 

The  first  division  embraces  ch.  v.  3 — 20  ;  in  which  the  same 
three-fold  progression  already  reveals  itself  as  an  undertone  run- 
ning through  the  general  promise.  Hence  we  have  absolute  and 
special  promise,  as  the  origin  and  foundation  of  all,  in  the  Bene- 
dictions (v.  3 — 12) ;  then  on  the  ground  of  their  assurance  (ye 
are !  ye  have  !)  the  evidence  and  manifestation  of  that  new  life 
and  light  is  demanded  (v.  13 — 16)  ;  finally,  there  is  here  also  a 
warning,  which  in  its  emphatic  restriction,  and  rejection,  points 
forward  already  to  the  test  at  the  end  of  all  (v.  17 — 20).  Even 
this  last  rigorous  test  indeed  is  still  under  the  high  note  of  pro- 
mise : — I  am  come  to  fulfil ! 

At  this  point,  viz.  in  v.  20,  is  the  transition  to  the  second 
division,  which  now  proceeds  to  trace  out  in  the  form  of  a 
spiritual  law,  the  outward  manifestation  of  that  righteousness, 
the  foundation  of  which  is  the  gift  of  grace : — ch.  v.  2 1 — vii.  14. 
This  is  pre-eminently  the  main  body  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Here  the  Lord  sets  forth  the  righteousness  of  His  disciples  through 
three  great  contrasts,  as  they  exhibit  themselves  in  their  inward 
organic  progress.  The  First,  and  most  obvious  contrast,  which 
at  the  same  time  is  a  representation  of  the  spiritual  fulfilment  of 
the  law  i— Not  as  the  Pharisees,  the  men  of  the  letter  of  the  law, 
and  of  external  appearances  which  are,  nevertheless,  hypocritical. 
This  is,  in  accordance  with  the  fundamental  principle  with  which 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  set  out,  most  strictly  impressed  and 
most  amply  illustrated  from  ch.  v.  21  to  vi.  18.  This  is  the 
basis  of  a  spiritual,  correct,  and  cordial  understanding  of  the  law. 
The  Second  contrast  springs  with  still  sharper  severity  of  truth 
out  of  the  former;  just  as  John  the  Baptist  had  placed  Pharisaic 
Judaism  on  a  par  with  heathenism ; — not  like  the  Gentiles,  the 
self-seeking  men  of  the  flesh  and  of  that  good  which  is  earthly 
and  therefore  perishable.  In  the  former  it  had  been  already 
premised  that  the  Pharisees  were  like  the  Publicans,  yea,  like 
the  heathen  (ch.  v.  46,  vi.  1)  ;  this  is  now  more  fully  established, 
and  in  such  a  way  that  we  can  only  understand  heathen  in  a 
spiritual  sense  as  the  opposite  of  the  new,  true  Israel  of  the  Mes- 
siah, ch.  vi.  19 — 34.  This  is  the  procedure  of  an  obedient, 
undivided,  and  heartily  believing  endeavour  after  the  kingdom  of 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  D7 

God  and  His  righteousness.  Finally,  what  can  the  third  con- 
trast to  true  discipleship  be,  but  its  opposition  to  the  imperfect, 
insincere  disciples  themselves,  who  even  in  the  following  of 
Christ  bring  with  them  their  pharisaism  ; — not  as  the  half -disci- 
ples and  mere  professors,  the  censorious  ones  who  shamefully 
desecrate  that  which  is  holy  !  (ch.  vii.  1 — 14).  This  is  the  per- 
fection of  pure  love,  as  humble  as  it  is  wise ;  it  is  obviously,  at 
the  same  time,  the  most  stringent  and  severe  utterance  of  Christ's 
law  for  His  own  people,  and  thus  forms  a  fit  transition  to  the 
third  division  which  is  wholly  admonitory. 

The  spiritual  fulfilling  of  the  law,  the  perfect  righteousness, 
has  at  length  found  its  simplest  expression,  (ch.  vii.  12),  in  a 
principle  most  easy  to  be  apprehended,  and  which  indeed  our 
conscience  confirms  from  our  natural  love  of  self;  yet  is  this 
self  renunciation  but  the  turning  of  nature  to  the  strait  gate  in 
order  to  do,  and  to  the  narrow  way  for  continuance  in  doing. 
This  leads,  by  a  connexion  not  very  manifest  but  very  express 
and  emphatic,  to  the  third  main  division  of  the  whole  sermon, 
in  which  the  solemn  warning  against  every  bye-path,  and  the 
threatening  of  judgment  upon  all  who  at  the  end  shall  be  found 
not  to  have  been  doers  of  the  words  of  spirit  and  of  grace>  reach 
their  highest  severity. 

Here  is  shewn  the  test  of  true  or  false  profession  and  life,  and 
not  all  who  have  said  Lord,  Lord,  and  done  many  wonderful 
things,  stand  in  the  judgment.  The  fruits  of  the  grace  so  freely 
and  graciously  offered  in  the  beginning,  are  inexorably  demanded ; 
the  one  lawgiver  who  wills  that  every  man  should  submit  to 
judgment  and  judge  himself  in  order  to  salvation,  appears  also  as 
the  condemner  of  all  to  whom  he  has  not  become  a  Saviour, 
(Jas.  iv.  12).  But  here  also,  although  all  has  the  sound  of  solemn 
warning  and  severe  threatening,  there  is  yet  heard  once  more 
a  note  of  the  fundamental  promise  in  the  planting  of  the  good 
tree  for  good  fruit,  (v.  15 — 20).  Then  once  more  is  the  law 
of  the  Divine  will  stamped  as  a  requirement,  (v.  21 — 23).  The 
exhibition  of  the  certainly  impending  trial,  awful  in  its  simpli- 
city, closes  the  whole ;  and  the  fearful  fall  of  the  house  built  on 
the  sand  forms  a  striking  contrast  with  the  invitation  at  the  be- 
ginning !  For  the  fundamental  threefold  progression  evolved  in 
the  organism  of  life  as  of  doctrine,  repeats  itself  at  every  stage, 
7 


98  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

as  will  be  more  manifestly  shown  in  a  closer  investigation  of  the 
particulars  from  the  beginning. 


The  seven  Benedictions  with  an  eighth  (ch.  v.  3 — 12),  which 
contain  the  entire  original  foundation  and  beginning  of  promise, 
are  also  arranged  in  their  order  so  as  to  advance  from  the  first 
fundamental  principle,  through  a  progressive  path  marked  out, 
to  the  full  assurance  at  the  end.  The  Lord  lifts  up  His  eyes  on 
His  disciples  (Lu.  vi.  20)  —  beholding  in  these  immediately 
around  him,  the  type  and  earnest  of  all  those  future  disciples 
whom  He  would  call  out  from  the  mass  of  the  people— and 
proclaims  what  kind  of  men  they  must  be  whom  He  will  receive, 
and  by  His  further  direction  prepare  for  Himself;  or  what 
they  must  become,  who  shall  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Thus  first  of  all  there  is  the  internal  state  of  mind,  which  is  the 
only,  the  indispensable  condition  of  the  regeneration  which  grace 
provides,  and  therefore  the  basis  of  discipleship.  The  promises, 
with  all  their  perfect  fulness  of  promise,  are  presented  as  the 
objective  supply  of  a  felt  necessity,  the  sincere  acknowledgment  of 
which,  together  with  the  outgoing  after  help,  gives  already  the 
certain  right  to  receive  them ;  the  kingdom  of  heaven  comes  to 
the  poor  as  a  free  gift.  The  susceptibility  for  this  reception 
consists  in  the  knowledge  of  need,  in  the  mere  knowledge  and 
discernment  of  it  first  of  all — a  conscious  poverty  of  spirit ;  to 
which  must  be  added  the  grievous  feeling  of  that  knowledge 
quickened  into  life  ;  and  the  instant  and  urgent  outgoing  of  the 
will  for  help,  this  again  being  viewed  as  the  mere  willingness  of 
a  negative  resignation  (v.  5),  and  as  raised  into  positive  longing, 
the  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness.1 

Thus  in  the  second  place,  inasmuch  as  they  who  thus  earnestly 
desire  it  are  invested  with  righteousness,  the  outward  and  inward 
deportment  follows,  which  as  that  righteousness  has  been  imparted, 

1  The  transposition  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  verses  in  Lachmann's  text, 
which  Neander  accepts  as  "  logical"  and  "  suitable  to  their  aim  as 
instruction,"  and  which  von  Gerlach  and  others  have  approved  of,  we 
hold  to  be  altogether  incorrect.  For  the  meekness  here  signified  fol- 
lows upon  a  mourning  that  has  received  consolation  j  and  the  poverty 
glasses  naturally  into  such  mourning. 


MATTHEW  V. — 'VII.  99 

may  be  demanded  as  the  witness  and  proof  of  discipleship  in  their 
after  course.  In  the  former  series  we  have  the  strait  gate  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  in  the  latter  the  narrow  way ;  as  von  Gerlach 
has  so  far  well  said.  In  this  second  series  the  promises  become 
more  definite  as  conformable  to  a  corresponding  condition  of  mind, 
the  actual  attainment  of  which  with  its  manifestation  in  acts 
alone  makes  good  the  claim  to  keep,  and  increase,  and  to  receive 
in  all  its  fulness,  that  promised  grace.  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
establishes  itself  in  the  heart  as  the  likeness  to  God  of  those  who 
seek  that  kingdom  and  exercise  themselves  unto  it.  The  out- 
ward and  inward  quality  of  this  advancing  righteousness  of  life 
consists,  first — in  this  holiness  of  deportment  itself,  as  well  in  its 
acts,  rendering  to  others  without  the  mercy  which  has  been 
received ;  in  that  laborious  love  which  resembles  God's  and  is  the 
beginning  and  end  of  all  fulfilment  of  the  law ;  as  also  in  that 
purity  of  heart,  which  alone  from  the  very  beginning  gives  truth 
and  value  to  every  action,  and  in  the  deeds  of  mercy  reacts 
within  upon  itself  to  its  own  perfection  ;*  and  then  secondly,  as 
its  result  in  the  efficiency  of  such  a  holy  deportment  (concerning 
which  it  is  both  promised  that  it  shall  never  be  wanting  and 
commanded  that  it  should  be  diligently  sought),  to  wit,  in  their 
diffusing  peace  as  God  diffuses  it,  when  His  children  love  as 
he  loves,  and  are  pure  as  He  is  pure.  Thus  have  the  spiritu- 
ally poor  become  so  rich  in  the  possession  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  that  they  are  qualified  to  bring  its  peace,  or  at  least  to 
offer  it,  to  the  world  !  (2  Cor.  vi.  10.)  Can  it  be  true,  as  it  has 
been  maintained,  that  there  is  no  progression  to  be  detected  here  ? 
Such  are  the  seven  Benedictions,  which  embrace  the  entire 
Christian  discipleship,  the  regeneration  in  its  development  from 
poverty  of  spirit  into  all  that  is  contained  in  the  true  and  essential 
filial  relation  to  God.  But  in  the  peace-making  there  was  already 
presupposed  a  transition,  finally,  to  the  conflict  and  opposition 
of  an  evil  world.  There  is  added  therefore  in  conclusion,  thirdly, 
in  the  form  of  an  eighth  benediction  extending  beyond  its  imme- 

1  Here  already,  as  afterwards  in  his  exposition,  Kienlen's  hardihood 
contradicts  itself,  in  transposing,  to  suit  his  own  scheme,  the  seventh 
aud  eighth  verses.  The  fault  of  "  slight  failures  of  memory  M  imputed 
to  the  evangelists  may  be  exchanged  rather  in  this  case,  for  great 
failure  of  understanding  in  their  expositor. 


100  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

diate  object,  a  declaration  of  the  heavenly  reward  of  God's  chil- 
dren presented  on  earth,  which  is  admonitory,  testing,  and  points 
forward  to  the  final  ratification  of  blessing  at  the  end  of  all.  The 
'promise  which  here  also  is  the  predominant  note,  refers  only  to 
the  confirmed  assurance  of  that  first  one — the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  and  shall  ever  be  yours  :  it  is  at  the  same  time  the  contrast  of 
victory  with  warfare,  a  reward  conformable  to  a  worthy  qualifi- 
cation for  it.  Indeed  the  persecution  of  the  righteous  by  the 
unrighteous  is  the  due  and  the  authentic  way  by  which  the  goal 
of  persevering  love  is  attained.  This  is  farther  exhibited  in  the 
first  transition  to  an  application  to  the  disciples — happy  are  ye — 
persecution  injures  you  not,  but  is  rather  the  proof  that  ye  are 
true  peace-makers,  and  not  false  prophets  crying,  Peace,  peace 
(Lu.  vi.  26) — yet  here  also  we  cannot  fail  to  hear  the  undertone 
of  warning — so  they  do  it  all  falsely  /  Finally,  the  encourage- 
ment :  your  reward  is  sure,  then  be  ye,  like  the  prophets  before 
you,  and  now  much  more,  the  salt  of  the  earth  and  the  light  of 
the  world  !  (The  transition  to  what  follows.)  Thus  have  we 
exhibited  our  view  of  the  order  of  the  Benedictions  :  the  reader 
himself  must  test  it,  and  prefer,  if  he  may,  any  other  of  the  mul- 
titude of  arrangements  which  have  been  essayed.1  We  think, 
however,  that  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  it  is  not  our 
"  preconceived  determination,  that  the  seven-number  shall  play 
their  part  here"  (Kienlen)  but  that  the  eighth  is  really  only  sup- 
plementary to  the  seven. 


We  have  already  begun  in  these  observations  to  pursue  the 
whole  into  its  parts,  to  point  out  the  true  position  and  the  pro- 
found meaning  of  every  single  saying.  In  the  light  now  thrown 
upon  them  the  holy  words  will,  even  to  their  minutest  detail, 
clearly  and  transparently  unfold  their  meaning. 

He  opened  His  mouth2 — Disciples  and  people  solemnly  waited 

1  See  e.g.  Zeller  in  the  Monatsblatt  von  Beuggen  1847.  No.  6,  as 
before  1839  Nos.  9,  10  Compare  therewith  Kienlen  (Stud.  u.  Krit. 
1848.  3) — who  indeed  prefers  quoting  Lisco  to  Stier — where  much  is 
to  the  same  effect  and  equally  strange. 

2  Whereupon  Lange  says  beautifully  in  his  own  way,  "  Man  is  the 
mouth  of  the  creation,  Christ  is  the  mouth  of  humanity. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  101 

for  the  first  word  which,  under  God's  heaven,  with  his  eye  upon 
the  holy  land  upon  earth,  and  after  such  a  preparation  for  such 
preaching  as  had  never  before  been  heard  among  men,  He  would 
proceed  to  utter.  And  they  were  gracious  words  which  here 
also  at  the  first  proceeded  out  of  His  mouth  (Lu.  iv.  22),  although 
followed  by  those  solemn  and  impressive  utterances  which  brought 
the  power  and  authority  of  God  more  plainly  home  to  the  sen- 
sual man  for  his  conviction.  The  first  word  of  His  mouth  is 
Blessed — and  again  and  again  He  cries  Blessed,  before  he  could 
proceed  to  speak  in  that  other  style  to  which  sinners  and  the 
ungodly  constrained  Him.  For  who  is  it  that  here  speaks  %  He 
who  is  come  to  give  Blessedness.  But  He  also,  who  in  speaking 
and  dispensing  blessedness  from  stage  to  stage,  at  the  same  time 
and  by  that  means  sanctifies.  How  shall  we  poor  sinners  be 
made  happy  unto  holiness  at  the  beginning,  and  holy  unto 
happiness  at  the  end  ?  Here  is  the  answer,  here  is  the  doctrine 
of  all  teaching  for  all  people  upon  earth.  The  blessedness  goes 
ever  progressively  increasing  along  that  way,  which  the  Saviour 
here  points  out  to  His  disciples,  if  they  continue  by  walking  in 
it  to  become  more  and  more  capable  of  that  blessedness. 

Yer.  3.  This  first  word  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is,  again, 
pre-eminently  the  "fundamental  formula  of  the  Gospel" — it 
demands  faith  in  so  joyful  a  message,  without  mentioning  the 
word :  it  awakens,  rather,  and  attracts  that  faith  through  its  con- 
fident and  encouraging  assurance.  And  how  can  any  one  who 
is  truly  poor  in  spirit  fail  to  apprehend  and  believe  this  message 
of  mercy  concerning  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  as  soon  as  it  re- 
sounds in  his  ears  ?  If  the  poor  are  altogether  unable  to  believe 
in  their  being  made  blessed  through  grace,  it  is  proof  that,  in 
spite  of  all  appearances,  they  are  not  yet  fundamentally  poor 
enough.  It  may  appear,  on  the  contrary,  sometimes  as  if  a  man 
could  not  yet  believe,  while  there  is  actually  in  his  complaining 
before  God,  in  the  seeking  and  longing  after  faith  of  his  wretched 
heart,  a  secret  faith  already  present ; — such  mourners,  indeed, 
have  pressed  forwards  already  into  the  second  benediction.  In 
the  first  nothing  more  is  as  yet  spoken  of  than  perfect  poverty  of 
spirit,  which  may  be  so  poor  as  not  to  have  even  a  feeling  of 
need,  not  even  a  becoming  sorrow  for  sin.  And  this  is  indeed 
tliat  one  thing  which  the  Lord  at  the  beginning  of  his  dispensa- 


102  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

don  of  blessedness  may  and  must  presuppose ;  nothing  can  the 
sinner  bring  with  him  when  he  is  called  by  grace,  but  a  sincere 
consciousness  of  his  wanting  before  God  everything  that  avails  in 
His  sight,  of  having  no  righteousness  in  himself,  no  life  of  the 
Spirit.  Simple  and  easy  is  this  one  condition  and  requirement 
— but  hard  enough,  alas,  to  the  pride  of  nature !  All  the  fur- 
ther requirements  and  conditions,  which  now  follow  as  the  objects 
of  gracious  benediction,  are  already  fulfilled  out  of  that  first  gift 
of  grace  to  the  poor — one  after,  and  arising  out  of,  the  other. 
The  quickening  of  the  feelings  into  a  deep  and  sorrowful  peni- 
tence comes  not  from  mere  nature ;  he  who  can  pour  forth  the 
tears  of  his  eyes  or  of  his  heart,  that  is,  the  tears  of  sincere  con- 
trition for  his  sin,  and  not  only  for  its  shame  and  punishment, 
has  previously  received,  though  himself  might  not  as  yet  be  con- 
scious of  it,  as  one  who  has  become  poor,  the  spirit  of  grace  and 
supplication  for  that  purpose.  And  so  further  through  the  whole 
progressive  series  every  succeeding  condition  is  only  required, 
because  the  preceding  consolation  has  brought  it.  But  no  one 
step  may  be  overleaped.  We  cannot  begin  in  the  middle :  we 
can  neither  enforce  a  godly  sorrow  by  any  efforts  of  our  own  in 
order  to  bring  this  first  to  the  Giver  of  blessedness,  nor  before 
the  contrite  surrender  of  sin  attain  unto  the  fervent  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness :  we  can  neither  become  pure 
in  heart  without  the  practice  of  mercy,  nor  again  can  we 
exercise  mercy  before  we  have  received  the  comfort  of  mercy 
ourselves.  The  new  life  of  the  sinner  derived  from  grace  is 
indeed  a  living  plant,  which  contains  folded  in  itself  at  every 
stage  of  development  all  that  is  to  follow ;  and  as  soon  as  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  begins  to  sink  into  the  needy  soul,  awakened 
to  a  sincere  consciousness  of  its  poverty,  and  aroused  by  the 
Spirit's  influence  in  it,  the  germ  of  the  peace  of  God  for  the 
making  of  peace  among  men  enters  with  it.1  But  that  one  fol- 
lows the  other,  as  the  Lord  here  speaks,  even  to  the  full  unfold- 
ing and  formation  of  the  whole,  takes  place  through  the  growth 
of  time ;  and  the  field  of  man's  heart,  in  which  all  such  fruits  by 

1  Lange  says  further,  "  and  in  the  blessed  peacemaking  is  still  the 
poverty  of  spirit,  in  its  essential  excellence,  transformed  into  the  most 
blessed  humility." 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  103 

degrees  through  grace  may  grow  up  to  maturity,  is  ever  in  itself 
nothing  but — poverty. 

The  fjLa/cdpLoL  which  with  such  gracious  emphasis  stands  first, 
lias  not,  down  to  ver.  11,  either  elai  or  eaovrcu  connected  with 
it,  although  the  translation  gives  it  correctly  enough  for  the 
obvious  sense — Blessed  are  I  In  the  sacred  text  it  is  a  simple 
proclamation  (like  the  Heb.  v^VO?  anc^  contams  as  such  the 
whole  fulness  of  what  mercy  offers  for  the  acceptance  of  faith, 
without  any  further  definite  announcement  or  qualification.  It 
embraces  alike,  they  are  now,  immediately  blessed,  and  shall  be 
so  ever  more  and  more  unto  perfection.  Then  as  the  promises 
attached  look  forward  to  the  future  from  the  second  saying  on- 
wards, so  does  it  also  in  the  first — the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  yours, 
it  shall  be,  and  will  be  ever  more  perfectly  your  own.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  and  blessedness  are  but  one,  so  that  the  first 
for  is  a  sublime  assurance  which  bears  its  own  witness  to  itself. 
Ilrcoxol  tw  irvevpaTL,  p^p  ^OSh  ^sa*  xn*  1?  5  ^XY1*  %  5  especially 
lxi.  1,  to  which  Scripture  the  Lord  here  refers  as  again  at  His 
first  preaching  in  Nazareth  (Lu.  iv.  18)  ;  yet  7rrcoxol  answers 
rather  to  the  Old  Testament  Q^v^,  (Isa.  xxix.  19),  so  that 

outward  poverty  is  actually  included  in  it,  as  is  manifest  in  the 
not  incorrect  version  of  St  Luke.  Only  it  is  not  merely  the 
externally  poor  and  wretched  who  are  referred  to,  as  the  rw 
TTvev/naTi  which  is  added  emphatically  shows  :  by  consequence  the 
rich  and  the  exalted  also,  if  they  are  only  poor  in  spirit.  But  it 
must  be  observed,  that  the  persons  pronounced  blessed  are  not  the 
subject  of  the  promising  proposition  :  it  is  not  they  (as  afterwards 
in  ver.  20)  who  enter  and  attain  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  comes  to  them,  and  enters  into  them  !  Its 
whole  fulness  into  every  one,  whose  poverty  opens  to  receive  it ! 
Yes  truly,  here  is  it  come  near,  quite  near  to  those  who  have  it 
not.  The  first,  bare  commencement  of  [xerdvoia  may  dare  already 
to  appropriate  all  to  itself,  in  order  to  receive  all;  and  thus  through 
the  shining  of  the  beams  of  mercy  into  the  soul,  for  the  first  time, 
and  immediately,  becomes  awakened  to  a  more  lively  percep- 
tion and  feeling  of  its  own  darkness. 

Ver.  4.  The  Lord  has  further  in  view  Is.  lxi.  2,  3,  and  pro- 
claims the  great  year  of  freedom  and  of  grace — to  comfort  all 


104  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

that  mourn.  Were  the  poor  (Matt.  xi.  5)  to  whom  He  preaches 
the  Gospel,  actually  in  the  most  comprehensive  sense  of  the 
general  invitation  all  the  miserable  and  the  unfortunate,  the 
toilworn  and  the  heavy  laden  under  the  burden  and  need  of  life  ; 
so  has  this  announcement  of  a  general  consolation  a  like  unre- 
stricted and  extensive  introduction  : — Come  unto  me,  all  who 
suffer  affliction,  ye  may  and  ye  shall  find  help.  But  in  drawing 
nearer  to  receive  this  comfort,  it  becomes  evident  that  there  must 
be  added  : — But  be  ye  truly  mourners,  sorrow  on  account  of  the 
inner  ground  and  first  cause  of  all  evil — sin !  The  outwardly 
poor  are  far  from  being  always  and  in  their  inner  spirit  so  poor, 
as  to  allow  the  heavenly  gift  of  God  room  to  enter  into  empty 
and  destitute  hearts:  therefore  is  the  impressive  to5  irvevparL 
added,  which,  like  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  manifestly  casts  down 
all  Jewish  expectation  of  the  Messiah  and  points  within.  The 
same — as  a  kind  of  superscription  to  the  whole  discourse — is 
naturally  to  be  understood  also  of  the  mourning  (or  something 
similar,  as  Kara  Oeov,  2  Cor.  vii.  10)  :  it  is  not,  however,  repeated, 
partly  because  what  preceded  has  made  it  sufficiently  plain, 
partly  because  every  mourner,  in  the  pure  sense  of  the  word, 
as  one  humbled  beneath  the  mighty  hand  of  God,  necessarily 
retreats  within  himself,  and  is  very  near  at  least  to  the  suscepti- 
bility of  receiving  the  true  consolation.  Seest  thou  one  weeping, 
thou  mayest  securely  address  to  him  the  heavenly  message  of  a 
merciful  salvation,  in  the  sure  hope  and  confidence  of  a  hearing 
for  your  message.  For  "  mourning  and  sorrow  are  in  reality  the 
acknowledged  and  felt  contradiction  of  the  nature  that  is  in  us, 
to  the  Divine  life  which  will  be  revealed  in  us  "  (Nitzsch,  Predig- 
ten,  V.  Auswahl).  The  mourners  shall  (sollen)  be  comforted, 
as  Luther,  meaning  more  than  merely  to  avoid  repetition  of 
sound,  has  well  expressed  the  future  irapaic\r)6r]crovTai,  if  they 
only  will,  if  the  consolation  that  comes  only  finds  them  true 
mourners,  who  will  suffer  themselves  to  hear  comfortable  words. 
Yea,  as  surely  as  the  High  and  lofty  one,  who  declares 
Himself,  in  His  loving  condescension  to  all  misery  and  need, 
to  be  the  Holy  One,  dwelleth  with  those  who  are  of  a  contrite 
and  humble  spirit  (Isa.  lvii.  15),  so  surely  is  the  merciful  com- 
fort of  God  immediately  nigh  to  every  troubled  one  in  his 
affliction.     It  is  but  a  commencement  of  blessedness,  a  specific 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  105 

beginning  of  consolation  in  the  very  sorrow  itself,  as  even  the 
world  seems  to  suspect  when  it  sings  about  the  "  sweetness 
of  grief,"  and  in  its  own  way  pronounces  happy  those  who  can 
weep.  But  that  is  only  the  shadow  and  slender  beginning  of 
that  comfort  which  the  Lord  intends,  and  brings  with  Him.  And 
if  His  unfading  and  true  spiritual  consolation  is  brought  to  those 
who  sorrow  in  the  world,  it,  alas,  soon  becomes  manifest  that  they 
are  very  far  from  being  willing  to  turn  in  sincere  sorrow  to  the 
right  consolation,  they  are  not  found  to  be  meek  mourners,  who 
have  broken  down  and  given  up  their  self-will,  pride,  and  opposition. 
It  is  quite  true  what  Nitzsch  says,  "  I  cannot  be  man,  and  not 
have  the  beginning  of  sorrow  within  me" — but  the  beginning 
follows,  alas,  very  evil  courses  in  degenerate  humanity.  There 
is  a  sorrow  which  is  very  lightly  comforted  with  nothing  :  there 
is,  on  the  other  hand,  a  superstitious  and  proud  sorrow,  which 
refuses  to  take  comfort  with  the  consolation  of  God.  To  all  such 
mourning  as  springs  not  from  poverty  of  spirit,  this  promise 
is  assuredly  not  given.  For  the  Gospel  which  the  Lord  here 
preaches  pre-supposes  the  work  of  the  law  and  the  discipline  of 
preparatory  grace  upon  the  soul. 

Ver.  5.  Ourprevious general  view  and  the  immediate  connexion 
have  already  shown  how  TTpaeus,  which  is  commonly  interpreted 
falsely  or  at  least  superficially,  is  here  to  be  understood.  The 
mere  external  exhibition  of  a  passive,  unresisting  mind  is  not 
spoken  of  here,  it  is  to  be  understood  (as  Neander  this  time  sees) 
only  of  the  internal  disposition  of  heart,  into  which  the  Lord's 
word  deeper  and  deeper  penetrates.  Still  less  may  we  think  of 
an  anticipation  of  the  entire  and  complete  virtue  of  Christian 
meekness,  for  the  gradual  process  of  the  inner  preparation  of 
mind  is  marked  out  here  from  ver.  3 — 6,  before  the  conduct 
to  which  it  leads  is  described  ver.  7 — 9.  The  "patient  en- 
durance of  earthly  affliction  "  is  not  immediately  here  spoken 
of  (as  Kienlen  supposes),  but  passiveness,  and  the  breaking 
down  of  natural  opposition,  regarded  strictly  as  an  internal 
condition  of  mind.  As  the  poor  become  mourners,  when  the 
consciousness  of  their  need  passes  from  conviction  into  feeling, 
so  now  is  it,  further,  of  still  more  importance,  that  they  in  their 
misery  bend  and  incline  their  will  to  the  coming  consolation. 
The  willingness  to  be  comforted  and  helped,  is  indeed  better 


106  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

than  all  outcry  on  account  of  necessity,  if  that,  go  no  further 
.  It  is,  in  a  certain  sense,   as   we  have  seen,  the  test  of  true 
mourning,  which  without  it  cannot  be  genuine :  but  then  this 
resvjnahon   is   more   distinctively   developed,  when  the  Spirit- 
Comforter   m  order  to  make  the  mourner  entirely  submissive 
begins  at  the  very  commencement  of  his  consolation  thoroughly 
to  correct  and  chastise  him.     &„&  j.  found  in  the  0]d  T°  & 
ment  answering  to  the  q^  of  the  Psalms  and  Prophets  ;  and 
m  the  New  Testament  nrpao,,  )*&*,  Wj^i^  indicates  mostly 
(as  besides  ,„  the  Greek  nrpai^o,,  ^paivoo,)  an  inner  quality 
of  mmd.     Observe  carefully  1  Cor.  iv.  21 ;  Gal.  vi.  1  •  1  Pet 
in.  4 ;  and  especially  Eph.  iv.  ».»    Thus  is  it  a  willingness  and 
plasticity  of  spirit,  in  opposition  to  the  proud,  opposing  obstinacy 
of  the  natural  self-will.      If  those  who  are  poor  in  spirit,  and 
mourners,  are  found  humbled  and  broken  with  the  beginning  of 
such  a  disposition,  so  shall  they  when  comforted,  by  their  reception 
oi  consolation,  advance  yet  farther  in  this  meekness  of  soul.    For 
he  who  has  experienced  kindness  is  by  it  made  gentle,  so  that  he 
has  become  willing  to  be  content  with  every  thing,  as  Branne 
excellently  says.      Here  Kambach2  hits  the  right  sense,  much 
better  than  many  later  expositors :-"  This  is  a  fruit  of  the 
Spirit  which  is  found  upon  the  soil  of  spiritual  poverty,  contrition 
and  mourning;  a  noble  flower,  which  grows  out  of  the  ashes  of 
self-love,  upon  the  grave  of  pride.     On  the  one  hand  a  man  sees 
his  own  utter  ruin,  his  unworthiness  and  misery,  on  the  other  he 
contemplates  the  kindness  and  benignity  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus 
t  litus  in.  2-4).      The  internal  characteristic  is  a  disposition  of 
heart,  which  through  the  keen  perception  of  its  own  misery,  and 
of  the  abounding  mercy  of  God,  has  become  so  pliant,  gentle, 
mild,  flexible,  and  tractable  that  no  traces  of  its  original  rugged- 
ness,  of  its  wild  and  untamed  nature  remain."    Such  meekness,3 

1  Where  to  walk  worthy  of  our  vocation  in  long-suffering  forbear- 
It:'  o°£ as  bpve:che'  h  i dieated  r its  end' but  the !"  K5 

state  of  mmd  by  wh.ch it  is  aimed  at  is  r.mn^po^,  and  nna6rm  just 
m  the  same  sense  as  Matt.  v.  3,  5.  MaKpo0vJim<i  L™  are  then  the 
passive  and  active  expression  of  such  a  disposition  of  mind 
-  Observations  upon  the  eight  Benedictions 
Not  merely  (according  to  Lange)  "before  men"  as  the  result  of 
mourning  before  God,  but  also  and  especially  meekness  before  Gdf 
t  or  arc  they  not  the  "  mourners"  of  the  Psalter  ? 


MATTHEW  V.— VII.  107 

taking  to  itself  the  word  of  grace  which  dispenses  blessedness 
unto  holiness,  in  its  correction  as  well  as  in  its  comfort,  does  St 
James  also  require  (ch.  i.  21) ;  but  only  of  those  who  are 
already  new-born,  in  whom  this  word  is  already  engrafted.  With 
the  requirement  of  this  the  Saviour  could  by  no  means  have  com- 
menced. That  would  not  have  been  the  right  message  for  poor 
sinners  which  should  begin  with — Blessed  are  the  merciful,  or 
the  pure  in  heart, — so  neither  could  this  willing  resignation 
be  demanded  from  the  natural  man,  before  he  has  advanced  to 
that  point  out  of  his  poverty,  which  is  all  he  has,  through  mourn- 
ing and  consolation. 

With  inconceivable  grandeur  does  the  promise  which  corre- 
sponds come  forward,  in  order  to  allure  our  proud  and  stubborn 
natural  mind  to  submit  to  that  death  from  which  it  shrinks  : — 
for  they  shall,  they  will,  possess  or  inherit  the  land,  the  earth  !  Is 
this  not  worth  the  sacrifice  of  self,  to  be  enriched  with  the  free 
gift  of  such  a  possession,  of  such  riches  !  It  is  an  Old  Testament 
promise,  which,  while  it  there  clings  to  the  typical  land  of 
Canaan,  extends  much  further  in  the  design  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
see  Ps.  xxxvii.  11 ;  xxv.  13  ;  Isa.  Ivii.  13  ;  lx.  21  :  even  to  the 
new  earth  which,  with  the  new  heavens,  God  declares  that  He 
will  make,  Isa.  Ixvi.  22.  It  is  the  ultimate  and  full  meaning  of 
the  promise  to  Abraham — to  be  the  heir  of  the  world  !  (Rom.  iv. 
13).  With  reference  to  the  hope  of  their  faith,  to  the  dominion 
of  their  spirit,  it  is  already  said  of  God's  children — all  things 
are  yours  I  (1  Cor.  hi.  22).  But  what  will  it  be  in  the  full  ful- 
filment I  The  first  promise  was  altogether  for  the  present,  the 
second  already  points  to  the  ever-coming  after  consolation,  the 
third  stretches  far  away  into  the  most  distant  futurity.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven,  ver.  3,  which  appears  not  at  first  in  earthly 
power  and  glory,  but  comes  into  the  hearts  of  the  wretched  for 
their  consolation  and  righteousness,  is  nevertheless  in  its  future, 
as  it  here  at  once  openly  proclaims,  a  kingdom  of  the  earth.  Thus 
does  the  great  Fulfiller  teach  his  docile  hearers  in  his  very  first 
discourse,  how  the  promises  of  the  prophets,  which  cannot  be 
broken,  are  to  be  understood  ;  and  at  the  same  time  teaches  what 
it  was  the  design  of  the  law  to  create  in  their  hearts,  and  that  it 
is  only  given  to  drive  the  needy  to  Divine  grace,  in  order  that 
their  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  should  find  its  satis- 


108  TIIE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

faction.      For  already  in  these  seven  sayings  of  blessedness  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets  are  compendiously  unfolded. 

How  manifestly  do  all  these  utterances  of  Divine  truth,  which 
bears  its  simple  and  majestic  witness  to  itself,  oppose  themselves 
at  once  to  the  Pharisaic  delusion  and  pride  of  self-righteousness  ; 
to  the  Sadducee  contentment  with  the  present,  sensual  delight  of 
this  world ;  and  to  the  perverted  thoughts  of  the  world  and  the 
natural  man  !      Verses  3 — 5  are  three  paradoxes,  which  with  all 
their  gracious  invitation  and  promise,  are  nevertheless  to  carnal 
Israel,  to  the  earthly,  self-seeking,  and  sensual  man,  a  stone  of 
stumbling  thrown  in  the  way.    For  grace  can  only  bear  the  testi- 
mony of  truth  to  itself,  and  the  Saviour  conceals  not,  from  the 
beginning,  what  kind  of  salvation  it  is  that  He  brings.  Happy  the 
unhappy  !     Well  for  the  mourners  !      This  does  violence  to  the 
world's  sentiments,  and  constrains  it,  either  to  press  into  the  true 
experience  of  so  wonderful  a  doctrine,  or  even  at  this  early  point  to 
pass  it  by  for  the  broad  gate,  because  this  door  is  too  strait.  ."Thou 
must  assuredly  be  converted  unto  the  blessedness  which  the  Lord 
pronounces,  as  much  as  unto  the  righteousness:" — so  preaches 
Nitzsch.     The  very  first  word  teaches  us  that  there  is  a  blessed- 
ness which  consists  not  in  pleasant  sensations,  or  joyful  emotions, 
but  that  which  is  to  nature  most  displeasing.      The  Lord  points 
impressively  from  without  to  within,  from  the  present  time  to  the 
future,  from  the  self  of  man  to  the  gift  and  grace  of  God.     Oh 
that  the  richly  endowed  and  worldly  blessed  of  our  day,  to  whom 
the  beginning  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  must  come  with  the 
full  force  of  most  direct  contrast  and  contradiction,  would  only 
meekly  hear  it,  and  give  up  their  hold  upon  "  this  side"  for  the 
sake  of  that  which  is  on  "  the  other  side,"  that  kingdom  of  heaven 
which,  in  its  time,  shall  also  be  upon  earth,  the  inheritance  of  the 
despised,  quiet,  and  patient  ones  of  the  land,  the  humble  and  meek 
of  the  "  Preacher  upon  the  Mount !"  Self-renunciation  is  the  way 
to  world  dominion.  Give  thyself  up  in  passive  obedience  to  divine 
grace,  and  it  will  present  thee  one  day  with  a  crown  of  glory,  after 
having  previously  forgiven  thee  all  thy  sin,  and  healed  all  thy 
infirmity.     But  not  otherwise  !     Thinkest  thou  in  thine  heart  to 
rule,  and  possess,  and  to  sway,  and  to  enjoy,  all  things  upon  earth, 
at  thine  own  will  and  in  thy  unrighteousness,  under  the  eye  of 
the  God  of  heaven  and  of  earth  t  Thou  wilt  be  put  to  confusion, 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  10  J 

and  bearest  about  thee  already  the  silent  witness  thereof.  The 
vir  fortis  ac  strenuus,  the  hero  or  genius,  the  worldling  or  con- 
queror may  strut  in  lordly  pride  with  his  evil  conscience  for  a 
while  *  upon  earth,  until  he  is  doomed  to  go  down  into  Scheol  to 
all  the  other  uncircumcised  ;  but  the  meek  in  the  school  of  Jesus 
have  a  title  of  heirship  upon  this  earth,  which  no  slanderer  or 
persecutor  will  be  able  to  cancel  in  the  book  of  their  Father  and 
their  King ;  and  the  day  shall  come  when  the  lambs  shall  feed  after 
their  manner  in  their  pastures  and  waste  places,  (Isa.  v.  17.)  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  free  gift  for  the  poor,  but  only  for  the 
poor  in  spirit ;  a  comfort  for  the  mourners,  but  only  those  who 
sorrow  with  the  right  sorrow :  it  must  ever  be,  and  will  prove 
itself  also  as  a  kingdom,  a  dominion,  but  only  for  the  meek  ! 

Ver.  6.  Out  of  humbleness,  sadness,  meekness,  (to  use  the  words 
of  Nitzsch  once  more)  grows,  finally,  greatness  of  soul,  the  sanc- 
tified and  right  loftiness  of  desire  which  aspires  earnestly  towards 
that  which  alone  is  right.  The  future  possessors  of  the  earth, 
and  its  now  rightfully  installed  heirs,  whose  is  even  now  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  with  all  its  reversion,  including  the  ruling 
upon  earth,  hunger  and  thirst  throughout  their  whole  course, 
even  as  they  did  at  the  beginning :  just  as  the  poor  to  whom 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  imparted,  mourn  in  the  first  repen- 
tance unto  life  which  they  receive  as  a  bestowment  of  grace, 
and  oftentimes  after.  But  the  Lord  ever  more  and  more  com- 
forts the  mourners,  ever  more  and  more  fills  the  hungry  and 
thirsty  soul  with  the  good  things  of  His  righteousness.  (Ps.  cvii. 
9,  cxlvi.  7,  lxv.  5,  xxii.  27  ;  Isa.  xli.  17  [Bar.  ii.  18]).  He  who 
created  this  hunger,  shows  by  creating  it  that  its  appropriate 
food  is  also  provided.  There  is  a  hunger  and  thirst  in  man 
which  God  did  not  create  in  him,  and  for  that  there  shall  be, 
after  the  brief  semblance  of  gratification,  the  pain  of  an  eternal 
famishing.  But  there  is  still  deep,  deep  in  fallen  man,  a  little 
spark  of  longing  and  desire  after  righteousness;  this  faintly- 
glimmering  flax,  grace  kindles  into  a  clear  flame,  and  that  is  the 
hunger  and  thirst  which  bears  in  itself  the  certain  assurance 
that  its  supply  will  not  be  wanting.  It  is  not,  indeed,  the  being 
made  blessed  in  itself  and  first  of  all,  or  "felicity"  as  man's  doctrine 
runs,  that  the  souls  to  which  have  been  pointed  out  the  way  to 
happiness  through  self-denial,  the  strait  gate  of  the  doing  of  God's 


1 1 0  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

will,  should  seek  and  struggle  after  ;  but  righteousness ',  the  victory 
of  the  eternal,  and  just  and  good  will  of  God  upon  earth  and  in 
humanity,  especially,  however,  in  themselves.  Deliver  us  from 
evil!  comes  not  till  the  last  petition;  but  the  first  again  and 
again  cries  out  in  longing,  Hallowed  be  Thy  name  !  Thy  king- 
dom come !  and  utters  in  meekness,  Thy  will  be  done !  They 
who  thus  pray  receive  the  daily  bread  of  their  souls,  and  as  much 
as  they  require  it,  of  their  bodies  too.  No  willing  and  running, 
no  labouring  chase  after  it  in  our  own  strength  and  in  our  own 
way,  attains  unto  righteousness ;  ours  is  to  desire  it,  it  is  for  God 
to  give  it.  Yet  observe,  that  as  far  as  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
already  set  up  in  these  poor,  they  in  their  new  and  inner  man 
naturally,  regularly,  daily — "  with  the  full  force  of  the  instinct  of 
the  sustentation  of  life  " — hunger  after  righteousness,  just  as  the 
old  and  outward  man  hungers  after  that  bread,  of  wThich  the 
man,  however,  does  not  essentially  live.  This  hungering  and 
thirsting  is  the  sign  of  life  of  the  new-born  inner  man,  quick- 
ened from  the  sleep  of  death ;  hence  it  is  the  last  thing  by 
which  the  Lord  can  indicate  the  internal  spirit  and  disposition 
of  the  children  of  God.  The  discourse  now  passes  over1  to  the 
evidencing  of  that  righteousness,  which  has  been  given  to  them 
who  have  desired  it,  and  shall  be  more  and  more  fully  given  even 
till  their  full  and  complete  satisfaction,  till  the  purifying  of  their 
hearts  in  love,  till  that  is  fulfilled  which  is  written  :  As  for  me,  I 
will  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness,  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I 
awake  with  thy  likeness  !  (Ps.  xvii.  15).  In  the  new  earth 
dwelleth  righteousness  (2  Pet.  iii.  13),  and  they  who  one  day  in- 
herit it,  shall  then  hunger  and  thirst  no  more.  He  who  now  as 
a  pilgrim  citizen  of  the  city  to  come,  earnestly  prays  over  the 
table  of  his  house  and  of  his  heart : — Make  us  partakers  of  thine 
eternal,  heavenly  table,  which  thou  hast  graciously  prepared  and 
promised  to  us  in  Thy  kingdom, — he  shall  be  satisfied  with  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness,  even  until  the  great  feast 

1  As  in  the  seven  petitions  of  the  Lord's  prayer  the  middle  one  con- 
cerning daily  bread  effects  the  transition  between  the  first  and  second 
table,  between  God's  good  and  man's  need  ;  even  so  here  the  fourth  of 
the  Benedictions  mediates  between  their  two  parts,  and  is  the  transition, 
inversely,  from  the  need  of  the  poor  to  the  grace,  which  transforms  and 
glorifies  itself  in  them  as  righteousness. 


MATTHE^V  V. — VII.  Ill 

with  all  the  fathers  made  righteous  in  faith ;  shall  be  filled  here 
with  the  supply  of  both  soul  and  body  from  day  to  day,  for  what 
■the  necessity  of  his  body  requires  shall  also  be  given  him,  just  as 
the  soul's  necessity,  the  special  plague  of  every  day,  is  provided 
for.  So  that  the  hunger  for  the  bread  of  the  soul  shall  never 
cease,  until  the  perfect  righteousness  is  come. 

Vers.  7 — 9.  Up  to  this  point  the  promises  have  corresponded 
to  conditions,  but  these  conditions  have  been  no  other  than  the 
same  need  developing  itself  from  step  to  step  in  increasing 
urgency,  and  outgoing  fervour  of  desire : — in  each  case  there- 
fore that  which  is  promised  is  most  essentially  a  gift.  Be  poor, 
and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  shall  be  thine  !  Mourn,  and  thou 
shalt  be  comforted  !  Give  up  thy  will,  thou  shalt  dwell  in,  and 
inherit,  the  everlasting  sufficiency  !  Only  hunger  and  thirst,  thou 
shalt  be  filled  !  But  now  begins  the  unfolding  of  a  new  series. 
The  beginning  of  this  does  not  simply  presuppose  the  end  of  the 
former  and  carry  it  on,  but  the  outward  expression  and  evidence 
of  the  inner  principles,  the  fruits  of  these  hidden  feelings  mani- 
fest themselves  already  simultaneously  in  the  life  ;  so  that  they 
who  in  their  poverty  acknowledge  their  need  of  mercy,  and  taste 
the  first-fruits  of  the  Divine  compassion,  begin  already  to  exercise 
mercy;  the  mourners  begin  while  they  mourn  to  wash  their 
hearts  clean ;  the  meek  also  spontaneously  to  make  peace,  the 
hungerers  after  righteousness  to  give  themselves  up  to  persecu- 
tion, on  account  of  that  righteousness  which  they  only  as  yet  long 
for.  Yet,  inasmuch  as  all  cannot  be  spoken  in  one  word,  which 
pertains  to  the  many-formed  unity  of  the  development  of  the 
increasing  life  from  its  germ  to  its  maturity,  it  is  right  to  take  the 
ascending  order  in  which  the  discourse  describes  it.  The  eight 
Benedictions,  with  their  conditions,  are  in  a  certain  sense  found 
united  in  every  child  of  God,  and  no  member  of  this  wonderful 
series  may  be  altogether  wanting  from  the  time  that  the  first 
poverty  of  spirit  has  received  the  gift  of  grace ;  yet  is  there  an 
actual  and  gradual  growth  of  one  out  of  the  other.  And  here 
does  the  law  apply  in  all  its  significance,  that  the  gift  received 
must  be  preserved,  exercised,  and  increased;  and  that  to  him 
only  who  has,  shall  more  be  given  in  order  to  his  having  all,  while 
from  him  who  guards  it  not,  and  does  not  exercise  and  increase 
it,  shall  be  taken  away  that  which  he  has.      Consequently  the 


1 1 2  THE  GOSPEL  OF,  ST  MATTHEW. 

promises  of  the  second  series  take  now  the  form  of  reward,  the 
recompense  of  grace  to  those  who  are  faithful  to  what  they  have 
received.  Be  merciful,  and  thou  shalt  have  mercy  shown  to 
thee  I1  Be  pure,  so  shalt  thou  behold  the  pure  one  !  Make  peace, 
so  shalt  thou  be  the  manifest  child  of  the  God  of  peace  !  Such 
requital,  such  recompense  is  not  the  less  itself  mere  mercy  and  the 
reward  of  free  grace ;  the  Divine  gift  is  only  in  it  going  on  to  its 
superabundant  fulfilment ;  and  the  qualities,  which  are  the  object 
of  recompense,  were  previously  bestowed  as  a  gift.  For  who  can 
show  mercy,  without  having  first  received  mercy  1  who  can  be 
pure  in  heart,  without  having  contemplated  the  purity  of  God  % 
who  can  diffuse  peace,  except  through  that  peace  of  God  into 
which  he  has  entered  ? 

But — and  this  is  most  important — there  is  here  a  possibility 
of  the  withdrawal  of  grace,  from  those  who  have  received  it  but 
are  not  faithful  to  its  corresponding  exercises ;  just  as  the  parables, 
Matt,  xviii.  23 — 35,  xxv.  14 — 30,  also  teach.  Therefore  do  the 
promises  even  now  begin  to  sink,  secretly  warning  against 
such  a  loss,  while  the  conditions  rise.2  To  the  merciful,  God  has 
been,  indeed,  at  the  outset,  merciful,  but  only  they  who  there- 
after forgive  also  as  they  have  been  forgiven,  and  love  as  God 
has  loved  them,  shall  obtain  mercy,  that  is,  at  the  final  testing  of 
their  fidelity,  finally  and  securely  retain  it.  The  pure  in  heart 
have  purified  themselves  in  the  sight  of  God,  have  drawn  nigh 
to  him  in  living  acquaintance  with  His  name  ;  but  only  if  they 
preserve  and  increase  that  knowledge  unto  the  end,  shall  they 
who  have  come  to  God  finally  and  fully  come  nigh  to  Him. 
Only  they  who  as  peacemakers  have  approved  themselves  to  the 
end  God's  children,  shall  in  the  coming  "  manifestation  of  the 
sons  of  God,"  in  the  separation  between  the  persevering  and  the 
apostates,  actually  be  called  the  children  of  God,  be  acknowledged 
as  such  !  (which  already  presignifies  ch.  vii.  23).  Thus  does  the 
gate  become  straiter  and  straiter,  as  afterwards  throughout  the 
whole  discourse.     He  who  sets  out  may  in  poverty  of  spirit  con- 

1  What  St  Luke  in  another,  briefer  epitome  of  the  whole  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  in  its  few  fundamental  ideas,  exhibits  to  us  as  blended  with 
other  sayings,  ch.  vi.  36—39  (Matt.  v.  48,  vii.  1,  2). 

2  Let  a  glance  be  taken  backwards  through  the  Benedictions  in  order 
fully  to  observe  their  organic  connexion. 


MATTHEW  V. VII.  113 

fidently  believe,  I  have  it!  but  the  nearer  he  approaches  the 
goal,  the  more  will  he  utter  another  cry,  Not  that  I  have  already 
attained ! 

Not  a  word  is  needed  to  prove  that  iXerjfioves  in  its  compen- 
dious sense  indicates  the  practical  love  of  our  neighbour,  all  that 
is  done  to  our  brethren  from  the  inward  principle  of  a  communi- 
cating and  helping  charity.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  observe 
that  such  rudiments  of  regeneration,  as  were  to  be  found  even 
among  the  heathen  who,  though  they  knew  not  Christ,  yet  through 
the  pure  impulse  of  a  latent  grace,  exercised  towards  others  what 
ithey  sought  for  themselves,  must  be  included  here  ;  in  opposition 
to  that  narrow  dogmatic  limitation,  which  would  despise  the  good 
works  of  such  as  Cornelius,  though  God  nevertheless  esteemed 
them.  Mercy  rejoiceth  against  judgment  (Jas.  ii.  13) — this 
impartial  and  holy  law  of  eternal  love  graciously  throws  open  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  to  many  coming  from  the  east  and  the  west ; 
even  as  it  rigidly  closes  it  against  the  children  of  the  kingdom 
who,  with  all  their  vaunted  faith,  have  never  learned  or  retained 
love.  This  mercy,  however,  (as  Nitzsch  excellently  preaches) 
is  not  that  weak  and  sickly  sympathy  which  ungodly  selfishness 
cannot  but  feel,  and  is  too  willing  to  plead  it  in  evasion -as  the 
true  Christianity ;  not  that  false  kindness  towards  one's  neigh- 
bour which  goes  hand  in  .hand  with  the  most  unbridled  indul- 
gence of  one's  own  ;flesh.  Therefore  is  purity  of  heart  next 
spoken  of  as  the, test  of  true  mercy;  not  the  reverse,  as  if  this 
presumptive  mercy  were  the  guarantee  of  purity  in  the  heart. 
KaOapbi  rfj  KapSia,  W?h*Vj  (Ps.  Ixxiii.  1,  comp.  Ps.  Ii.  12,  xxiv. 
4 — 6.)  Not  merely  pure  in  the  Levitical  typical  sense,  not  merely 
of  clean  hands  in  a  Pharisaical  or,  carnally  moral  sense,  but  in  the 
inner  being  before  God,  who  desireth  truth  in  the  inward  parts, 
(Ps.  Ii.  8.)  In  the  position  where  we  find  this  here,  it  cannot  be  a 
disposition  of  mind  that  desires  and  seeks  it,  not  even  the  struggle 
after  it  out  of  a  deep  sense  of  need,  but  an  actual  inner  quality,  a 
condition  of  the  inner  man  that  is  ever  advancing  to  perfection. 
The  heart  is  purified  through  faith  (Acts  xv.  9) ;  and  in  love  out  of 
a  pure  heart  (1  Tim.  i.  5),  in  faith  working  by  love,  to  the  perfec- 
tion of  which  faith  works  co-operate  (Jas.  ii.  22),  the  purified  heart 
goes  on  to  the  consummation  of  purity.  The  stimulant  and  impulse 
of  practical  mercy  is  the  mercy  of  the  Pure  One  towards  my  yet 


114  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

impure  heart ;  the  more  diligently  I  now  wash  my  heart  in  this 
mercy  of  God,  and  my  hands  by  exercising  it  in  return  towards 
my  neighbour,  the  more  fully  the  sentiment  of  love  within  me  is 
confirmed  by  the  acts  of  love ;  so  much  the  nearer  do  I  come, 
in  the  way  of  a  priestly  entrance  into  the  Holiest  (which  is,  in 
its  degree,  an  appearing  before  God  already,  a  beholding  of  His 
face),  unto  the  firial  and  consummate  fulfilment  of  that  type — to 
see  God,  as  it  is  expressed  in  1  Jno.  iii.  2,  3.     Just  as  far  as  we 
are  inwardly  and  essentially  purified  as  God  is  pure,  are  we 
capable  of  a  living  perception  of  Him.     But  that  perception, 
when  perfect  in  the  glorified,  shall  be  also  the  actual  vision  of 
God  ;  that  is,  be  it  understood,  of  the  face  of  God  in  the  Son, 
who  has  ever  been  from  the  beginning  the  face  of  God  turned 
towards  the  creature.     (1  Tim.  vi.  16).1      ''EiprjvoiTOLoi,  (3ov\6- 
jjievoc  elprjvqv,  fcft^fcj  *tg?\  (Prov.  xii.  20)  and  more  than  that,  for 
it  is  the  last  description  of  the  high  aim  of  discipleship,  beyond 
which  there  is  no  higher  step  to  be  taken,  for  this  makes  the 
disciple  as  his  Lord.      Not  merely  are  they  contrasted  with 
those  who  are  k^ipiQeias  (Rom.  ii.  8),  not  merely  do  they  keep  and 
preserve  peace,  as  much  as  in  them  lies,  with  every  man  (iipy- 
vevovtes,  Rom.  xii.  18;  Heb.  xii.  14),  but  they  make,  they  mediate 
peace,  they  bring  and  offer  to  the  world  out  of  the  treasure  of  a 
pure  heart,  the  peace  of  God !      Thus,  finally,  every  disciple  of 
our  Lord  is  in  his  place,  in  design  if  not  in  effect,  a  messenger 
of  grace,  in  word,  in  work,  and  in  life,  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
a  bringer  of  peace  in  the  ministry  of  the  great  reconciliation. 
Such  shall,  in  the  final  separation  and  demarcation,  be  called  the 
children  of  God,  for  they  have  been  such  in  truth  and  worthy 
of  the  name  :   but  not  they  who  have  proudly  and  unlovingly 
gloried  in  the  testimony  of  truth  against  a  miserable  and  sinful 
world,  and  just  as  little  they  who  have,  contrary  to  truth  and 
righteousness,  spoken  peace  when  there  has  been  no  peace  in 
God's  sight. 

Ver.  10.  To  the  seven  Benedictions,  perfect  in  themselves, 
there  is  significantly  added  yet  another  supernumerary  eighth, 

1  So  that  we  may  not  limit  the  meaning  of  the  promise  to  the  mani- 
festation of  Christ  only  in  this  world  : — the  pure,  the  upright,  perceive 
in  Christ  a  manifestation  of  God.  (Lutz,  Bibl.  Dogm.  p.  48).  Quite 
true,  but  not  enough. 


MATTHEW  V.— VII.  115 

which  proceeds  no  farther  with  the  development,  but  confirms 
and  seals  their  seven-fold  blessedness  to  the  righteous,  whose 
character  is  perfected  through  their  peace-making  in  this  evil 
world,  against  all   the  never-failing   enmity  and  scorn   of  the 
unrighteous.     And  though  ye  also  suffer  for  righteousness'  sake, 
yet  are  ye,  and  shall  ye  be,  blessed  notwithstanding.     (1  Pet.  iii. 
14.)     Here  is  thus  wonderfully  blended  the  fundamental  tone  oi 
promise  and  consolation,  Fear  ye  not,  rather  rejoice !  with  the 
earnest  note  of  requirement,  that  they  remain  faithful  under  so 
severe  a  test,  yea,  even  of  warning  against  hypocrisy  and  apos- 
tacy.     For  that  righteousness*  sake  which  has  been  now  attained 
— by  retrospect  to  ver.  6 ;  and  there  is  also  a  connexion  with 
ver.  7 — 9 — mercy  out  of  a  pure  heart  unto  peace.    The  world  will 
for  the  most  part  requite  that  love  with  hatred,  will  thrust  this 
peace  from  them  ;  and  the  Lord  will  by  no  means  conceal  this 
from  His  disciples  in  this  most  gracious  first  sermon  to  them. 
The  essential  idea  of  persecute,  here,  is  to  persist  malevolently  in 
seeking  to  withstand  them;  to  transfer  and  carry  on  their  enmity 
against  God's  righteousness,  to  its  possessors  and  witnesses  and 
ambassadors  also.      Thus   is  BeBicoyfjuivoc  not  only  the  highest 
honour  ofthe  children  of  God  who  are  thus  conformed  to  Christ, 
but  also  a  condition  of  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  not  less 
absolute  than  the  preceding.  (1  Pet.  iv.  13,  14;  2  Tim.  iii.  12). 
It  is  the  last  and  surest  token  of  discipleship  ;  and  the  tribulation 
of  time  becomes  to  those  who  persevere,  a  confirmation  of  their 
title  to  eternal  joy.      Thereby  discern  the  peace  of  God  in  thy- 
self and  in  others,  that  the  world  as  such  is  opposed  to  it,  yea, 
even  rejoice  in  this,  for  as  it  is  the  natural  consequence  of  thy 
charitable  and  peaceful  walk,  so  it  is  also  the  testing  proof  which 
is  needful  to  its  consummation.      (Jno.  xiv.  27 ;  xv.  18 — 21). 
According  to  St  Luke  vi.  26,  the  Lord  further  made  this  plain 
by  a  warning  contrast.      Thus  does  the  Lord  set  the  seal  to  His 
discourse,  binding  together  its  beginning  and  its  end  : — the  king- 
dom is  (and  abides)  yours,  even  as  it  was  yours  at  the  commence- 
ment in  poverty  of  spirit.      The  icnlv  presents  a  contrast  with 
the  outward  and  passing  show  of  persecution,  which  indeed  is 
more  easily  apprehended  by  faith  than  that  first  contrariety  be- 
tween the  strong  assurance  and  the  inward  poverty  to  which  it 


116  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

was  given.   The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  trancendantly  elevated  above 
all  the  transitory  circumstances  of  this  lower  world. 

Vers.  11,   12.    The  sentences  which  proclaim  blessedness,  are 
ended.     There  is  now,  through  a  final  "  Blessed  are  ye,"  a  transi- 
tion made  to  their  appropriation  ;  and  the  address  to  the  disciples 
begins,  which  continues  down  to  ch.  vii.  20.      That  this  direct 
address  was  not  used  before,  resulted  from  the   tone  of  general 
invitation  which  marked  the  commencement  of  the  discourse. 
The  disciples  of  Jesus  must  not  be  supposed  to  be  separated  or 
distinguished  from  the  other  hearers  ;  but  the  discourse,  in  a 
manner,  saw  in  them  all,  from  the  beginning,  future  disciples— 
graciously  takes  this  for  granted.     Whosoever,  among  the  people 
who  heard  the  first  sentences,  is  able  and  willing  to  appropriate 
them  to  himself,  is  referred  to  throughout  what  follows  in  the 
general  ye,  my  disciples  !      All  other  men,  in  sharp  distinction 
from  the  children  of  God  and  messengers  of  peace  who  have 
been  described,; are  included  in  the  unexpressed  subject  of  oVetoY- 
acoaiv,  &c.     Quite  correctly,  therefore,  though  needlessly,  does 
Luther  insert  Men  (Menschen)  ;— comp.  ver.  16  with  ch.  x.  17. 
The  children  of  God  are  in  contrast  with  men,  just  as  Israel, 
God's  people,  with  the  nations.      For  my  sake  :  this  is,  likewise, 
the  first  coming  forth  of  the  personality  of  Jesus,  the  Master  and 
Lord  which  corresponds  to  that  first  ye ;  and  its  identity  with 
For  righteousness'  sake  !   is,  at  the  same  time,  very  significant. 
The  persecution  before  referred  to,  is  now  more  clearly  traced  in 
three  stages  -.—first,  reviling  with  bitter  and  hateful  words  gene- 
rally, then  more  specific  persecution  in   acts,  and  finally  the 
■pouring  out  upon  the  objects  of  their  hate,  in  wanton  falsehood 
and  slander,  irav  irovnpbv  prj/jLa,  whatever  their  wicked  malice 
can  invent.1     The  Lord  manifestly  refers  to  Isa.  li.  7 — 8 ;  in 
which  chapter  we  find  ver.  1.  beginning  with—"  Ye  that  follow 
after  righteousness  ;"  and  immediately  after  in  vers.  4—8,  this  is 
changed  into  "My  people,  my  nation,  my  judgment,  my  salva- 
tion, my  righteousness."      Consequently,  our  Lord  here  already 

1  The  daring  disregard  of  truth  with  which  the  world  is  wont  calum- 
niari  audacter  the  children  of  God,  the  Satanic  cunning  with  which  its 
lies  are  woven,  would  he  altogether  incredible,  if  it  were  not  matter  of 

fact. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  117 

in  this  lofty  "  For  my  sake  !"  speaks  in  the  person  of  Jehovah, 
just  as  at  the  end  of  the  sermon  He  reveals  Himself  as  the  future 
judge  of  mankind.  The  -yjrev&ofievoL  about  which  there  has  been 
so  much  needless  dispute,  must  not  be  connected  merely  with 
ev€K€v  ifjiov  (asTholuek  thinks)  ;  but  indicates  in  itself  that  most 
wanton  wickedness  and  unrighteousness  which  has  just  been 
spoken  of:  though  at  the  same  time  it  contains,  in  order  to 
obviate  the  too  hasty  confidence  which  this  might  produce,  an 
undertone  of  test  (as  we  observed  above  in  the  analysis),  sound- 
ing thus — But  look  well  to  it  in  every  case,  that  they  do  speak 
falsely !  This  expression,  to  return,  exhibits  the  fundamental 
principle  of  all  their  hatred ;  which  has  its  origin  in  the  lie  that 
ever  opposes  the  truth  of  God,  though  the  adversaries  may  not 
always  be  conscious  of  this.  Ye  must  know  it,  however,  and  be 
firmly  assured,  that  they  speak  falsely ;  or  the  benediction  can 
avail  you  nothing.  For,  alas,  all  the  way  up  to  the  high  eleva- 
tion of  the  reproach  of  Christ,  may  a  man  deceive  himself;  and 
too  readily  reckon  that  as  slander,  redounding  to  his  own  honour, 
which  is  but  deserved  blame.  But  if  ye  are  surely  convinced  in 
your  heart  and  conscience,  that  the  reproaches  of  those  who  hate 
the  righteousness  of  God,  are  falling  upon  you  for  its  sake,  then 
rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad  I  (In  St  Luke,  "  leap  for  joy" 
spring  upward  in  joyful  hope  towards  your  reward  in  heaven  !) 
There  is  in  this,  as  it  were,  a  most  emphatic  command,  Be  happy ! 
for  which  "  Blessed  are  ye,"  in  the  previous  verse,  prepared  the 
way.  It  is  only  befitting  that  the  Lord,  in  His  gentle  condescen- 
sion, should  speak  of  recompense  and  reward  (excluding,  be  it 
understood,  all  idea  of  merit  from  those  words),  oftener  and  more 
strongly  than  His  apostles  might  afterwards  do.1  For  your  re- 
ward :  that  is,  not  merely  the  general  reward  of  grace  which  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  awaits  you ;  but  in  addition  there  shall 
be,  for  every  affliction  and  for  every  wicked  word  which  you  have  to 
endure  as  expedient  for  the  confirmation  of  your  faith  to  yourselves, 
a  distinct,  and  precisely  apportioned  requital  and  compensation  : — 
the  more  ye  suffer,  the  more  the  reward.  For  thus  royally  will  one 
day  that  righteous  Lord  and  Judge  requite  His  own,  who  on  the 
other  hand  will  not  forget  a  cup  of  cold  water  that  has  ever  been 

1  See  Roos,  the  Doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  new  ed.,  p.  764. 


118  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

given  to  one  of  them !  Finally,  there  is  here  graciously  given  to 
our  weak  faith  another  ground  of  joy  in  persecution,  in  that  we 
perceive  ourselves  by  this  practical  token  to  be  companions  of  the 
prophets,  the  witnesses  of  God  who  have  been  before  us ;  and 
thus  become  more  and  more  assured  of  our  citizenship  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  in  contrast  with  the  prevailing  decay  and 
destruction  of  all  things.  Christ  gives,  indeed,  in  these  words  an 
early  explanation,  that  the  kingdom  of  God  was  not  among  the 
people  of  Israel,  as  a  whole,  in  the  state  in  which  it  then  was  ; 
that  it  was  not  what  they  thought  it,  after  their  way  and  manner  ; 
but  that  it  was  with  the  persecuted  prophets,  and  as  they  taught 
it,  in  the  misunderstood  former  revelation.  The  reward  is 
reserved  in  the  heavens,  which  is  not  quite  the  same  with  "  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven ;"  but  rather  signifies  the  interval  from  the 
gathering  of  the  righteous  to  the  former  prophets,  till  the  inherit- 
ing of  the  earth,  ver.  5.  Him  whom  they  tolerate  no  longer  under 
heaven,  Heaven  will  receive  into  itself]  Heavens,  in  the  plural, 
refers  to  the  many  mansions  of  Jno.  xiv.  2,  and  helps  our  antici- 
pation of  the  greatness  and  glory  of  the  reward. 

Vers.  13—16.  The  promise  here  already  in  the  first  part,  as 
we  have  seen,  advances  into  a  demand,  that  the  gifts  of  grace 
which  have  been  received  should  exhibit  and  approve  themselves. 
The  danger  of  not  persevering  in  persecution  has  been  just  before 
pointed  out;  but  now  the  discourse  strengthens  its  tone,  and 
insists  upon  an  indispensable  continuance  of  active  influence  and 
testimony  in  the  midst  of  an  evil  world.  Ye — who  have  been 
described  in  vers.  3—10,  who  in  your  poverty  have  hungered 
for  and  have  obtained  righteousness,  in  order  to  the  exercise  of 
charity  and  peacemaking;  Ye — who  have  been  addressed  in 
vers.  11, 12,  as  having  to  expect,  like  the  prophets  before  you,  the 
ingratitude,  scorn,  and  persecution  of  this  world  as  your  earthly 
reward,  but  an  everlasting  compensation  for  all  this,  as  your 
reward  in  heaven :  Ye  are,  what  Grace  has  made  you—  be,  and  in 
joyful  confidence  continue  to  be,  all  that  your  new  nature  requires  ! 
Let  no  hindrance  prevent  this  ;  look  well  to  yourselves,  that  ye 
become  not  again  incapable  and  unfit !  In  these  verses  the  three 
main  ideas,  with  reference  to  which  the  whole  sermon  moves  on 
in  regular  gradation  (Promise,  Requirement,  and  Warning),  are 
reversed — from  the  point  of  their  connexion  with  the  preceding. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  119 

First,  altogether  warning — woe  to  the  savourless  salt !  Then 
again,  though  in  part  a  promise — the  light  must  not  and  shall 
not  be  hid  !  Finally,  with  fuller  grace — let  then  the  light  which 
is  given  you,  shine  forth ! 

The  discourse,  after  having  looked  back  upon  the  prophets  of 
former  times,  turns  at  once  to  a  prophetic  contemplation  of  the 
entire  destiny  of  the  new  church — the  city  set  on  a  hill ; — an- 
nounces here  preparatorily,  what  comes  more  plainly  before  us 
in  the  10th  chapter  at  the  first  sending  forth  of  the  messengers 
of  peace ;  and  already,  just  as  at  the  close  of  this  Gospel  (ch. 
xxviii.  19),  embraces  the  whole  earth — the  whole  world.  But 
what  is  the  distinction  which  our  Lord,  who  begins  here  to  dis- 
close the  essential  truth  of  those  natural  images  which  were  ori- 
ginally provided  for  all  human  language,  and  to  use  them  as  the 
elementary  letters  of  His  own  superhuman  utterance,  makes  in 
this  passage  between  salt  and  light  ?  It  would  be  superficial  to 
regard  it  as  a  mere  abstract  distinction  between  life  and  know- 
ledge. Rather  is  salt  the  inner  essential  power  and  virtue  from 
which  the  efficacy  proceeds  by  natural  laws  :  light,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  the  outward  expression  of  testimony  viewed  in  itself. 
Therefore  the  earth  is  opposed  to  the  former  as  a  dead,  corrupt 
mass  which  must  be  pervaded  by  it ;  the  world  is  the  object  of 
the  latter,  as  a  dark  region  in  which  it  must  assuredly  shine. 
The  middle  term  between  the  two  is  fire,  (Mar.  ix.  49,  50,  and  Ps. 
1.  2,  3 — compare  Levit.  ii.  13.) 

The  salt  in  itself  is  properly  the  power  of  life  in  its  essence, 
the  imperishable  permanence  of  an  abiding  essence,  inwrought 
into  things  as  their  principle  by  the  Eternal.  It  can  therefore 
no  more  become  corrupted  into  saltlessness,  than  the  light  can 
become  darkness,  either  in  nature,  or  in  that  spiritual  kingdom 
of  which  it  is  the  symbol.  Yet,  inasmuch  as  our  Lord  has 
graciously  condescended  to  say  of  those  who  have  salt  in  them- 
selves (Mar.  ix.  50),  that  they  are  the  salt ;  and  to  name  those 
light  who  are  only  lamps  or  lightbearers ;  in  this  sense  the  salt 
may  become  indeed  savourless,  and  the  light  in  us  become  dark- 
ness (ch.  vi.  23)  :  that  is,  if  we  lose  again  the  salt  and  the  light. 
Salt  alone  averts  corruption,  and  gives  a  good  and  savoury  taste 
(Job  vi.  6),  hence  it  appears  in  the  sacrifices  as  the  seasoning, 
and  a  sign  of  the  covenant  of  God.     Without  salt  the  earth  is 


120  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

corrupt  before  God  (Gen.  vi.  11),  and  all  who  live  upon  it 
foul  and  stinking,  an  abomination  in  his  sight  (see  Ps.  xiv.  3) 
^H^fcto  comp.  Job.  xv.  16.  But  God  gives  to  the  corrupted 
mass  a  new  salt,  has  checked  the  corruption  from  the  very  be- 
ginning by  His  grace,  and  will  now  in  the  fulness  of  His  mercy 
and  of  His  truth,  salt  again  the  whole  earth — if  it  will  receive  it 
— unto  life.  The  instruments  of  this  great  restoration  are  the 
children  of  God  through  Christ !  They  are  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
for  they  bear  God's  truth  livingly  within  them,  which  is  made 
their  salt,  by  which  they  should  salt  and  season  everything 
around  them :  just  as  in  v.  16  it  is  also  said — your  light. 
They  bring  and  they  make  -peace,  that  is,  in  the  full  sense  of 
the  Hebrew  cfiVuf  f°r  tne  healing  of  all  corruption ;  for  they 
bring  the  only  living  and  abiding  truth  in  righteousness ;  and 
only  in  truth  is  peace.  (Col.  iv.  6 ;  Mar.  ix.  50 ;  Zech.  viii.  19), 
Now,  the  healing  influence  of  this  sharply  piercing  truth,  is  fool- 
ishly resisted  by  human  nature,  and  if  it  should  therefore  intermit 
its  piercing,  through  unbelief,  and  indolence  in  its  possessors, 
and  give  way  before  the  resistance  which  it  meets ;  if  its  point 
should  become  blunted  in  the  attack,  and  that  which  through  the 
might  of  God  ought  most  powerfully  to  bear  witness  to,  and 
approve  itself,  should  in  the  bye-ways  of  false  peace  degenerate 
by  degrees  into  a  thing  which  only  retains  the  outward  appearance 
of  that  truth  which  is  for  man's  peace,  but  from  whence  the  power 
is  fled : — then  is  the  salt  again  become  saltless,  as  church  his- 
tory has  shown  in  the  darkness  of  Roman  Christendom,  and  more 
recently  in  the  no  less  profound  darkness  of  Rationalism. 

The  salt  without  savour  has  indeed  the  obvious  appearance  of 
being  doctrine  which  has  become  impotent  and  unsound ;  yet, 
since  this  can  only  be  the  consequence  of  the  loss  of  power  and 
life  in  the  salt-bearers,  who  themselves  are  termed  the  salt,  it 
would  be  very  false  exposition  to  say  that  the  Lord  does  not 
speak  here  also  of  persons.  That  he  does  speak  of  them,  the 
treading  under  foot  manifestly  shows.  It  would  be  wrong  to 
say,  that  though  men  once  endued  with  grace  may  become  weak 
and  impotent  for  external  influence  in  the  awakening  of  others, 

1  What  I  have  said  concerning  this  in  Jno.  xiv.  27,  and  elsewhere 
(also  in  Isaiah)  may  be  consulted  and  compared. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  121 

yet  that  they  cannot  themselves  again  be  quite  lost.  That  would 
be  through  prejudice  to  do  injustice  to  the  word  which-  here, 
as  elsewhere  often  in  Scripture,  expressly  and  incontrovertibly 
warns  against  relapse  as  only,  alas,  too  possible.  He  only  can 
salt  the  earth  who  is  himself  salted,  has  become  salt ;  the  abid- 
ing virtue  within,  and  its  energy  without,  are  strictly  inseparable. 
Now  he  who  ceases  to  salt  others,  loses  also  the  salt  which  pre- 
serves himself:  and  after  such  loss  of  the  heavenly  gift  is  no 
second  renewal  possible ;  there  remains  only  the  consuming  fire 
of  judgment,  which  is  by  no  means  the  same  with  the  salting 
fire  of  purifying,  saving  affliction.  (Heb.  vi.  4 — 6,  x.  26,  27  ; 
Mar.  ix.  49.)  Only  for  the  sake  of  the  children  of  God  who  pre- 
vent its  judgment,  and  co-operate  unto  salvation,  is  the  earth 
preserved,  though  corrupt  and  full  of  wickedness,  in  order  that 
it  may  be  their  inheritance  of  the  Regeneration.  But  those  who 
persist  in  their  wickedness,  will  not  abide  that  spiritual  severity 
which  would  work  out  their  welfare,  that  mighty  testimony  of  the 
truth  which  is  for  their  peace.  Such  salt  is  too  fiery  and  biting 
for  them,  they  persecute  the  righteous,  and  fight  against  the 
ambassadors  of  peace.  Now,  herein  lies  the  temptation  of  these 
latter  to  become  saltless ;  and  the  Lord  teaches  His  own  not 
lightly  to  despise  this  temptation  !  Contemplating  the  future  of 
His  church,  He  lifts  up  his  warning  cry,  and  proclaims  what 
has  since  so  often  taken  place.  But  Luther's  translation  here 
and  in  Mark  ix.  is  quite  incorrect ; — with  what  shall  we  salt  I 
wherewith  shall  we  season  f  That  would  have  seemed  to  refer 
to  a  universal  apostacy,  and  have  given  to  the  question  such  an 
unsuitable  meaning  as  this — if  ye  fall  away,  where  will  be  God's 
children  for  the  world's  good  ?  What  the  Baptist  said  (Matt.  iii. 
9),  is  the  fit  rejoinder  to  such  view  of  the  question.1  No,  the 
Lord  most  assuredly  means : — If  the  salt  loses  its  savour,  where- 
with shall  ti9  the  worthless  salt,  be  salted  again  I  What  follows 
proves  this — it  is  thenceforth  useful  or  fit  or  good  for  nothing. 
The  casting  out  is  the  lot  of  that  which  is  useless,  which  can 
serve  no  purpose  in  the  house,  and  the  treading  under  foot  further 

1  Hence  with  reference  to  Luther's  text  Hamann  writes  this  vigorous 
application  of  it : — The  salt  of  learning  is  a  good  thing  ;  but  if  that 
becomes  savourless,  what  shall  we  season  with  ?  With  what  but  the 
nwpia  tov  KrjpvyiMiTos,  the  foolishness  of  preaching?     (1  Cor.  i.  21.) 


122  THE   GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

marks  the  perfect  contempt  of  that  which  is  thus  cast  out.  No 
U  mending  of  the  way  as  by  manure"  is  here  referred  to  (as  Lange 
thinks)  ;  but  the  Lord  God  casts  the  corrupt  out  of  His  house 
and  kingdom  again,  and  thereby  gives  them  over  to  the  scorn  of 
men.  The  judgment  upon  Eli  (1  Sam.  ii.  30)  has  been  ever  ful- 
filled again  and  again  in  an  unfaithful  priesthood  :  and  what  the 
Lord  here  denounces  has  been  true  of  entire  apostate  churches 
as  well  as  of  individual  faithless  men.  If  the  world  persecutes,  it 
is  because  it  feels  the  power  of  truth  and  righteousness :  but  when 
the  saltless  salt  comes  in  its  way,  it  despises  it  beyond  measure, 
treads  it  under  foot  with  scorn — and  that  deservedly ! 

He  who  Himself  alone  is  in  an  absolute  sense  "  the  light  of  the 
world  "  vouchsafes  also  to  call  His  disciples  so,  wTho  yet  are  only 
bringers  and  bearers  of  the  light  ((fiaxjTrjpes,  Phil.  ii.  15  ;  Xv-xyoi, 
Jno.  v.  35  ;  i.  7 — 0),  only  lights  kindled  from  above.  (Hence 
also  presently  ver.  15,  kcliovgi  Xv^vov).  The  light  itself  can  no 
more  be  thought  of  as  first  lighted,  than  salt  proper  as  salted. 
The  children  of  light,  heretofore  of  darkness,  are  light  in  the  Lord 
(Eph.  v.  8),  the  light  of  the  world  is  the  sun,  and  the  Messiah 
is  termed  by  Malachi  (iv.  2)  at  the  close  of  prophecy,  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness.  As  such  the  Lord  now  proclaims  Himself  to  all 
who  hear  Him  even  in  this  word,  and  before  that  great  /  am 
come!  which  follows  ver.  17.  But  as  instruction  in  the  law  is 
termed  in  the  Talmud  salt,  and  many  a  Rabbi  a  light  of  the 
world,  the  Lord  may  be  regarded  as  taking  up  the  Jewish  doc- 
trinal language  which  was  already  prepared  for  Him,  and  as 
announcing  in  dignity  that  He,  the  highest  Master,  designed  to 
make  His  disciples  also  true  masters  and  teachers.  Yea,  in 
His  mouth  alone  is  that  quite  true,  which  from  human  lips 
appears  presumptuous  ; — the  testimony  and  doctrine  of  His  dis- 
ciples should  actually  fill  the  world  with  clearly  shining,  true 
light  of  the  Light.  The  city  on  a  hill  is  not  by  any  means  a  mere 
common  figure  of  speech  :  the  Lord  derives  the  expression  from 
Ps.  xlviii.  2  (comp.  1. 2,  lxxxvii.  1)  as  afterwards  that  of  ver.  35  from 
Ps.  xlviii.  3.  He  speaks  not  of  Saphet  (as  Sepp  again  says  idly) 
nor  of  any  other  such  hilltown  in  the  land  :  but  of  His  Church  or 
congregation  hereafter  to  be  built,  of  the  new  Jerusalem,,  to  wThich 
will  be  given  the  light  of  the  sun,  when  the  old  Jerusalem, 
become  saltless,  the  city  upon  the  hill  and  all  her  dependencies 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  123 

around,  shall  be  given  over  to  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles. 
Now,  however,  in  this  period  of  development  with  reference  to 
which  the  Lord  is  immediately  speaking,  His  meaning  includes 
all  the  true  citizens  of  the  city  of  God  then  living  in  the  diaspora. 
Although  as  yet  scattered  abroad,  they  can  no  more  with  their 
united  lights  be  hidden,  than  if  the  new  city  were  already  built 
upon  the  hill,  and  reflected  God's  light  upon  all  the  lands.  Where 
light  really  is  and  continues  to  be,  it  must,  from  its  very  nature, 
shine  forth.  The  same  God,  who  founds  and  builds  for  Himself 
the  heavenly  city,  and  kindles  for  Himself  its  lights,  places  them 
moreover  upon  fitting  candlesticks,  each  one  upon  its  own.  We 
must  take  the  expression — do  men  light,  and  place,  in  ver.  15,  in 
conformity  with  the  general  scope,  as  the  action  of  men  figuratively 
used  for  the  action  of  the  wisdom  of  God.  The  church  of  the 
Lord  is  to  be  no  secret  institution,  like  the  heathen  mysteries. 
The  light  of  the  pure  word  and  of  holy  life  is  to  burn  brightly 
and  loftily  in  it  for  the  dark  world,  which  also  itself  is,  and  shall 
be  made  a  House  of  God.  No  human  ordinance,  no  false  shame 
or  fear,  may  place  this  light  under  a  bushel,  which  is  designed  to 
shine  forth  from  word  and  work  combined.  What  God  has  not 
done,  man  ought  not  to  do  :  though,  alas,  it  has  been  too  often 
done  in  various  ways,  but  only  where  God's  light  and  salt  are 
lost.  Man's  worst  bushel  upon  the  light  of  God  is  the  bar  and 
covering  of  u  Temporals" — the  bread  and  pay  dealt  out  too  richly 
or  too  sparingly  for  the  ministry  in  the  Church.  Individually 
indeed  the  Lord  will  often  cover  up  in  His  wisdom  some  small 
fresh-kindled  light,  that  it  may  burn  up  in  its  time  and  order ; 
but  he  who  cannot  tolerate  that,  and  would  himself  prematurely 
ascend  the  candlestick,  may  easily  chance  (as  St  Bernard  reminds 
us)  to  be  blown  out  by  the  wind  of  temptation.  This  remains  the 
essential  matter,  that  the  placing  of  the  light  be  left  to  Him  who 
kindled  it.  He  will  do  it,  assuredly,  at  the  right  time  and  in  the 
right  manner :  for  it  was  never  His  purpose  when  He  kindled  the 
light  that  it  should  be  hid.  Now  he  who,  through  fear  of  persecu- 
tion or  else  through  sluggishness,  leaves  his  candlestick,  and,  be- 
coming unfaithful  to  his  calling,  wilfully  covers  his  light,  shall  have 
his  light  extinguished :  yet  concerning  that  the  Lord  says  nothing 
further  now  (as  in  ch.  vi.  22,  23) ;  for  he  has  already  referred 
to  this  in  what  he  says  of  the  savourless  salt.     It  is  now  His 


124  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

purpose,  less  as  a  warning  than  in  promise,  to  encourage  our 
sinning,  as  that  for  which  we  were  kindled.  God  only  covers 
so  long  as  is  necessary  for  the  better  burning.  But  our  short- 
sightedness, which  we  still  retain  though  lights  of  the  world, 
may  often  confound,  when  self-will  blends  with  our  testimony, 
the  bushel  with  the  candlestick.  A  proverb  says  very  strikingly 
— the  true  light  will  burn,  nevertheless,  through  the  bushel. 

It  is  of  importance  to  observe,  that  it  is  not  said,  we  must  wish 
ourselves  to  shine  ;  but  as  the  translation  well  expresses  it,  that 
we  should  let,  freely,  without  covering  or  hindrance,  our  light, 
that  which  has  hy  grace  been  given  to  us,  and  exists  within  us, 
shine  before  men,  according  to  its  own  nature  and  the  will  of 
Him  who  kindled  it.  The  Lord  says  literally — so  let  your  light 
shine,  and  thus  expressly  distinguishes  the  true,  and  only  shining 
light  of  the  Father,  which  has  made  us  to  shine,  from  ourselves, 
these  bearers  of  the  light.  There  is  a  promise  in  His  require- 
ment that  we  must  without  any  co-operation  of  ours  leave  the 
gift  of  God  to  its  own  self-evidencing  power,  as  if  he  had  said : 
It  will  of  itself  shine,  if  you  cover  it  not !  That  spurious  desire 
*;o  shine  brings  only  darkness  within  and  around  us.  It  is  not, 
shine  ye,  but  let  your  light  shine  !  Before  men ;  as  the  explana- 
tion of  the  expressions  earth  and  world :  even  before  the  men 
who  persecute  and  revile  you ;  for  this  must  be  your  only  retalia- 
tion— love  and  truth  for  hatred  and  lies.  And  now  as  to  the 
good  works  !  Are  these  not  especially  the  word  of  testimony 
and  confession  of  doctrine  ?  This  is  not  excluded,  as  will  appear 
presently  ;  but  our  Lord  immediately  refers  to  the  life,  because 
the  good  word  without  the  good  walk  is  of  no  avail ;  a  lie  before 
God  it  can  bear  no  testimony  to  truth  before  men ;  with  the 
appearance  of  light  it  has  no  power  of  fire ;  and  tends  rather  to 
the  temptation  of  the  world,  and  the  dishonour  of  God.  That 
which,  according  to  Kom.  ii.  23,  24,  befel  Israel,  is  also  repeated 
in  the  Christian  community.  The  expression  "good  works," 
which  explains  the  figurative  "  light,"  forms  also  the  transi- 
tion to  what  follows  from  ver.  17  onwards,  where  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  disciples  comes  forward  as  the  fulfilling  of  the 
law  in  act  and  in  teaching.  What  kind  of  works?  Here 
is  already  laid  down  before-hand,  as  it  were,  the  theme,  which 
is  then  developed  from  ver.  20.      The  external  lustre,  which 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  125 

proceeds  from  the  inner  light,  and  which  alone  can  be  seen, 
shines  forth  in  genuine  good  works,  that  is,  in  works  of  light, 
of  love,  of  mercy;  so  that  here  the  salt  may  correspond  to 
the  peace,  and  the  light  to  the  mercy,  of  that  pure  life  of  love 
which  was  described  before  (ver.  7 — 9.)  And  certainly  the  shining 
together  of  all  the  works  in  the  entire  walk  is  here  signified ;  which 
according  to  Eph.  v.  8 — 13,  neither  should  nor  can  conceal  its 
revealing,  witnessing,  light-nature.  Of  the  individual  good  deeds 
as  such  it  is  said  on  the  other  hand — do  them  not  before  men  ! 
(ch.  vi.  1.)  Isolated  works  or  deeds  do  not  properly  shine  ;  they 
are  rather  as  flashes  in  the  night,  which  make  the  darkness  appear 
the  'darker :  but  the  entire  and  persistent  doing  of  all  works 
of  pure  light  and  love  is  a  bright  light  upon  the  candlestick  of 
the  office  and  calling.  Again,  to  men,  natural  men,  are  these 
works  principally  and  first  of  all  to  be  shown  :  the  brother  already 
born  of  God  understands  our  simple  word,  and  God  alone  sees 
the  faith  in  the  heart,  the  inner  light  itself  as  such.  (Eom.  xiv. 
22).  That  men  should  see  our  works  is  indeed  the  most  imme- 
diate end  of  our  letting  the  light  shine ;  but  the  important  end 
within  this  end  follows  immediately;  and  glorify  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven.1  Not  you  yourselves,  against  which  chapter 
vi.  presently  lifts  up  a  severe  voice — ye  may  yourselves  be  no 
more  praised,  than  yourselves  shine.  Not  that  men,  instead  of  all 
manner  of  evil  (ch.  v.  11)  are  to  say  nothing  but  good  of  you, 
but  that  the  Father  in  Heaven  (who  is  here  named  for  the  first 
time)  may  be  acknowledged  as  your  Father  through  your  light, 
your  good  works  ;  and  that  ye  may  thus  be  termed  His  children 
even  now  before  the  world.  Whence  arises  a  new  and  beautiful 
sense  of  the  promise  in  ver.  9 — as  already  ver.  7  had  implied ;  they 
shall  receive  mercy  from  those,  who,  acknowledging  their  love, 
love  them  in  return. 

<But  now  since  men  are  wicked  and  for  the  most  part  wicked 
remain;  as  they  reject  the  salt  and  hate  the  light;  as  they 
acknowledge  nor  honour  neither  the  Father  nor  the  Son 
(Jno.  xvi.  3) ;  as  they  consequently  refuse  the  Father's  honour 
in  His  children,  by  ascribing  that  incontrovertible  righteousness 

i  Roos  has  remarked  among  others,  that  here  the  Lord,  after  having 
hitherto  spoken  of  His  Father,  for  the  first  time  appropriates  the  Father 
name  of  God  to  men. 


126  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

in  them  which  cannot  be  defamed,  on  the  one  hand  to  human 
virtue  which  they  praise,  or  to  the  gift  of  God  which  they  acknow- 
ledge ;  therefore,  with  the  good  and  shining  works  the  testifying 
ivord  must  not  be  wanting,  which  acknowledges  the  grace  of  the 
Giver,  and  cries  out, — This  is  my  Father's  light  through  Christ, 
in  whose  name  I  do  all  this,  (Col.  hi.  17).  Then  are  the  clothes 
rent,  and  they  cry  to  the  people — We  also  are  sinful  men  like 
yourselves,  but  the  grace  of  God  is  with  us,  (Acts  xiv.  14 ;  1  Cor. 
xv.  10).  The  life  without  the  word  is  not  enough,  although  the 
backwardness  to  confession  often  brings  falsely  forward  this  ex- 
pression of  Christ,  as  if  to  prove,  that  it  is  enough  to  let  the  light 
of  good  works  shine  before  men.  Thereby  God's  honour  is  not 
desired  but  our  own ;  but  when  we  glorify  our  Father  in  our 
life  and  in  our  confession,  then  we  constrain  men,  at  least  as  far 
as  in  us  lies,  to  glorify  Him  also :  first  of  all  and  at  once,  by 
praising  the  grace  which  has  been  vouchsafed  to  us,  and  then, 
receiving  that  grace  also  for  themselves,  by  the  selfsame  good 
works  and  light. 

Ver.  17 — 20.  "Finally,  there  is  here  also  a  warning,  which 
in  its  emphatic  restriction  and  rejection,  points  forward  already 
to  the  test  at  the  end  of  all."  Thus  did  we  indicate  previously, 
this  conclusion  of  the  first  head,  and  discern  now,  again,  the 
close  of  this  conclusion  in  that  most  earnest  warning — without 
a  much  better,  a  perfect  righteousness,  there  is  no  entrance  into 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven !  (Here,  beforehand,  just  as  in  ch.  vii. 
21,  though  not  yet  so  fully  established,  but  rather  set  down  first 
as  a  paradox  in  order  to  be  fully  proved).  This  strongly  protest- 
ing warning  (either  all  the  commandments  of  the  law  done,  or 
no  entrance  by  a:iy  means  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  \)  is  pre- 
ceded by  one  more  gentle  : — Not  one  of  the  least  of  these  com- 
mandments must  be  broken,  either  in  teaching  or  in  doing,  by 
any  man,  or  he  will  be  least  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  !  And 
whence  then  such  righteousness  in  poor  miserable  man,  to  whom 
a  Gospel  is  preached,  yet  with  such  a  demand  as  this  I  The 
introduction  of  the  Sermon  has  sufficiently  assured  us,  that  He, 
in  whose  coming  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  His  righteous- 
ness comes  to  the  poor  as  gift,  consolation,  and  food,  Himself 
brings  with  Him  His  righteousness  as  His  salvation:  consequently 
we  have  here  at  the  outset,  as  the  true  foundation  of  promise,  on 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  127 

which  alone  the  requirement  is  erected,  that  great,  emphatic, 
and  critical  word — /  am  come  to  fulfil  the  Law  and  the  Prophets, 
as  first  in  myself,  so  also  in  you,  my  believing  and  righteous 
ones!1  Because,  moreover,  this  whole  conclusion  of  the  first 
main  division  of  promise  is  the  transition  to  the  severer  tone  of 
demand  and  warning  which  follows;  therefore  to  this  especial 
and  most  distinct  Promise  of  the  whole  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
(by  which  the  Benedictions  are  first  made  intelligible)  there  is 
appended  a  warning  and  exclusive  declaration — think  not  that 
it  is  otherwise,  that  the  saving  grace  which  hath  appeared  may 
remit  or  relax  any  thing  of  that  whole  will  of  God,  which  has  been 
testified  from  the  beginning,  and  waits  for  its  full  establishment 
and  performance !  Finally,  that  the  whole  section  (ver.  17 — 
20),  may  fall  into  the  same  threefold  form  which  has  become 
familiar  to  us,  we  have  between  its  commencement  of  Promise 
and  its  excluding  close,  the  natural  middle  term  of  requirement 
in  the  simple  words  : — All  must  be  fulfilled !  (ver.  18.)  Every 
the  least  thing,  every  the  most  isolated  precept  of  the  great 
whole  (the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  ver.  17)  must  receive  its  ful- 
filment. 

Thus  will  it  be  observed  how  the  whole  discourse,  constantly 
rising  and  reaching  forward,  evolves  gradually  its  deep  meaning 
— each  new  utterance  springing  from  the  preceding  as  its  imme- 
diate consequence.  Truths  ever  new  and  fundamental,  clothed, 
in  human  language  for  human  apprehension,  proceed  from  the 
living  Organ  of  the  one  all-embracing  Truth  (I  am  He,  who 
bringeth  to  you  Righteousness)  which  bears  in  it  the  mind  of  the 
Lord,  and  here  gives  an  epitome  of  its  first  testimony.  This  (ver. 
17),  is  the  true  and  essential  marrow  of  that  testimony — its  im- 
moveable foundation  of  rock.  Its  clear  and  luminous  declaration 
is  essential  to  the  right  understanding  of  the  whole  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  It  prevents  us  from  being  terrified  by  its  succeeding 
requirements  into  a  fear  of  condemnation :  and  teaches  us  in 
'poverty  of  spirit  to  seek  and  find,  to  ask  and  receive  from  Him  who 
is  come  to  fulfil  all  righteousness — who,  while  He  demands,  promises 

1  It  is  true,  but  not  by  misunderstanding  it,  to  be  too  straitly  limited, 
that  the  Saviour  here  " indicated  the  object  of  His  own  life"  (Beugg. 
Monatsbl.  1847.  9.) — for  he  designs  at  the  same  time  to  say: — The 
law  must  also  by  you — though  only  indeed  through  Me — be  fulfilled. 


128  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

likewise,  and  when  He  promises  demands — all  needful  grace  for 
the  fulfilment  of  righteousness  in  ourselves. 

And  yet  how  wantonly  do  those  err,  who  assert  the  Lord's 
sermon  to  contain  only  the  mere  so-called  Morality  which  He 
taught,  and  would  thereby  get  rid  of  what  they  call  the  dogmatic 
teaching  of  faith  in  His  Person,  its  Divine  dignity  and  sole  merit ! 
As  they  contradict  their  own  heart  and  conscience,  and  will  not 
feel  that  the  Benedictions  at  the  commencement  set  aside  all 
righteousness  and  fulfilment  of  the  law  in  our  own  strength,  and 
speak  only  of  grace  for  the  miserable;  so  now  do  they  entirely 
renounce  their  own  understanding,  shut  their  eyes  and  their  ears 
that  they  may  not  perceive  and  read  and  hear,  the  inscription 
which  is  written  upon  the  sublime  portal  which  is  once  more 
erected  in  ver.  17  : — It  is  I  alone  who  bring  in  and  accomplish 
all !  Yes,  verily,  the  testimony  which  is  found  in  St  John's  gos- 
pel, is  anticipated  here  : — /  am  Be  I  Are  not  all  who  hear  His 
first  word  constrained  to  ask — Who  can  this  man  be  but  the 
Messiah,  who  thus  announces  blessedness,  and  thus  by  his  own 
immediate  authority  administers  the  kingdom  of  heaven  %  His 
first  words  are  in  clear  and  profound  accord  with  the  most 
expanded  predictions  and  promises  of  prophecy.  And  then  that 
lofty  and  unrestrained — for  my  sake,  ver.  11,,  which  is  so  naturally 
uttered!  So  again  immediately  that  first  attribution  to  his  dis- 
ciples—your  Father,  ver.  16— springing  from  the  communicating 
grace  of  Him  who  had  already  openly  called  God  His  Father, 
and  continued  throughout  the  entire  Sermon  (all  being  comprised 
in  Our  Father,  ch.  vi.  9)  until  that  most  impressive  My  Father, 
.of  ch.  vii.  21,  closes  it!  In  conjunction  with  this  is  the  sublime 
— - -Verily,  I  say  unto  you — which  similarly  pervades  the  whole, 
(ch.  v.  18  and  onwards)  placing  Him  who  utters  it  in  Divine 
majesty  above  all  the  Prophets,  in  the  unity  of  that  only  Law- 
giver and  Lord  who  spake  by  the  Prophets:  until  at  last,  He  who 
thus  speaks  announces  Himself  to  be  the  world's  judge  in  that 
day  (ch.  vii.  21 — ;23),  as  He  had  in  the  beginning  announced 
Himself  as  the  giver  of  the  world's  blessedness.  In  ch.  v.  17, 
we  have  the  ground  of  all  that  high  authority  which  speaks  in  the 
preceding  and  subsequent  discourse,  in  the  undisguised  answer 
to  the  question  : — Art  thou  He  that  should  come  f    (ch.  xi.  3.) 

Twice  with  emphasis : — I  am  come — to  wit,  as  one  who  was  in 


MATTHEW  V. — Til.  129 

being  before  He  came,  and  cometh  into  the  world  (Jno.  iii.  19 ; 
xi.  27  ;  xii.  46),  knowing  from  whence  He  came :  who  is  come 
forth  from  above  (Jno.  viii.  23,  iii.  31),  from  heaven  (vi.  33,  38), 
from  God  (viii.  42,  xiii.  3),  as  the  Father  (xvi.  27, 28).  This  is 
much  more  than  Nicodemus,  drawing  back  in  the  paroxysm  of 
his  fear  the  confession  which  was  springing  to  his  lips,  attached 
to  it  when  he  strangely  enough  called  him  only — Teacher  and 
Prophet.  For  all  the  Prophets  are  but  sent,  He  of  whom  they 
prophecy  and  He  only,  cometh  from  God.  As  elsewhere  there  is 
often  appended  to  this  expression — I  am  come !  the  aim  and 
result  of  His  coming  in  a  variety  of  aspects  (Matt.  ix.  13,  x. 
34,  xviii.  11,  xx.  28 ;  Lu.  ix.  56,  xii.  49 ;  Jno.  vi.  38,  ix.  39, 
x.  11,  xviii.  37),  so  here  also  it  is  directly  given : — I  am  come  to 
fulfil^ 

This,  however,  is  attested  with  the  negative  warning — Think 
not,  or  fjur)  vo/jLi<rr)T6,  by  no  means  be  deluded  into  imagining  that 
I  am  come  to  destroy  the  Law  or  the  Prophets.  Such  an  utterance 
presupposes  testimonies  concerning  His  person  already  received, 
and  the  existence  of  misunderstanding  and  false  expectations  in 
relation  to  it.  Wherein  did  these  consist  I  In  a  twofold  error, 
as  the  Lord  afterwards  shows, — in  false  hope  and  in  false  fear. 
Especially,  and  first  of  all,  the  Lord  testifies,  in  immediate  con- 
nexion with  the  requirement  of  good  works  (ver.  16),  against  the 
delusion  that  the  Messiah  (Himself  who  assumed  to  be  the  Mes- 
siah) would  dispense  with  the  fulfilment  of  the  holy  law ;  for 
such  a  delusion  more  or  less  consciously  pervaded  the  entire 
expectation  of  a  carnal  Messiah's  kingdom,  which  might  instantly 
be  set  up  with  its  temporal  prosperity  and  splendour,  without 
repentance  and  regeneration  unto  holiness.  (Hence  once  again 
the  /j,rj  vofiLar]T6  of  ch.  x.  34).  The  kingdom  of  God  consists 
only  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  God,  only  in  and  with  God's 
righteousness  (hence  ch.  vi.  33)  the  law  remains  inviolate — be  ye 
therefore  holy,  for  I  am  holy  !  (ch.  v.  48).  But  for  the  other  side 
of  the  error  which  understood  not  the  Scriptures,  whether  of  the 
Law  or  the  Prophets,  He  who  was  come  found  existing  a  false 
fear  of  innovation,  and  the  destruction  of  established  and  ancient 
institutions.  In  their  blindness  to  the  Law  which  must  abide 
ever,  they  forgot  the  distinction  between  it  and  the  types  and 
the  shadows  which  God's  commandment  appointed  for  their  own 


130  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

time,  and  even  between  it  and  the  precepts  which  had  been 
added  by  man ;  they  consequently  inferred  in  their  delusion  that 
a  Messiah  who  should  invade  the  then  extant  Judaism  could  not 
be  the  true  one  of  whom  the  Prophets  had  written  ;  for  they  under- 
stood the  Prophets  still  less  even  than  the  Law,  and  had  utterly 
marred  their  promises  by  a  carnal  interpretation.  Both  kinds  of 
delusion  were  in  manifold  ways  mixed  up  in  carnally  blinded 
Israel ;  only  that  in  the  mass  of  the  people  the  false  hope  of  the 
relaxation  of  the  Law  in  order  to  their  supposed  fulfilment  of  the 
Prophets,  and  in  the  pharisaic  heads  of  the  people  the  false  fear 
of  innovation  rather  predominated.  There  lay,  in  fine,  in  the 
hidden  consciences  of  all  the  people — whose  will  and  not  their 
knowledge  was  at  fault — an  absolute  dread  of  the  true  fulfil- 
ment of  the  Prophets  in  order  to  the  true  establishment  of  the 
Law,  The  Lord's  mighty  protest  against  each  fallacy  that  igno- 
rance or  opposition  of  will  might  beget,  embraces  all  this  in  its 
inmost  connexion,  so  that  everyone  might  take  his  own  reproof; 
and  exhibits  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  in  their  inviolable  unity,  as 
one  great  prediction  of  Himself  which  waits  for  its  fulfilment ; 
as  one  great  preparatory  institute  which  reaches  in  Him,  only  in 
Him  but  certainly  in  Him,  its  end  and  consummation,  that  is,  its 
perfect  fulfilment  and  realization.  Now  as  this  preparatory 
institute  was  of  God,  of  the  self-same  God  whom  the  Messiah 
calls  his  Father,  He  could  not  speak  o£  anything  like  a  dissolu- 
tion or  destruction  of  that  which  was  essential  and  true  therein. 
The  superabounding  fulness  of  meaning  in  this  sublime  testi- 
mony of  Christ  to  Himself — whereby  he  places  Himself  between 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  as  the  living  unity  and  truth 
of  both  —  embraces  thus  the  whole  doctrine  concerning  His 
person  and  His  work,  is  the  epitome  of  all  that  Christology  which 
is  to  be  developed  from  them,  as  the  substance  of  all  theology, 
the  sum  of  all  true  understanding  of  Scripture  and  revelation. 
To  deduce  this  in  all  its  amplitude  is  not  the  design  of  these  our 
hints :  we  can  only  affirm  and  indicate  how  the  understanding 
of  such  a  saying  as  this  requires  an  understanding  of  the  whole 
Old  Testament,  as  it  goes  back  to  its  very  beginnings  and  roots , 
and  of  the  whole  New  Testament  as  well,  inasmuch  as  it  looks 
forward  by  anticipation  to  the  entire  fulfilment  of  those  of  its 
last  predictions  which  have  not  yet  been  accomplished. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  131 

"  The  Law  and  the  Prophets  " — taken  together  are  the  name 
of  the  Old  Covenant  (as  afterwards,  ch.  vii.  12,  xi.  13,  xxii.  40)  : 
yet  not  merely  in  the  sense  of  the  current  manner  of  speech 
which  divided  the  external  body  of  the  Scriptures  under  the 
titles  xyy\V\  and  D*W23>  but  with  reference  to  those  two  aspects 
of  the  Old  Covenant  upon  which  such  a  division  was  based — 
viz.,  commandment  and  promise.  These  two  fundamental  ele- 
ments, however,  so  thoroughly  interpenetrate  one  another,  that 
the  whole,  the  legal  as  well  as  the  prophetic  word,  the  legal  as 
well  as  the  prophetic  institution,  may  be  regarded  as  comprising 
both  :  the  one  element  commanding  the  fulfilment  of  the  fore- 
announced  will  of  God,  and  the  other,  pointing  in  prophecy  to 
that  future,  which  alone  will  bring  this  fulfilment.  He  who  does 
not  thus  understand  the  Old  Testament,  has  not  yet  even  begun 
to  understand  it :  its  double-name  is  its  only  right  name.  It  is  a 
law,  which  has  not  yet  found  its  corresponding  obedience,  and 
which  yet  must  and  shall  be  done :  it  is  a  promise,  which  yet 
waits  for  its  fulfilment.  When  this  has  come,  it  becomes  an  Old 
Testament,  and  gives  place  to  the  New.  But  this  New  Testa- 
ment, again,  is  no  other  than  the  truth  and  reality  of  the  Old, 
its  fulfilment,  which  can  alone  bring  it,  as  old  and  precursory,  to 
an  end.  Oh  that  our  critics  of  the  present  day  would  understand 
this  ;  whose  entire  but  idle  toil  is  expended  upon  the  vain  endea- 
vour to  rend  asunder  the  two  Testaments  of  God,  to  unbind  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets,  and  then — to  regard  indeed  Christ  as  one 
who  has  come,  but  who  fulfils  nothing  and  nothing  brings  I1  Let 
the  Old  Testament  first  be  broken,  then  is  broken  also  the  New ; 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  progress  of  Kationalism  into  all  unbelief: 
let  the  Christ  be  taken  away,  who  has  come  as  He  was  to  come, 
then  is  there  no  longer  a  Kevelation  and  no  more  a  living  God. 

To  proceed,  however,  with  a  more  specific  examination  of  this 
subject : — What  is  the  Law,  of  which  the  Lord  here  speaks  ! 
Assuredly  not  merely  the  unaptly  so-called  Moral  Law  of  the 
Ten  Commandments  ;  for  Israel  had  learned  nothing  in  Scripture 
of  any  such  improper  division  of  that  one,  entire  law,  which  the 

1  Instead  of  explaining  away  with  their  trifling  the  assertion  of  our 
Lord,  they  had  better  deal  with  it  as  the  old  heretic  Marcion  did,  and 
reverse  it  at  once, — as  if  He  had  said,  ri  doKclre  ;  on  tj\6ov  liKrjpaxrai  tou 
vdfiov  rj  Tovi  irpo<pr)Ta.s  ]   rfkOov  KaraXvo-ai,  dXA'  ov  nXrjpSxrai, 


132  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW, 

Lord  had  given  them  in  various  commandments,  moral  precepts 
and  statutes.  To  that  same  law  belongs,  in  inseparable  unity 
with  it,  what  we  term  the  ritual  or  civil  law ;  all  is  together  but 
the  one  will  of  God,  which  is  to  be  established  in  the  obedience 
of  His  holy  people.  The  typical  ceremonies  of  the  service  of 
God,  with  all  that  appertains  to  them,  are  all  appointed  with 
reference  to  sin,  just  as  they  fore-announce  its  atonement ;  the 
external  regulations  of  the  polity  of  the  people  and  the  state 
which  are  not  less  typical  than  the  former,  are  for  the  correction 
of  disobedience,  while  they  foretell  the  coming  of  a  people  and 
commonwealth  of  God,  which  should  be  the  future  realization  of 
these  forms.  The  commandments  of  Sinai,  again,  with  all  their 
condemning  severity,  rest  upon  the  ground  of  that  word  of 
covenant  mercy— I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  who  redeemeth  thee 
and  thus  direct  the  hope  of  faith  to  go  beyond  their  letter,  and 
wait  for  that  spiritual  fulfilment,  in  which  the  law  will  not  be 
given  unto  death  but  unto  life.  The  law  itself  as  such  secretly 
testifies  and  predicts  a  righteousness  of  God,  which  should  be 
made  manifest,  (Rom.  iii.  21).  On  the  other  hand,  the  language 
and  testimony  of  the  Prophets,  especially  those  who  spoke  after 
the  law,  with  Moses  himself  at  their  head,  is  always  in  strict  uni- 
son with  all  that  word,  which  from  the  beginning  had  been  a  word 
of  prophetical  promise,  (Acts  iii.  21).  They  speak  of  the  law,  as  the 
expositors  of  its  spiritual  meaning  which  the  flesh  cannot  fulfil, 
and  as  most  inexorable  preachers  of  repentance,  of  woe,  and  of 
judgment— Elias  and  John  the  Baptist  being  their  prominent 
types ;  but  they  also  with  most  benignant  consolation  point  to  a 
coming  grace — yea,  to  a  grace  which  already  began  to  be  in 
some  measure  experienced,  but  reserved  its  full  proof  for  the. 
o-reat  futurity.1  The  law  requires  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
us  (Eom.  viii.  4),  and  at  the  same  time  predicts,  as  being  given 
by  a  God  of  grace,  that  He  will  bestow  it.  The  Prophets  promise 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the  advent  of  one  as  its  king— who 
will  fulfil  all,  yielding  a  true  obedience  to  the  law  as  a  ser- 
vant, such  as  no  individual  servant  of  God,  and  much  less  the 

1  Thus  the  Benedictions  themselves  were  all  of  them  taken  out  of 
the  prophetic  word:  see  I*a.  Ivii.  15,  lxvi.  2,  lvii.  18,  lxi.  3;  P*. 
xxxvii.  11,  cvii.  9;  Isa.  xli.  17,  lvi.  2,  lxv.  13;  Prov.  xi.  25  ;  Pa. 
xxiv.  4,  5,  xxxiv.  19 ;  Isa.  li.  7,  lxvi.  5. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  133 

whole  people  had  been ;  offering  a  true  propitiation  for  sin  as  a 
Priest ;  bringing  in  the  fellowship  of  God's  covenant  in  all  its 
fulness  and  reality  as  the  Mediator  of  the  Covenant,  and  the  Lord 
our  righteousness  :  but  at  the  same  time  every  word  of  the  Pro- 
phets requires,  as  given  by  the  God  of  truth,  the  coming  of  that 
future  one,  and  the  fulfilment  by  Him  and  through  Him  of  all 
that  was  written  concerning  Him.  The  law  is  a  prophecy  point- 
ing to  Christ,  prophecy  is  a  law,  a  will  of  the  Father  for  Christ 
to  do.  Of  both  together  in  their  unity  He  who  was  to  come 
speaketh : — What  is  written  in  the  volume  of  the  book  is  written 
of  me,  and  all  is  obligatory  upon  me,  I  must  come  to  do  the  will 
of  God,  (Ps.  xl.  8,  9).  Did  no  such  Christ  come,  then  would 
the  entire  Old  Testament,  which  declares  itself  to  every  candid 
mind  to  be  the  marrow  of  the  world's  ancient  history,  and  to 
contain  the  revelation  of  the  most  essential  truth  of  humanity, 
remain  a  beginning  without  an  end;  a  before  without  an  after ; 
a  riddle  without  its  key ;  not  merely  a  longing  of  the  human 
spirit  without  its  fruition,  but  a  testimony  of  the  spirit  of  God 
without  truth  ;  an  incomprehensible  nothing,  making  an  incom- 
prehensible pretension  to  contain  in  itself  a  living  germ — a  germ 
however,  that  never  knew  development,  withered  up  in  this 
modern  Judaism,  the  miserable  and  worthless  remains  of  the 
religion  of  that  man,  who  once  believed  in  God,  and  sought  after 
righteousness  in  vain ! 

But  Christ  is  come,  and  as  He  now  at  the  first  by  this  most 
sacred  "  I"  bears  true  and  absolute  witness  to  Himself  as  the 
end  of  the  Old  Testament,  so  has  the  history  of  His  kingdom 
and  of  His  work  since  then,  of  the  institution  founded  in  the 
New  Testament  down  to  the  present  day,  borne  witness  to  the 
truth  of  His  word.  The  actual  and  surely  progressing  fulfil- 
ment in  the  history  of  the  world  and  the  Church  since  Christ  of 
all  that  waited  for  fulfilment  in  the  old  world,  cannot  be  entirely 
mistaken,  but  by  such  a  delusion  from  the  abyss,  as  knows  of  no 
fulfilment  either  of  man's  longings  or  of  God's  commands  and 
promises,  simply  because  it  dissolves  all  things  in  the  Indian 
Maja,  or  swallows  up  all  things  in  a  bottomless  grave.  Or  rather 
would  dissolve  and  swallow  up,  but  cannot :  for  the  Law  of  God 
still  abides,  testifying  against  sin,  and  urging  men  ever  to  the 
word  of  the  prophets  concerning  the  fulfilling  and  atoning  obedi- 


134  TIIE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ence  of  one  man  for  all.  Yea,  Christ  Himself  is  still  in  His 
Church,  and  asks  most  earnestly :  If  I  am  not  come  to  fulfil, 
what  then  is  humanity,  history,  God  ? 

Has  Christ,  then,  in  any  sense,  brought  a  new,  a  better,  a 
more  perfect  law,  than  the  law,  to  fulfil  which  He  avows  Him- 
self to  be  come  ?  By  no  means,  as  the  whole  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  His  whole  word,  and  the  virtue  of  that  law  itself  in  our 
consciences,  attest.  All  the  Prophets  representing  the  conscience 
of  the  people,  which  again  represented  the  conscience  of  humanity, 
knew  of  none  other  than  the  one,  eternal  law.  But  this,  through 
the  Spirit  of  God,  they  went  on  to  predict,  that  one  was  coming, 
whose  salvation  should  consist  only  in  the  establishment  of  this 
law,  and  its  righteousness,  and  further  also,  in  the  establishment 
in  its  true  meaning  and  fulfilment  of  the  entire  typical  ceremonial 
and  political  law  of  Israel.  The  Law  and  the  Prophets  are  at  all 
points  internally  one.  Therefore  the  Lord  does  more  than  merely 
place  them  in  juxtaposition — the  Law  and  the  Prophets ;  but 
with  deep  emphasis,  think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  Law 
or  the  Prophets,  that  is,  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  neither  of 
the  two  which  are  yet  but  one.  The  requirement  points  to  the 
promise,  the  promise  to  the  requirement :  the  latter  predicts 
the  Spirit,  as  the  Spirit  enforces  the  latter.  But  inasmuch  as 
the  first  and  most  immediate  delusion,  to  which  the  entire  con- 
nexion of  His  discourse  is  opposed,  was  only  that  of  supposing 
that  he  would  relax  the  Law,  He  orders  His  words  for  their  con- 
viction upon  that  subject : — No  more  will  I  destroy  the  Law  than 
I  will  destroy  the  Prophets  !  If  ye  expect  a  Messiah,  such  as  the 
Prophets  fore-announced,  and  yet  suppose  that  He  will  come  as  a 
Eelaxer  of  the  Law,  ye  do  greatly  err,  not  understanding  the 
Prophets  in  their  central  harmony  with  the  Law.  If  I  did  not 
fulfil  the  Law,  then  would  the  Prophets  also  fail  in  their  fulfil- 
ment. 

Thus  does  the  Lord  disclose  the  deep  common  foundation  of 
all  that  delusion  and  error,  which  withstood  Himself  by  a  per- 
verted  expectation  of  the  Messiah.  It  was  simply  the  Jews  who 
destroyed  the  prophetic  word,  by  a  carnal  interpretation  of  it. 
It  was  simply  the  Pharisees,  who  likewise  destroyed  the  Law : — 
by  teaching  it  without  performing  it  themselves  (ch.  xxiii.  3 — 4), 
by  sacrificing  one  part  of  it  to  another,  omitting  the  weightier 


MATTHEW  V. — VJ.I.  135 

matters,  judgment  and  mercy,  while  they  cared  for  the  externals 
of  its  ceremonies  (xxiii.  23) ;  by  neglecting  the  spirit  that  was 
required,  while  they  were  exact  in  the  letter  and  work  of  their 
conscious  hypocrisy ;  finally,  by  making  the  most  important  fun- 
damental commandments  of  God  of  none  effect  through  their 
superadded  traditions  (ch.  xv.  3 — 6).  Therefore  He  is  no 
Messiah  to  these  Pharisees,  who  in  their  evil  imagination  call 
destroying  fulfilling,  and  fulfilling  destroying.  Therefore  must 
the  righteousness  of  His  disciples,  and  of  the  subjects  of  His 
kingdom,  be  something  exceedingly  different  from  the  so-called 
righteousness  of  these  Pharisees : — it  must  spring  from  the 
power  and  grace  of  His  own  true  fulfilment,  which  has  come,  and 
is  ever  coming. 

What  is  this,  in  fine,  and  how  does  the  Lord  fulfil  the  Law  as 
well  as  the  Prophets?  He  fulfils  the  Law  as  its  first  perfect  teacher 
and  performer  (ver.  19)  ;  who  releases  the  Spirit,  which  though  in 
it  was  bound  in  it,  by  the  confirming  testimony  of  a  spiritual  inter- 
pretation, and  the  living  exhibition  of  it  in  word  and  work  ;  who, 
as  man,  made  of  a  woman  and  made  under  the  Law,  as  minister 
of  the  circumcision  bound  to  all  the  ordinances  of  Israel  (Gal. 
iv.  4;  v.  3),  fulfils  in  perfect  obedience  all  righteousness;  and 
satisfies  every  righteous  obligation  which  human  nature  and  the 
creature  sustains  in  relation  to  God  (ra  7rpo?  rbv  deov,  Heb.  n. 
17).  But  because  this  obedience,  which  was  freely  undertaken 
in  the  incarnation  of  the  eternal  Son,  is  fully  accomplished  in  His 
sacrifice  for  us  sinners  who  could  not  render  it ;  an  obedience  not 
merely  imputed  to  us,  but  implanted  in  us  through  our  actual 
union  with  His  humanity  ;  therefore  Christ  in  His  entire 
obedience,  suffering  in  doing  from  the  beginning,  and  doing  in 
suffering  to  the  end,  is  the  one  meritorious  and  living  sacrifice, 
finally  and  fully  presented  in  death,  the  true  object  of  the  whole 
typical  law,  which  testified  of  the  necessity  of  such  a  sacrifice 
between  God  and  man  on  account  of  sin.  He  is  the  righteous 
one,  who  bears  and  overcomes  in  enduring  love  the  sin  which 
rages  against  Him  in  temptation ;  yet  the  curse  of  the  Law  is 
withal  fulfilled  in  Him  through  His  mysterious  substitution  in 
our  stead,  but  only  in  order  to  make  way  for  the  blessing.  In 
this  is  realized  the  true  use  of  the  Law,  that  for  which  it  was  given 
to  sinners  ;  that  they  through  the  Law  may  die  to  the  Law  ;  that 


136  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  power  of  sin  may  be  broken  in  its  conflict  with  inviolable 
righteousness;  that  God  may  conquer  in  judgment,  aud  yet  man 
not  be  lost,  but  be  redeemed  to  a  new  life  in  living  righteous- 
ness. In  Christ's  flesh,  which  is  our  sinful  flesh,  and  yet,  which  is 
through  the  eternal  Spirit  without  sin,  the  flesh  is  put  to  death,  the 
enmity  is  abolished,  sin  is  judged,  the  judgment  of  God  against 
sin  is  executed  even  unto  the  securing  of  a  new  holiness.  He 
sanctifies  and  offers  Himself  for  us,  and  in  this  act  of  obedience 
unto  death  He  is  the  servant  of  God,  the  Prophet  and  the  High 
Priest  of  whom  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  foretold.  As  in  His 
death  sin  is  abolished  and  its  curse  is  repealed,  so  also  every  vain 
delusion  of  erroneous  expectation  in  which  the  blindness  of  sin- 
ners have  enveloped  the  promise,  is  revealed  and  destroyed 
as  such ;  his  cross  is  the  death  of  all  Israel's  carnal  hopes  of  a 
Messiah.  The  covering  falls  from  the  eyes  of  those  who  refuse 
not  to  see  this,  the  shadows  fade  away,  the  veil  of  the  figure  is 
rent,  for  its  reality  is  come  and  is  set  up.  Its  further  conse- 
quence and  efficacy  is  immediately  fulfilled  in  the  Risen  Redeemer, 
the  servant  is  glorified  as  the  Son,  the  kingdom  of  the  King  and 
the  Lord,  of  which  also  all  had  foretold,  begins  to  appear.  The 
Lord  who  died  especially  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  Law,  though 
to  that  also  the  Prophets  contributed  their  testimony,  liveth  now 
especially"  for  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy  in  its  stricter  sense ; 
although  the  promise  of  the  Law — He  that  doeth  these  things 
shall  live !  is  realized  also  in  Him,  who  as  the  Righteous  One  has 
voluntarily  accomplished  in  Himself  the  command  of  the  Law — 
for  thy  sin  shalt  thou  die  !  even  to  the  attainment  of  a  superabun- 
dance of  righteousness.  This  life,  thus  by  right  as  well  as  grace 
obtained  for  us,  is  one  with  the  Blessing  of  the  first  promise 
to  Abraham  ;  and  thus  the  righteousness  of  the  Law  itself,  which 
was  for  ever  beyond  our  own  attainment,  turns  in  Christ  into  a 
righteousness  of  faith  for  us  (Gal.  iii.  8 — 14).  The  circumcision 
of  the  heart  which  the  Law  required,  the  profound  truth  which 
was  borne  witness  to  by  the  whole  sacrificial  economy  of  the 
tabernacle  (for  the  veil  and  the  foreskin  are  the  same  in  the  inner 
spirit  of  the  man  before  God)  is,  through  the  obedience  rendered 
by  Jesus  in  His  perfect  humanity,  brought  nigh  and  within  reach 
of  us  all  (Rom.  x.  6 — 10).  The  Law  is  far  from  being  relaxed, 
and  our  being  released  from  it  is  eternally  impossible.  We  are 
delivered,  rather,  from  the  curse  of  the  Law  in  order  to  its  being 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  137 

established  in  its  due  honour.  For  the  power  of  sin  in  the  flesh 
is  taken  away,  and  the  influence  of  the  life-giving  Spirit  is  shed 
upon  us  in  unrestrained  abundance  from  the  glorified  God-man 
(Isa.  lix.  19). 

When  the  Lord,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  said — I  am 
come  for  such  fulfilment  as  this ; — all  was  not  yet  accomplished  in 
Himself  which  was  incumbent  upon  Him,  but  he  had  only  within 
Him  as  yet  the  resources  of  power  and  willingness  for  all.  His 
whole  work  is  developed  and  consummated  in  and  with  His  person. 
When  He  cried  upon  the  cross — It  is  finished — then  was  His 
great  work  truly  accomplished,  and  all  that  remained  even  up  to 
the  ascension  was  but  the  manifestation  and  completion  of  the 
victory  which  he  had  obtained.  When  He  had  risen  again  and 
reached  his  consummation  He  fully  explained  all  that  the  Pro- 
phets had  spoken  of  Him,  and  in  what  sense  all  had  been  im- 
posed upon  Him  as  a  sacred  necessity  (Luke  xxiv.  25 — 26).  But 
that  which  is  in  Him  accomplished  and  established  for  us,  must 
from  this  time  be  also  accomplished  and  established  in  us :  in 
order  that  the  righteousness  demanded  of  the  Law  may  be  fulfiled 
in  us,  and  the  Law  be  established  through  faith  (Kom.  viii.  4,  iii. 
31).  He  who  thus  has  shown  Himself  the  end  of  the  Law  and  of 
prophecy,  has  become  thereby  the  new  and  living  beginning  of  a  new 
covenant  and  kingdom,  the  old  covenant  and  the  old  kingdom  of 
Israel  having  risen  again  in  their  great  and  high  reality.  There 
remains  yet  for  fulfilment  in  the  new  Church  no  less  than  all  that 
is  written  in  the  Law  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets  and  in  the  Psalms 
(St  Luke  xxiv.  44)  :  and  since  the  time  that  the  heaven  received 
Christ,  He  intermits  not  the  influence  of  His  spirit,  nor  will  He 
till  the  restitution  of  all  things  which  God  hath  spoken  since  the 
world  began.  (Acts  iii.  21).  The  new  creation  of  the  Spirit 
begins  immediately  upon  the  day  of  Pentecost,  in  simple  and 
gradual  fulfilments  of  what  had  before  been  written  :  the  whole 
typical  history  of  Israel  is  reproduced  in  its  essential  reality  in 
the  true  Israel  of  God,  and  will  go  on  till  the  new  heaven  and 
the  new  earth  are  created,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness. 

The  ordinances  of  men,  however,  which  were  not  the  Law,  are 
utterly  abolished,  as  well  all  the  mere  human  expectations  which 
answered  not  to  the  meaning  of  the  Prophets.  And  not  only  so, 
for  the  actual  fulfilment  of  the  old  Scripture  is  at  the  same  time 


138  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

to  some  extent  an  abolishing  fulfilment,  inasmuch  as  that  which 
was  preparatory  ceases  through  its  completion,  the  shadow  retires 
before  the  substance,  and  the  shell  which  enclosed  and  concealed 
the  kernel,  drops  from  it.  The  servant  of  Israel,  the  minister 
of  the  circumcision,  the  Messiah  of  the  Jews,  becomes  a  Saviour 
of  the  world,  as  it  was  indeed  most  plainly  predicted.  (Eom. 
xiv.  8 — 12).  That  which  through  the  imperfection  of  the  pro- 
phetic vision  was  only  uttered  with  restriction  and  limitation,  is 
expanded  now  into  most  abundant  and  glorious  universality,  and 
thus  only  fully  corresponds  with  the  meaning  which  the  spirit  in 
their  letter  had  signified  from  the  beginning.  Yet  more  !  As 
the  prophecy  has  found  its  end  when  fulfilled  in  Christ,  so  that  no 
more  prediction  shall  go  forth  concerning  Him,  and  we  are  released 
from  all  expectation  of  another  than  He  who  is  already  come, 
and  of  anything  else  than  what  we  now  have,  from  all  the  imper- 
fection of  fragmentary  prophecies  which  have  not  yet  found  their 
unity;  so  also  is  Christ,  as  the  fulfiller  of  the  Law, likewise  its  end, 
that  is,  the  Law  in  contradistinction  from  its  fulfilment  (and  as 
such  only  secretly  predicting  a  future  righteousness  of  grace, 
while  condemning  present  unrighteousness)  has  altogether  lost  its 
force  for  those  who  are  justified  in  Christ  through  faith.  We  are 
no  longer  under  the  Law,  for  through  Christ  it  lives  within  us  and 
works  its  own  accomplishment ;  its  requirement  no  longer  presses 
upon  us  as  a  commandment  from  without — Thou  shalt !  Whoso 
doeth  not  all  these  things,  let  him  be  accursed  and  die  !  The 
punishment  of  the  Law  is  no  more  contemplated  than  its  rewards, 
by  those  who  through  the  Spirit  of  grace  in  Christ,  are  made  meet 
to  be  the  people  and  temple  of  God. 

Finally,  there  is  another  sense  in  which  both  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets  continue  still,  and  cannot  fail  till  all  things  be  accom- 
plished. Grace  itself  retains  the  office  of  correction,  and  Christ 
as  the  living  and  life-giving  law  of  the  Spirit,  chastises  sin, 
indeed,  even  in  His  own,  until  He  finds  it  no  longer ;  but  His 
chastisement  is  only  unto  life  and  peace.  (Isa.  liii.)  The  old 
law  viewed  as  preparative,  also,  is  not  gone  out  of  the  world ;  but 
still  exercises,  as  ever,  its  open  or  secret  office  wherever  the  Christ 
who  has  come  is  not  yet  preached :  and  even  in  conjunction  with 
the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  evangelical  preaching,  the  work  of  the 
letter  continues  upon  all  hearts  and  consciences  in  the  outer  con- 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  139 

gregation,  before  Christ  comes  into  it.  The  Lord  Himself  as 
Prophet  preached  the  Law,  to  prepare  the  way  for  Himself;  and 
His  servants  follow  his  example.1  Similarly  Christ  Himself,  in 
His  Person  and  history  from  His  birth  to  His  ascension,  is  a  still- 
continued  prophecy  of  the  fulfilment  of  His  work,  of  the  repro- 
duction of  His  person  in  His  Church :  as  the  Church  again,  in 
its  beginning  and  progress,  is  still  a  prophecy  of  His  matured 
body,  of  the  Temple  finally  completed  at  the  end  of  the  world. 
This  is,  indeed,  a  living  prophecy,  bearing  in  itself  the  power  and 
security  of  its  own  fulfilment,  but  still  a  prophecy  pointing  to  the 
Future.  Waiting  has  no  more  ceased  than  Duty  :  only  for  all 
who  are  in  Christ,  the  former  is  a  progressive  possession  and  attain- 
ment, the  latter  a  progressive  ability  and  willingness.  Similarly 
the  prophetic  word  continues  to  be  a  standing  witness  to  all  who 
have  not  acknowledged  the  Christ  as  come,  even  till  they  acknow- 
ledge Him.  And  all  things  thus  go  on,  till  the  Law  and  the  Pro- 
phets have  reached  their  fulfilment  in  the  perfect  Church,  the 
body  of  the  great  Head ;  until  the  final  decision  and  separation 
of  the  judgment  has  come,  which  is  every  where  attested  to  be 
the  goal  of  all  law  and  prophecy  :  and  thereby  the  end  returns 
back  to  the  beginning  again,  the  entire  Old  Testament  appears 
spiritually  yet  visibly  in  the  tabernacle  of  God  among  men,  eter- 
nally new;  and  after  the  last  rejection  of  the  unbelieving,  and  the 
glorification  of  the  faithful,  nothing  more  remains  to  be  com- 
manded or  threatened,  and  nothing  more  to  be  foretold. 

Thus  have  we,  to  some  little  extent,  pointed  out  the  meaning 
of  our  Lord's  utterance  in  Matt.  v.  17 — the  enlightened  reader 
will  discover  how  little  only  of  its  inexhaustible  fulness.  But  we 
have  not  once  as  yet  fixed  our  attention  upon  the  second  sentence 
of  this  great  saying,  in  which  He  so  emphatically  repeats — /  am 
not  come  to  destroy  but  to  fulfil.  Is  this  really  a  repetition  only 
for  the  sake  of  emphasis  1      Assuredly  so  in  part,  so  far  as  it  is 


i  The  Law  and  the  Gospel  go  ever  hand  in  hand,  and  jointly  increase 
in  the  clearness  and  profundity  of  their  revelation.  The  Law  reaches 
its  fulfilment  in  Christ,  not  only  in  His  bearing  of  its  curse,  but  also  in 
His  more  perfect  revelation  of  its  demand,  through  His  own  word  and 
act — even  till  the  final  judgment  and  the  kingdom  of  grace  are  at  once 
and  together  fully  brought  to  light.  So  Schoberlein,  Stud.  u.  Krit. 
1847.  1.  p.  26.  27. 


140  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW,. 

the  Lord's  design  to  impress  a  more  vivid  conviction  of  the 
infinite  contrariety  of  these  two  things,  and  to  place  in  a  more 
striking  light  the  folly  of  that  delusion  which  expected  any  abro- 
gation from  Him.    But  there  is  also  something  new  in  His  mean- 
ing, something  wider  and  greater,  when  He  now  omits  the  "  Law 
and  the  Prophets,"  and  testifies  in  general  and  comprehensively: 
I  am  altogether  and  absolutely  not  come  to  abolish  anywhere 
any  thing  that  is  right  and  true,  but  my  coming  is  throughout 
and  entirely  to  conserve,  to  expand,  and  to  fulfil  all  the  rudi- 
ments, preparations,  and  tendencies  towards  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  humanity.     Hereby  does  He  throw  His  unrestrained  glance 
over  Israel  even  into  the  whole  world  of  Heathenism,  for  which 
also  He  is  come,  and  in  which  also  there  will  be  found  elements 
of  preparation  for  His  coming,  which  His  new  revelation  may 
seize  upon;  for  He  comes  not  absolutely  to  create  anew,  but 
rather  to  fulfil.      He  looks  into  the  deep  things  of  humanity 
in  relation  to  God,  and  surveys  its  history  as  presenting  a  uni- 
versal  aspiration  towards  Himself,  and  waiting  for  His  coming. 
And  do  not  these  very  Scriptures  concerning  the  future  Christ, 
which  were  given  by  God  to  Israel,  that  copy  of  humanity,  also 
disclose  the  self-same  preparation  for  Him,  though  more  hidden 
and  darkened,  in  the  other  nations  of  the  earth  ?     Is  there  not 
something  in  them  all,  which  we  may  also  term  vojjlos  rj  irpoj>r)- 
rat  efc  Xptarbv  ?     The  heathens  have  a  law  in  their  conscience, 
a  worship  of  God  through  sacrifice  in  their  religions,  codes  of 
morals  and  rights  in  their  political  economy,  longings  and  pre- 
sentiments in  their  wise  men  and  poets  who  are  also  their  pro- 
phets.     (Tit.  i.    12;    Acts  xvii.    28.)      The  Lord   brings  its 
fulfilment  to  every  such  expectation  in  the  ancient  world,  and 
destroys  nothing  in  all  this  which  testifies  to  the  righteousness 
and  truth  of  God  ;   only  its  sins  and  its  delusions  He  destroys 
everywhere  as  being  the  work  of  the  devil,   in   order  that  He 
may  help  forward  to  its  development,  every,  the  most  secret, 
germ  implanted  of  God  which  still  existed  among  them.     How 
gracious   and   full   of  encouragement   is   this  word   for  all  in 
the  world,  who,  as  poor  as  they  are  sincere,   are  waiting  for 
righteousness  !     How  solemn  and  admonitory  is  the  instruction 
which  it  gives  to  all  the  Lord's  servants,  His  missionaries  among 
the  heathen  and  His  preachers  in  Christendom,  that  in  every 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  141 

relation  internal  or  external,  they  must  not  teach  and  labour  in 
the  spirit  of  such  entire  abolition  as  their  Lord  here  signifies, 
but  bring  in  everywhere  a  universal  fulfilment  through  Him 
who  came  to  be  the  Spirit  of  all  forms,  the  consummation  of  all 
beginnings,  the  answer  of  all  questions,  the  satisfaction  of  all 
necessity. 

But  let  not  the  world  think,  even  the  Christian  world  down  to 
this  day,  that  He  came  for  any  other  end  than  to  establish  the 
whole  Will  of  God,  as  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  in  Israel  espe- 
cially enforced  and  foretold  it  : — let  this  be  declared  to  the 
world  continually  in  the  Lord's  own  words,  both  for  its  encourage- 
ment and  its  warning.  Fear  ye  not  this  new  thing  which  Christ 
brings,  as  being  a  subversion  of  all  established  customs,  a  casting 
down  of  your  own  vain  righteousness,  and  an  interruption  of 
your  own  cherished  peace :  He  does  indeed  destroy  inexorably 
the  Old,  which  was  not  from  God  and  avails  not  before  Him, 
but  only  as  the  fulfiller  of  all  aspirations  towards  a  true  righteous- 
ness in  God's  sight !  But  hope  not  for  that  grace  as  bringing  a 
false  freedom  from  law,  wait  not  for  His  Kingdom  with  expecta- 
tion that  savours  in  any  degree  of  the  blind  delusion  of  the  Jewish 
expectation  of  Messiah  :  He  does  indeed  make  all  things  new  in 
the  spirit,  brings  grace,  peace,  life  and  blessedness,  but  only  in 
order  to  righteousness  in  the  obedience  of  God's  will !  Would 
you  rather  have  a  Saviour  who  should  not  establish  the  law  of 
Sinai,  because  your  evil  conscience  recoils  from  it ;  a  Saviour 
who  should  leave  behind  much  of  the  Jewish  word  of  prophecy, 
because  your  foolish  fancy  in  the  unbelief  of  a  sluggish  heart 
opposes  it ; — then  does  He  most  decisively  answer  you,  Such  an 
one  am  not  I! 

Ver.  18.  For  all  must  and  will  be  fulfilled,  that  is  written  in 
the  ancient  Scriptures,  even  to  the  tittle.  Of  this  the  Lord  gives 
His  yet  stronger  assurance,  and  confirms  it  with  His  Amen, 
which  was  heard  first  in  Jno.  i.  51,  and  had  since  then  been  often 
used  to  individuals  as  in  Jno.  iii.  3,  v.  11,  but  now  for  the  first 
time  occurs  in  His  public  teaching  of  the  people.  The  Prophets 
who  testified  of  Him  who  was  to  come,  and  Moses,  the  mediator 
of  the  Law,  might  only  say — Thus  saith  the  Lord !  But  here 
that  Lord  Himself  is  speaking  whose  way  they  all  as  servants 
had  prepared ;  who,  greater  than  a  prophet,  expounds  the  true 


142  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

meaning  of  the  Law  which  Himself  had  given  (vers.  21,  2") ; 
withdraws  those  condescending  concessions  which  it  had  made  to 
the  hardness  of  their  hearts  (vers.  31,  33,  37),  and  re-establishes 
and  reimposes  it  in  all  the  perfection  of  its  original  integrity ; 
who,  indeed,  thus  early  declares  Himself  (vers.  19,  20)  to  be  the 
one  Lawgiver  and  Judge  who  receives  into  or  rejects  from, 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  it  is  who  thus  preliminarily  asserts 
His  own  authority  and  the  authority  of  the  whole  subsequent 
discourse  :  /  say  unto  you  !  Here  at  once  His  peculiar  method 
of  instruction  begins  to  become  more  distinctly  manifest,  in  which 
He  excites  the  deaf  ear  to  attention  by  striking  ■proverbial  sayings 
which  have  the  appearance  of  hyperbole,  and  yet  utter  nothing 
but  the  actual  and  literal  truth,  of  which  no  tittle  shall  be  abated, 
and  which  He  can  seal  with  His  Amen  ! 

We  perceive  immediately,  if  we  will  only  give  heed,  how  far- 
reaching  had  been  the  Lord's  preceding  word  concerning  the 
fulfilment  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  ;  since  the  fulfilment  is  to 
take  place  not  merely  in  His  own  person,  but  further  and  ever 
increasingly  through  Him  in  all  who  are  His,  through  the  whole 
yet  future  history  of  humanity  in  all  its  ages  down  to  the  end  of 
the  days  of  heaven  upon  earth  (Deut.  xi.  21.)  He  now  mentions 
only  the  Laio,  as  the  more  common  name  in  popular  usage,  which 
employed  both  interchangeably ;  but  its  connexion  with  what 
has  gone  before  shows  that  it  embraces  also  the  Prophets,  whose 
prophecies  must  as  certainly  be  fulfilled  as  the  commandments  of 
the  Law, — see  the  repetition  of  this  at  a  later  period  in  St  Luke 
xvi.  16,  17.1  Yet,  when  we  mark  what  follows,  we  perceive 
that  there  is  a  transition  in  this  expression,  and  that  the  Lord  is 
proceeding  now  to  bring  into  prominence  the  Law  in  its  narrower 
sense,  the  commandments  of  righteousness.  Heaven  is  not  the 
heavens  of  ver.  12  ;  as  earth,  here,  is  not  the  same  which  is  pro- 
mised in  ver.  5,  as  an  inheritance ;  but  the  present  heaven  and  the 
present  earth,  which  await  apassing  away,  7rapipxeo-0ai}  a  vanish- 
ing, a  growing  old  (as  2  Cor.  v.  17  ;  Jas.  L  10;  Eev.  xxi.  1),  the 

1  Schleiermacher  would  very  erroneously  (on  Luke  p.  207)  strike  out 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  ver.  18  as  an  interpolation  from  St  Luke 
— because  it  makes  the  whole  uncertain  and  ambiguous !  vers.  17  and 
19  immediately  connected  are  so  very  plain  !  Surely  Schleiermacher 
finds  some  o-Kavdakov  here  to  remove. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  143 

being  changed  and  renewed,  according  to  the  predictions  of  the 
Scripture,  which  clearly  announce  this  in  such  places  as  Ps.  cii.  27; 
lsa.  xxxiv.  4,  li.  6,  lxv.  17  ;  and  even  in  its  earliest  revelation 
had  occasionally  made  it  known,  as  in  Gen.  viii.  22  ;  Job.  xiv. 
12.  The  first  till  is  just  as  certain  and  as  necessary  as  the  second 
— compare  the  direct  assertion  in  Lu.  xxi.  33.  Thus  the  substance 
of  the  word  of  God,  written  before  Christ  and  in  Him  to  be  ful- 
filled, with  the  development  of  this  His  kingdom  and  work, 
stretch  forward  to  the  final  passing  away  of  all  that  is  perishable 
and  changing  of  all  that  is  mutable  ;  then  first  when  the  world 
passes  away,  will  the  fulfilment  of  all  be  complete  and  established ! 
Heaven  and  earth,  the  form  of  this  present  world,  are  but  a 
transitory  creation  to  endure  for  their  season  (1  Cor.  vii.  31 ; 
Heb.  xii.  26,  27)  ;  but  the  word  of  God  abideth  for  ever  (lsa.  ad. 
8).  The  world  passes  away  entirely  and  as  a  whole ;  there  is 
coming  another  heaven  and  another  earth  ;  but  the  word  of  God, 
the  slightest  minutiae  of  which  are  here  compared  with  the  whole 
universe,  must  remain  even  to  the  smallest  point.  There  is  in  that 
word,  rightly  conceived  of,  neither  small  nor  great  ;  nothing  in  it 
can  be  lost,  for  it  is,  and  must  ever  be,  a  living  whole.  And  this 
applies  to  the  word  which  is  written  in  the  letters  of  human  lan- 
guage, to  the  Scripture  which  cannot  be  broken  (St  John  x.  35), 
as  the  loot  a  ev  rj  fila  fcepala  incontrovertibly  declares.  The  iota  is 
the  smallest  letter ;  the  tittle,  little  horn  or  point,  is  the  smallest 
part  of  a  letter,  which  appertains  to  the  true  and  established 
Scripture.1  That  this  strong  expression  refers  figuratively  in  its 
special  meaning  to  the  least  important  of  its  contents,  is  plainly 
to  be  understood :  and  this  saying  therefore  teaches  us  that  while 
with  the  change  of  the  heaven  and  the  earth  there  will  follow 
also,  finally,  a  change  of  the  form  of  the  word  of  God,  a  passing 
away  of  the  letters  and  points  in  which  it  must  till  then  be  con- 
tained, its  full  accomplishment  yet  remains : — till  all  be  fulfilled. 
This  all  comprehends  every  ev  /cat  fxta  which  now  exists  in  the 
letter,  and  shall  remain  in  its  reality  ;  and  assures  us  of  such  a 
fulfilment  of  everything  in  Scripture,  whether  great  or  small, 

1  And  by  which  alone  many  Hebrew  letters  are  distinguished,  as  «^ 
and  -j.  The  iota  is  often  superfluous,  yet  even  then  the  Jews  ascribed 
to  it  a  peculiar  signification. 


144  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

first  or  last,  in  its  pure  and  actual  truth,  as  we  cannot  now  ap- 
prehend. The  manner  of  this  establishment  of  the  written  word 
in  the  eternal  permanence  of  the  new  world,  our  Lord  leaves  in 
obscurity,  even  as  He  does  the  manner  of  the  old  world's  passing 
away.  Thus  much,  however,  He  says,  in  passing  to  His  subse- 
quent discourse,  that  this  fulfilment  begins  in  His  disciples'  per- 
formance of  it  unto  righteousness. 

Ver.  19.  He  therefore  now  turns  more  particularly  to  the 
commandments  of  the  Scripture,  and  asserts  their  inviolable  con- 
tinuance as  a  whole  and  in  their  individual  precepts,  in  opposition 
to  the  destructive  error  of  the  Pharisees.  They  are  obviously 
referred  to  here,  though  without  being  named,  as  He  presently 
afterwards  places  His  disciples  in  direct  contrast  with  them.  The 
Pharisees  understood  not  that  the  Law  is  a  living  whole  (Jas.  ii. 
10),  though  the  many  threads  united  in  one  border  upon  the 
fringes  which  Moses  appointed  (Num.  xv.  38;  Matt,  xxiii.  5), 
might  have  pretypified  it  to  them.  They  counted  the  single  com- 
mandments as  single,  just  as  even  yet  a  blind  misunderstanding 
has  nothing  better  to  say  than— this  God  has  commanded  to  us, 
and  this  also,  and  yet  further  this.  They  investigated  with  sub- 
tilty  which  were  the  greater  and  the  greatest  commandments ;  and 
which  as  being  the  least  might  be  left  unperformed :— just  as 
even  now  dead  systems  of  spurious  morality  and  ethics  speculate 
about  a  collision  of  duties,  in  which  one  must  give  place  to 
another;  and  dream  furthermore  of  grosser  and  more  venial 
sins.  It  was  their  custom  to  compare  what  they  regarded  as  the 
least  commandments  with  the  smallest  letters  of  the  Scripture,  ^ 
or  •},  and  to  this  folly  the  Lord  had  alluded  in  the  previous 
remark.  They  at  last,  in  the  excess  of  their  perverseness,  treated 
the  especial  precepts  of  holiness  (which  the  Lord  Himselfj  more 
strictly  defining  his  present  expression,  certainly  terms  ra  (Sapv- 
repa  rod  vojjlov)  as  slight  and  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the 
external  ordinances  and  customs,  in  the  frivolous  fulfilment  of 
which  they  sought  their  righteousness.  (Matt,  xxiii.  23,  24). 
In  opposition  to  all  this,  the  Lord  asserts  the  equal  validity  of  the 
smallest  of  these  commandments  also,  as  being  uttered  always 
with  a  like  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  and  from  among  them  He 
presently  afterwards  takes  His  examples.     By  the  admonitory 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  145 

Whosoever,  therefore,  shall  break  one  of  these,  He  does  not  so 
much  aim  at  the  Pharisees,  as  at  His  own  disciples,  appointed  to 
office  in  His  kingdom,  who  are  warned  against  doing  as  they  did. 
This  breaking  takes  place,  as  the  connexion  shows,  through  a 
spurious,  enervating  exposition  which  teaches  it  as  something 
unimportant,  leading  as  a  consequence  to  an  entire  disregard  of 
it,  so  that  the  requirement  of  the  commandment  is  annulled,  and 
it  is  left  altogether  unperformed.  Whosoever  of  His  disciples 
deals  in  any  such  manner  with  the  Law,  in  this  or  the  other 
department  of  its  precepts,  and  teaches  the  people  so,  let  him  know 
that  he  is  a  bad  teacher,  who  himself  has  understood  and  received 
but  little  of  the  perfect  righteousness  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Since  he  has  not  scrupled  to  term  some  commandments  the  least, 
he  shall  in  just  requital,  here,  in  the  true  records  of  the  church, 
and  hereafter,  when  every  man's  praise  or  blame  shall  be  righte- 
ously dealt  to  him,  himself  be  called  the  least.  This  is  obviously 
not  to  be  taken  in  a  good  sense  (it  is  severer  than  yuKpoiepo^,  ch. 
xi.  11),  but  has  an  almost  scornful  tone,  and  verges  upon  not 
entering  the  kingdom  at  all,  though  it  is  not  altogether  the  same.1 
For  the  Lord  does  not  refer  to  full  and  absolute  Pharisaism, 
but  to  an  intermixture  of  it  in  His  disciples  with  error  of  judg- 
ment. But  whosoever  of  them,  on  the  other  hand,  is  zealous 
with  all  his  might  and  before  all  things,  to  do  the  apparently 
least  commandments  of  God,  and  in  this  spirit  teaches  the  Law, 
shall  be  called  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  shall  be  acknow- 
ledged as  a  genuine  teacher  and  master  (Rabbi  is  equivalent  to 
great)  in  the  final  and  just  judgment  which  shall  give  to  every 
man  his  due.  Ye  must  be  Rabbis,  in  a  better  sense  and  in 
the  highest  truth  of  the  name  !  Mark,  then,  accordingly,  who 
are  in  the  sight  of  Christ  the  little  Rabbis,  and  the  untaught 
doctors  ;  and  who  are  the  great  and  genuine  expounders  of 
Scripture  and  masters  of  the  Law  !  But  art  thou  disposed  to 
press  the  matter  so  far  as  to  cleave  to  the  minutest  letter  as  such, 
or  even  to  accept  this  most  important  expression  of  our  Lord  so 
strictly  in  the  letter  as  to  deduce  from  it  the  perpetual,  external 

1  There  is  to  us  more  of  irony  in  the  tone,  than  (as  Braune  thinks) 

of  love  and  gentleness,  such  as  might  yet  consider  the  object  of  it  to  be 

in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.      More  correctly  von  Gerlach  : — "  To  be 

called  the  least,  is  generally  an  expression  of  contempt,  and  rejection." 

10 


146  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

obligation  of  all  those  Mosaic  precepts,  which  He,  nevertheless, 
elsewhere  has  by  His  Spirit  annulled, — then  hast  thou  not  yet 
rightly  understood  the  Master,  who  speaks,  indeed,  of  an  abroga- 
tion or  establishment  of  the  commandments,  very  different  from 
that  which  may  take  place  in  the  letter.  We  shall  henceforward 
find  many  more  such  paradoxes  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
which  penetrate  into  the  profounder  meaning  and  harmony  of 
truth.  He  who,  in  his  exposition  of  any  one  commandment, 
which  was  written  for  Israel  in  the  books  of  Moses,  has  nothing 
else  to  set  out  with  than,  "  this  is  now  obsolete" — is  one  of  those 
who  destroy  the  Law.  But  he  who  discovers  in  the  whole,  for  him- 
self and  for  others,  an  inner  abiding  meaning  and  import  which 
even  yet  applies  to  us  all,  is  the  genuine  teacher  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture.1 He  only  who  interprets  it  in  harmony  with  the  Old,  is  a 
true  interpreter  of  the  New  Testament. 

Ver.  20.  How  great  is  the  contrast  between  this  declaration, 
which  closes  the  first  part,  and  the  promises  which  commenced  it 
in  vers.  3  and  6  !  The  Lord  utters  it  by  way  of  transition,  as  a 
general  superscription  for  the  whole  development  of  the  second 
part : — Let  yours  be  a  sound  and  genuine  and  perfect  righteous- 
ness, and  it  is  specially  now  said  for  the  first  time : — not  like 
that  of  the  Pharisees!  If  that  contrast  between  the  beginning 
and  the  end  is  rightly  regarded,  and  the  entering  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  into  us  is  taken  in  connexion  with  our  entering  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  we  cannot  but  perceive  that  even  this  severe 
utterance  has  an  essential  promise  within  it.  For  it  then  runs 
thus,  being  reversed — Unless  the  kingdom  of  heaven  enter  into 
you  with  its  gracious  gift,  ye  can  have  no  righteousness  at  all ! 
If  ye  receive  it  in  your  poverty,  ye  shall  be  filled  with  righteous- 
ness !  But  just  at  this  point  the  discourse  passes  over  to  a  more 
rigid  requirement  that  this  gift  of  righteousness  be  both  received 
and  preserved.  The  strong  expression,  ov  pift  in  no  case  enter, 
goes  further  than  the  previous  comparison  of  least  or  greater  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.     It  is  similar  to  ch.  xviii.  1 — 3. 

Not  all  the  scribes  were  at  that  time  Pharisees  likewise,  or  the 
reverse  ;2  but  the  Lord  blends  them  together  according  to  their 

1  Richter's  Family  Bible  asks,  "  Art  thou  not  afraid  because  of  thy 
past  treatment  of  the  Old  Testament?" 

2  At  least  not  according  to  the  more  general  idea  which  holds  good 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  147 

internal  points  of  union,  and  thus  exhibits  under  two  aspects  the 
absolute  opposition  between  every  kind  of  insufficient  and  false 
righteousness,  and  the  perfect,  genuine  righteousness  of  His 
own  disciples.  This  opposition  is  ever  the  same  to  the  present 
day,  in  all  ages  and  in  all  places,  for  the  developments  of  the 
Jewish  people  down  to  the  age  of  Christ  are  but  a  mirror  of  that 
humanity  into  which  He  enters  as  a  whole.  The  scribes  are 
everywhere  those  who  are  learned  in  the  letter  (7 pap, fxai et?)  and 
who  teach  it ;  and  the  worst  delusion  is  that  of  supposing  that 
such  knowledge,  without  corresponding  action,  is  righteousness  ; 
— it  therefore  stands  first.  But  it  is  no  better,  when  even  such 
doing  is  added  as  that  of  the  Pharisees.  These  are  in  all  times 
the  doers  of  the  work  in  appearance  but  not  in  reality,  retaining 
now  as  ever  the  disposition  to  add  the  ordinances  of  men  to  the 
commandments  of  God,  to  substitute  their  opera  super  erogationis 
and  ed6ko9pr](TKka  for  the  weightier  matters  which  they  have 
lightly  dispensed  with.  The  book-learned  and  letter-sifting  ypap,- 
Harels  reckon  up  the  precepts  of  God,  as  if  they  were  no  more 
than  mere  letters  and  points  :  they  determine  with  keen  subtilty 
which  are  the  greater  and  which  the  less,  and  it  is  all  that  they 
can  do,  to  give  instruction  in  these  matters.  The  Pharisees  are 
zealous,  also,  in  the  work  ;  but  with  the  same  formal,  blind,  dead 
cleaving  to  the  mere  work  without  any  life  in  it,  as  that  of  the 
former  to  the  letter  without  any  spirit.  Though  the  two  are 
sometimes  distinct,  they  generally  run  one  into  the  other ;  and 
therefore  the  Lord  here  unites  them  together.  What  then  is 
the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  ?  First  of  all,  know- 
ledge and  teaching  without  doing  :  then  the  doing  without  heart, 
as  in  the  accustomed  offerings,  tythes,  their  own  self-invented 
washings,  &c,  and  even  in  the  case  of  the  commandments :  Thou 
shalt  not  kill !  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery  !  and  yet  shall 
this,  wherein  all  is  hypocrisy  and  the  lie  of  pride  without  any  the 
slightest  approach  to  poverty  of  spirit,  be  termed  a  "  righteous- 
ness  /"  The  Lord  so  terms  it  indeed,  but  with  that  severe  scorn 
of  sharply  penetrating  truth  and  love  which  He  must  ever  feel 
towards  all  such  as  they  were,  down  to  the  end  of  time.  These 
righteous  ones,  these  especially  holy — as  the  name  Pharisees  sig- 

here.  But  it  will  be  seen  to  follow  from  ch.  xxiii.  2,  that  only  the  or- 
thodox Pharisees  held  the  seat  of  Moses. 


14S  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW, 

nifies1 — think  themselves  to  exceed  other  people,  and  to  possess 
abundant  righteousness  :  but  the  Lord  casts  them  down  from 
their  eminence,  when,  in  ironical  allusion  to  this,  He  cries  to  His 
disciples  :  Let  your  righteousness  exceed,  let  them  be  the  common 
people  and  sinners  in  comparison  of  you !  The  tone  of  this  is 
more  severe  than  what  was  said  in  ver.  19  ;  for  it  means  no  less 
than  that  their  righteousness  is  none  at  all,  since  it  gains  them 
not  even  an  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.2  On  the  other 
hand,  that  first  righteousness  which  is  attained  by  the  justifying 
faith  of  those  poor  and  wretched  ones  to  whom  mercy  graciously 
inclines,  is  a  true  righteousness,  although  the  mourning  and  the 
hungering  strictly  speaking  should  come  after,  and  their  hearts 
be  not  yet  purified  in  all  holiness.  The  Publican  goes  down 
from  his  first  prayer  of  penitence  justified  rather  than  the  Phari- 
see :  and  if  he  proceeds  in  this  righteousness,  if  he,  now  that  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  come  into  him,  constantly  seeks  the  full 
establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness 
within  him,  then  will  the  Fulfiller  fulfil  all  in  his  experience, 
until  he  is  perfect,  as  his  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.  All  this 
is  effected  through  asking  and  receiving  (ch.  vii.  7),  through 
that  process  of  self-denial  before  God  and  before  men,  which, 
though  easily  apprehended  by  the  mind,  is  only  possible  in  act 
through  Divine  grace,  (ch.  vii.  12,  Id).  The  spiritual  law  of  our 
Lord,  as  it  now  proceeds  on  from  ver.  21,  ever  anew  casts  down 
throughout  the  whole  way  to  its  full  accomplishment,  every  pre- 
sumption of  perfection  already  attained ;  reveals  the  still-existing 
heathenism  of  nature  in  the  hearts  of  the  children  of  God :  puts 
to  shame  all  precipitate  judgment  of  others,  while  self  is  not 
judged,  all  rebuking  of  the  Pharisees  without  the  much  better 
righteousness  than  theirs,  as  sheer  hypocrisy ;  and  cries  to  all 
disciples  from  step  to  step,  for  their  encouragement  and  warning, 
in  order  that  all  Pharisiasm  may  be  extirpated  : — Let  your 

1  U^tlftnS  according  to  the  Rabbinical  writings,  those  who  assume 
to  be  separate  and  holy,  so  that  it  might  be  seen  from  their  very  gar- 
ments that  they  held  themselves  different  from  V^j-f  D}7> tne  common 
people. 

2  Similarly  in  Heb.  xi.  4,  Abel's  better  or  greater  offering  than 
Cain's. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  149 

righteousness  be  yet  better  still,  let  it  yet  more  and  more  exceed, 
until  it  become  absolutely  perfect  I1  This  let  us  do  and  teach 
even  as  our  Master  did,  and  take  good  heed  that  we  abate  not 
His  word  by  a  single  tittle  anywhere,  nor  invalidate  His  "  verily 
I  say  unto  you  "  by  any  falsehood  of  our  own. 


Not  like  the  Pharisees,  the  men  of  the  letter  of  the  Law,  and  of 
hypocritical  outside  appearances !  This  is  the  first  great  con- 
trast, by  which  the  perfect  righteousness  of  the  disciples  of  Christ 
is  further  delineated,  that  righteousness  which  is  required  as  the 
fruit  of  the  grace  which  has  been  previously  received.  The  two 
other  contrasts,  as  we  said  above,  develope  themselves  out  of 
this  : — Not  as  the  heathen  !  Not  as  the  half-disciples,  who,  being 
disposed  to  remain  in  an  imperfect  righteousness,  fall  away  again 
entirely  as  a  consequence,  and  are  put  to  confusion  as  hypocrites 
and  evil-doers ! — Not  like  the  Pharisees  !  The  Lord  thus,  in  the 
manner  of  the  Prophets,  connects  His  teaching  with  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  men  of  His  age,  embracing  and  illustrating  by 
them  general  and  permanent  relations.  But  how  is  this  seen  ? 
As  the  development  of  these  words  proceeds  into  detail,  they 
evolve  three  other  contrasts  which  disclose  and  explain  them- 
selves organically,  advancing  from  the  original  principle  of  Phari- 
siasm  to  its  consequences,  and  tracing  that  right  understanding 
of  the  Law  which  is  opposed  to  theirs  into  its  essentially  volun- 
tary and  actual  obedience.  His  disciples'  understanding  of  the 
Law  is  spiritual;  to  this  is  opposed  the  merely  literal  under- 
standing of  the  Pharisees  :  that  of  His  disciples  is  consequently 
'correct,  and  is  opposed  to  the  false  exposition  of  the  Pharisees : 
their  right  understanding  approves  itself,  finally,  in  a  voluntary 
and  hearty  reception  of  the  Law  in  order  to  do  it,  in  opposition  to 
the  hypocritical  legality  of  the  Pharisees.  This  is  the  internal 
arrangement  of  the  discourse  from  ch.  v.  21  to  ch.  vi.  18 ;  which 
cannot,  indeed,  be  viewed  otherwise,  since  it  corresponds  with 
the  most  profound  relations  of  the  matter  upon  which  the  dis- 
course dwells.     The  error  of  the  Pharisees  proceeded  from  their 

1  At  the  utmost  possible  distance  from  the  picture  which  Zeller  (in 
the  Monatsblatt)  draws  of  the  proud  saints  who  imagine  that  the  paper- 
money  of  their  own  good  works  must  be  current,  also,  in  heaven,  and 
be  reckoned  there  at  par,  at  least,  if  not  indeed  above  par. 


150  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

merely  literal  acceptation  of  the  Law  (ch.  v.  21 — 32)  :  and  in  its 
origin  was  to  some  slight  extent  excusable,  inasmuch  as  the  letter 
of  the  commandment  was  obviously  most  prominent  before  them. 
But  if  man's  sinful  heart  would  sincerely  and  humbly  permit  the 
Law  to  enter,  it  would  soon  reveal  its  spiritual  and  inner  meaning 
as  designed  for  the  conviction  of  the  spirit,  it  would  thus  spiri- 
tually expound  itself,  just  as  all  sincere  souls  have  ever  under- 
stood it  ;  for  we  must  not  suppose  that  Christ  gives  now  an 
altogether  new  publication  of  its  meaning.1  But  in  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  Pharisaic  mind,  on  the  contrary,  this  literal  under- 
standing of  the  Law  produced,  and,  indeed,  had  for  its  foundation, 
a  false  interpretation  (ch.  v.  33 — 48),  which,  finally,  in  the  progress 
of  perversion,  disannulled  it  entirely  ;  so  that,  Thou  shalt  love ! 
became  in  the  destroying  gloss — Thou  mayest  hate !  In  the 
detection  of  their  error  we  find  its  principles  becoming  more  evident 
as  we  go  further  into  its  outward  exhibition.  The  Law  is  literally 
understood  from  the  beginning  because  it  has  been  falsely  inter- 
preted. And,  finally,  as  to  the  third  ?  The  Law  has  only  been 
falsely  interpreted  because  it  is  read  and  heard  not  with  a  view 
to  the  simple  and  sincere  doing  of  it :  since  the  design  is  not  to 
obey  the  Law  in  spirit  and  in  truth  before  God  who  seeth  in  secret, 
but  only  for  the  sake  of  man  !  Hence,  thirdly,  and  quite  correctly, 
we  have  the  hypocritical  seeming-legality  of  the  Pharisees,  which 
developes  itself  from  this  false  interpretation,  and  is  also  found  to 
be  its  source  (ch.  vi.  1 — 18).  With  which  is  brightly  contrasted 
the  genuine,  internal  fulfilment  of  the  children  of  God  before 
their  Father  in  secret — which  alone  avails  and  will  receive  re- 
ward. 

If  after  this  general  glance  we  enter  more  into  detail,  we  find 
that  the  Lord  further  illustrates  each  of  these  three  contrasts  by 
three  examples  taken  from  the  precepts  and  duties  of  righteous- 
ness, and  evidently  according  to  a  fundamental  and  necessary 
order  of  selection.  And  here  we  are  met  by  the  division  of  the 
Law  into  moral,  ceremonial,  and  civil ;  a  classification  which, 
notwithstanding  the  essential  unity  of  the  three,  is  based  upon 
truth,  and  now  will  be  exhibited  in  its  propriety.      From  the 

1  To  suppose  this  is  most  fundamentally  to  misunderstand  the  relation 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  the  Law.  Christ  says  even  here,  only 
what  Moses  and  the  Prophets  have  already  said. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  151 

ceremonial  law,  or  the  law  of  the  Sanctuary  and  Divine  service, 
the  Lord  takes  no  particular  leading  example,  because  that  was 
given  not  so  much  for  the  conviction  of  sin,  as  for  the  typical  satis- 
faction of  an  already  awakened  sense  of  need  of  a  propitiation. 
He  contents  Himself  in  relation  to  this  with  merely  adding  to  the 
first  example  an  impressive  caution,  referring  back  to  the  instance 
of  Cain,  against  the  unhallowed  offering  of  gifts  with  an  angry 
and  implacable  heart.  On  the  other  hand,  He  very  distinctly 
brings  forward,  in  connection  one  with  the  other,  the  civil  law  or 
the  law  of  the  political  economy  of  Israel,  and  the  more  distinc- 
tive law  of  Holiness,  as  we  prefer  calling  it,  instead  of  the  moral 
law.  He  begins  naturally  with  the  latter,  with  the  commandments 
of  Sinai,  the  heart  of  the  whole  divine  legislation  ;  and  presents 
as  the  three  examples  of  the  first  contrast,  two  from  Sinai  and 
one  from  the  civil  code.  In  the  second  contrast  this  is  reversed : 
two  are  taken  from  the  civil  code  (concerning  swearing  and 
judicial  retribution),  and  one  returns  again  to  the  summary  of 
the  moral  law, — the  love  of  our  neighbour.  In  the  third  contrast, 
finally,  He  very  significantly  abandons  the  written  precepts  of 
God's  word,  and  takes  His  illustrations  from  the  three  main 
works  of  righteousness  according  to  the  human  Pharisaic  idea : 
— almsgiving,  prayer,  and  fasting.  The  details  of  this  arrange- 
ment will  exhibit  and  justify  themselves,  when  we  examine  them 
more  narrowly. 

We  now  proceed  in  our  more  direct  exposition  to  vers.  21 — 32. 
The  two  commandments  of  the  Law  given  from  Sinai,  are  such 
as  exhibit  the  literal  and  spiritual  acceptation  in  their  rudest 
collision,  and  Christ,  by  His  full  disclosure  of  the  latter,  lays 
open  the  very  ground  of  man's  evil  heart.  The  civil  enactment 
which  follows,  concerning  the  letter  of  divorce,  is  one  which  ex- 
emplifies the  preparatory  character  of  the  Mosaic  ordinance,  its 
accommodation  to  men's  hardness  of  heart ;  and  Christ  exhibits 
His  fulfilment  of  this  law,  to  those  who  possess  His  spirit,  as 
being  a  cancelling  of  that  which  was  imperfect,  and  a  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  original  and  right  ordinance.  The  two  first 
commandments  are  united :  Thou  shalt  not  hill !  Thou  shalt  not 
commit  adultery  !  for  the  pride  of  self  which  towers  above  all 
others  (involving  the  denial  of  all  that  is  not  I),  and  the  sensuality 
of  entire  devotion  to  the  flesh,  are  in  their  essence  just  the  two 


152  THE  GOSPEL  TO  ST  MATTHEW. 

poles  of  the  same  sin.  Hatred  or  murder  and  lust  are  forms  of 
corruption  in  the  heart,  mysteriously  reciprocal  and  interwoven 
one  with  the  other,  which  the  two  keen  commandments  of  the 
letter,  Do  no  murder  !  commit  not  adultery !  penetrating  to  the 
secrets  of  the  heart,  will  draw  forth  and  reveal.  (Let  Lamech 
of  the  race  of  Cain  be  called  to  mind,  Gen.  iv.  19 — 23.  Reflect 
upon  the  sensuality  of  vengeance  and  the  murderousness  of  sen- 
suality, and  that  both  constitute  the  perfect  opposite  to  that 
unselfish  and  pure  love,  which  the  holy  law  of  God  requires.) 
But  the  civil  regulation,  which  permitted  divorce,  is  plainly  shut 
out  by  the  prohibition  of  adultery,  inasmuch  as  every  divorce 
pre-supposes  an  act  of  adultery  which  is  either  committed  in  it 
or  revealed  by  it.  Consequently  the  essential  spirit  of  the  com- 
mand— Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery !  testifies  against  the 
letter — Thoumayest  practice  divorce  !  so  that  the  Law  of  Moses 
in  its  integrity  and  unity  itself  contradicts  the  temporary  imper- 
fections of  its  own  ordinances,  and  at  the  same  time  demands 
and  predicts  in  its  fulfilment  their  establishment  in  perfection. 
Thus  much  at  the  outset, — and  now  for  the  details. 


Yers.  21 — 26.  When  the  Lord  designs  to  cast  down  the 
delusion  of  a  legal  righteousness,  resting  only  upon  a  literal  and 
false  apprehension  of  the  Law  without  understanding  its  spirit 
which  judges  the  inner  disposition  of  mind,  He  begins,  here  as 
elsewhere,  with  the  second  table  of  the  Decalogue  (ch.  xix.  18). 
For  our  conduct  to  our  neighbour  lies  most  accessible  to  convic- 
tion, and  he  who  feels  that  he  loves  not  his  brother,  may  deduce 
from  that  conviction  that  all  is  not  right  when,  before  the  Searcher 
of  hearts  he  says,  "  I  love  God."  That  the  discourse  in  its  further 
progress  does  thus  penetrate  to  the  revelation  of  the  heart's  idolatry, 
will  be  manifested  from  ch.  vi.  24.  On  another  occasion,  when 
the  Lord  points  out  the  disannulling  of  the  commandments  of 
God  by  the  traditions  of  men,  He  uses  for  that  purpose  the  last 
precept  of  the  first  table,  which  is  the  middle-term  of  transition 
to  the  second  (ch.  xv.  4).  Here,  where  the  whole  discourse, 
according  to  the  note  which  ver.  7  had  already  struck,  is  to  reach 
its  climax  in — Be  perfect  in  love,  as  God  loveth  (ver.  48),  the 
first  commandment  of  the  second  table  naturally  takes  the  lead, 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  153 

the  spiritual  significance  of  which  is  no  other  than  this : — Tliou 
shall  not  hate!  The  Lord  lays  down  first  the  letter  of  the  com- 
mand, and  its  merely  literal  apprehension,  ver.  21 ;  in  opposition 
to  this,  He  expresses  the  spirit  of  this  letter,  and  yet,  in  order  to 
awaken  and  excite  a  spiritual  apprehension  of  it,  He  employs 
figurative  language  which  cleaves  to  the  letter  still,  and  is  not  to 
be  understood  in  its  literal  import.  Ver.  22.  From  this  follows, 
finally,  the  direct  exhortation  to  love,  without  which  even  the 
offerings  upon  God's  altar  are  nothing  worth ;  expressed  first,  in 
terms  of  simple  exhortation,  vers.  23,  24,  and  then  vers.  25,  26, 
of  solemn  denunciation,  in  the  figurative  exhibition  of  the  judg- 
ment which  is  taken  up  and  continued  from  ver.  22.  This  judg- 
ment, however,  can  only  be  fully  understood  when  referred  in  its 
higher  sense,  as  the  preceding  intimation  in  the  "  offering"  shows, 
to  the  highest  and  only  Judge. 

Vers.  21,  22.  The  Lord  by  this  Ye  addresses  His  disciples  as 
before,  but  at  the  same  time  all  the  people,  in  as  far  as  they  belong 
to  Him,  may  learn  what  His  teaching  will  be,  and  this  is  in  a 
sense  the  beginning  of  discipleship.  Ye  have  heard,  not  read: 
this  latter  could  only  have  been  spoken  to  the  Scribes,  and  the 
Lord  does  not  now  at  the  first  address  them  at  all,  but  warns  the 
people,  to  whom  He  speaks,  against  them.  The  people  only  heard 
out  of  the  Law  which  was  read  and  expounded  in  their  hearing ; 
but,  alas,  were  obliged  also  to  hear  their  teacher's  manner  of 
apprehending  and  interpreting  it.  (Jno.  xii.  34  ;  Kom.  ii.  13, 
18).  That  it  was  said — by  whom  1  According  to  the  earlier  and 
customary  acceptation,  which  Luther  follows,  this  was  regarded 
as  designedly  left  indefinite,  because  the  Lord's — But  I  say  unto 
you !  was  intended  to  oppose  all  false  teaching  generally,  from 
whatsoever  source  it  might  come  ;  and  it  was  only  defined  as  the 
doctrine  which  had  come  down  from  antiquity : — hence,  that  it 
was  said  to  them  of  old.  Others  think  that  these  ancients  were 
the  contemporaries  of  Moses,  and  that  the  Lord  places  His  own 
word  in  direct  contradiction  to  that  of  Moses.  This  supposition 
is  conclusively  refuted  by  vers.  17,  18,  after  uttering  which  it  is 
not  to  be  'imagined  that  the  Lord  would  immediately  say :  Moses 
has  said  thus,  but  I  now  say  otherwise !  For  that  purpose,  also, 
the  standing  form  of  speech,  "  to  the  Fathers,"  would  have  been 
used  (Lu.  i.  55,  Jno.  vi.  31 ;  Acts  iii.  22,  vii.  38 ;  Heb.  i.  1) 


lf)4  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

from  whom  the  ap^aloi  here  are  clearly  distinguished.  Does  not 
the  Lord  expressly  confirm,  in  ch.  xxiii.  2,  3,  all  that  the  Scribes 
who  sit  in  Moses'  seat  teach  conformably  with  the  word  of  Moses  ? 
Does  He  not  everywhere  throughout  this  Sermon  prudently  avoid 
stating  in  contradistinction  to  His  own  words,  that  Moses  had  said 
— even,  for  example,  in  ver.  31,  where  this  is  actually  meant 
(comp.  ch.  xix.  7,  8),  where  a  preparatory,  imperfect  ordinance  of 
Moses  is  abrogated  !  But  here  it  is  God  Himself,  not  Moses,  who 
spoke  the  inviolable  word,  Thou  shalt  not  kill !  The  Lord  does 
not  say  any  thing  in  opposition  to  this  word  in  itself,  but  it  is 
against  the  merely  literal  interpretation  which  was  immediately 
attached  to  it  that  He  contends : — "  This  means  no  more  than  that 
whosoever  kills,  inflicts  a  death-blow,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the 
judgment."  Just  as  in  ver.  43  it  is  not  the  commandment  of 
Moses,  but  its  altogether  disannulling  interpretation,  which  is 
spoken  of: — Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour,  and  hate  thine  enemy! 
We  quite  agree  with  Lange,  that  "  the  first  corruption  of  law  is 
exhibited  in  its  not  being  developed  according  to  its  spirit,  but 
bound  down  to  its  literal  meaning."  Our  Lord  enters  into  con- 
flict with  all  such  glosses  and  teaching  as  tend  to  relax  the  com- 
mandments (ver.  18) ;  whatever  has  been  said  beyond  the  Word 
of  God,  and  in  false  exposition  of  that  word,  He  contradicts  by 
His  own  sayings  :  and  thus  by  the  same  Divine  truth  and  autho- 
rity He  confirms  and  establishes  the  true  meaning  of  all  which 
before  Him  had  been  written  or  spoken  as  the  Word  of  God. 

The  notion  that  Christ  contradicts  Moses,  could  only  be  en- 
dured by  such  orthodox  theology  as  that  of  our  day,  which  holds 
so  feebly  to  the  Old  Testament  as  immediately  Divine !  The 
most  tolerable  presentation  of  this  view,  which  is  very  generallv 
embraced,  and,  alas,  has  been  latterly  maintained  by  the  sainted 
Neander,  in  the  "Deutschen  Zeitschrift," — that  which  could  alone 
recommend  it  for  a  moment  to  our  consideration,  is  the  notion 
that  Christ  only  designed  to  oppose  the  law  as  law,  the  "  legal 
relation  and  expression  "  as  such.  But  the  truth  of  this  view 
must  be  much  more  clearly  and  appropriately  unfolded  than,  e.g. 
it  is  by  Dietlein  j1  and,  moreover,  the  discourse  does  not  deal  dis- 

1  Das  Reich  Gottes.  Berlin  1846. — What  Rauh  also  throws  out 
(Deutsche  Zeitsch.  1850.  p.  360)  is  more  apparently  profound  than  it 
is  well-grounded. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  155 

tinctively  with  this  point  at  all,  but  speaks,  rather,  in  most  rigid 
terms  of  an  unconditionally  necessary  fulfilment  of  the  Law  and  its 
commandments — and,  indeed,  with  a  yet  more  exacting  rigour  of 
legal  expression  of  its  own.  The  old  Fathers  with  whom  Neander 
briefly  declares  himself  (in  the  "Life  of  Christ ")  to  agree,  meant 
their  correctio  legis  in  a  very  different  sense  from  that  of  the  Soci- 
nians  and  moderns,  as  Tholuck  (on  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount) 
has  very  properly  observed. 

Most  certainly  it  is  not  the  design  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  if  we  only  hear  it  and  read  it  aright,  to  contradict  the  Law, 
but  to  expound  and  glorify  it  in  its  fulfilment.  Hence  it  is  not  said  : 
Ye  have  heard,  that  it  has  been  read  in  the  Law.  The  common 
people,  whose  knowledge  of  the  Law  was  only  indirect,  would  have 
said  with  regard  to  whatever  they  heard,  even  though  not  found 
written  there — We  have  heard  out  of  the  Law  ;  that  which  was 
written,  and  that  which  was  said,  being  blended  together  into 
what  was  popularly  valid  as  "  law."  But  it  is  our  Lord's  design 
now  to  put  a  final  end  to  all  such  intermixture.  By  the  expres- 
sion which  He  uses,  He  indicates  the  entire  system  of  erroneous 
interpretation,1  which  not  merely  might,  but  which  actually  had 
to  the  greatest  extent  crept  in  between  the  true  meaning  of  the 
letter  (ver.  18),  and  this  hearing  of  what  had  been  said  concern- 
ing it.  The  Scribes  read  the  word  "  kill,"  as  if  it  simply  meant 
murder,  and  as  if  the  limiting  addition  was  strictly  proper :  but 
thus  they  read  not  aright  either  what  was  written,  or  how  it  was 
written  ;  as  the  Lord  elsewhere,  in  referring  to  the  right  manner 
of  reading  the  Law,  emphatically  expresses  Himself: — What  is 
written  in  the  Law?  How  readest  thou  f  (Lu.  x.  26).  Further, 
they  did  not  sincerely  tell  the  people  even  what  their  own  awaken- 
ing conscience,  in  spite  of  their  system,  must  ofttimes  involuntarily 
have  perceived  in  the  Law.  In  like  manner  the  people,  on  their 
part,  did  not  listen  to  all  that  was  said  to  them,  but  received  just 
what  pleased  their  ears  ;  and  thus  they  limited  and  weakened  it 
still  more,  so  that  the^  error  which  understood  not  the  Scripture 
(ch.  xxii.  29),  increased  as  it  passed  from  the  saying  of  the  Scribes 
to  the  hearing  of  the  people,  just  as  it  has  ever  happened  even 

1  The  Pharisaic  caricatures  of  the  Old  Testament — which  they  made 
not  as  the  opponents,  but  as  the  exponents  of  the  Law — as  Richter's 
family  Bible  has  well  hit  the  point. 


156  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

down  to  our  own  time,  wherever  the  people  may  be  said  only  to 
hear  out  of  the  Gospel.  Thus,  after  having  given  His  assurance 
that  He  will  not  destroy  one  tittle  of  the  Law,  if  the  Lord  should 
say  any  thing  different  from  what  thou  hast  hitherto  heard  "  out 
of  the  Scripture,"  look  well  to  it,  and  see  where  the  error  lay, 
whether  in  thy  hearing,  or  in  what  thou  hast  heard ;  and  then 
in  the  right  spirit  of  hearing  let  Jesus  Himself  tell  thee  what  is 
truli/  written  in  the  Scripture. 

Tots  apya'iois  must  certainly  be  translated  as  meaning  that  it 
was  said  by  or  among  them  of  old  time,1  namely,  that  it  had  been 
handed  down  by  the  masters  and  doctors  in  Israel,  by  the  Kabbis 
of  a  former  age,  with  the  false  semblance  of  antiquity  as  an 
immemorial  statute.  For  thus  runs  the  thalmudical  formula  of 
teaching  adopted  by  the  learned  caste,  under  cover  of  which  they 
transmitted  from  age  to  age  error  and  truth  united,  under  the 
seal  of  their  own  supreme  authority : — ^t^jrm  *n&N  our  f°re~ 
fathers  have  said,  or  merely  "iftj-pfrfc  "IDHriW*  **  has  been  said ; 
which  was  then  as  firmly  established  as  if  it  had  been  the  eter- 
nally valid  <y£y paTrraL.2       In  opposition  to  all  this,  and  rooting 

1  As  the  ablative,  equivalent  to,  vno  t<ov  dpxalav,  which  construction  is 
preferred  by  very  many,  indeed  by  most  expositors.  Tholuck  regards 
it  as  supported  by  "  reasons  which  deserve  notice,"  though  he  himself 
does  not  accede  to  it.  For  ourselves,  we  regard  it  as  the  only  possible 
one,  and  rejoice  that  now,  in  the  corrected  German  Bibles  at  least,  it 
stands — beiden  alten.  These  ancients  are  not  "the  fathers"  (Heb.  i. 
1)  to  whom  God  had  spoken.  It  was  not  Moses  (whom  the  Lord,  more- 
over, would  not  have  referred  to  by  a  mere  general  eppefyl)  that  had 
said  :  Thou  shalt  not  kill,  commit  adultery,  &c,  but  the  God  of  heaven 
upon  Sinai.  (Comp.  Matt.  xv.  3—6,  and  all  those  passages  in  which 
Christ  places  the  u  commandments  "  so  high,  and  confirms  them  so 
strongly.  We  cannot  conceive  why,  as  De  Wette  thinks,  our  interpreta- 
tion would  have  required  irpcafivrtpois  to  have  been  written  for  "elders" 
(which,  however,  does  not  exactly  correspond  with  Q^ft-o),  any 
more  than  why,  as  von  Gerlach  thinks,  our  view  would  have  been 
expressed — "  Ye  hear,  that  it  is  said  in  the  schools  and  synagogues." 
Did  they  not  then  refer  in  these  synogogues  to  the  napdboais  of  anti- 
quity?— alas  that  Afford  also,  in  his  penetrating  work,  should  have 
failed  here.  Of  a  contrasted  "  imperfection  of  the  Law  and  its  ancient 
exposition"  (what  an  unseemly  conjunction,  as  if  the  latter  necessarily 
sprung  from  the  former)  He  cannot  have  spoken  who  had  just  asserted 
ver.  19. 

2  Correctly  and  beautifully  is  it  observed  by  Lange :  "  This  corrup- 
tion of  the  Law  was  gradually  and  slowly  produced  by  the  joint  errors 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  157 

out  all  tradition  and  precepts  of  men  which  God  hath  not  planted, 
stands  the  mighty  'Eyco  Be  \eyco  vjuv,  which  is  one  with  the 
pfirP  *"!?2N  »"D  or  TUSTV  DN3  °f  *ne  Law  and  the  Prophets.  Had 
the  contrast  been  instituted,  not  with  those  who  had  said,  but 
with  those  to  whom  it  had  been  said,  it  would  have  been  vjmv  Be 
\eyco. 

The  false  teachers  declared  to  the  people  the  commandment 
of  God — Thou  shalt  not  kill !  but  with  an  explanation  which 
coupled  the  Law  of  Sinai  with  a  mere  criminal  statute  concerning 
the  execution  of  a  murderer  (Lev.  xxiv.  17 ;  Ex.  xxi.  12),  and 
made  the  two  parallel :  as  if  the  Lord  God  did  not  in  the  first 
place  speak  of  that  which  came  before  His  own  special  tribunal, 
and  signify  by  Thou  the  true  murderer,  the  inner  man  !  Thus 
they  lower  the  commandment  of  holiness  to  the  level  of  a  civil 
statute,  just  as,  on  the  other  hand  (ver.  38),  they  improperly 
elevate  what  was  only  spoken  with  reference  to  human  judicature, 
into  a  commandment  of  moral  obligation.  To  this  exhibition  of 
the  literal  interpretation  of  a  law  degenerating  into  gross  error, 
our  Lord  now  sets  in  sharp  contrast  His  own  explanation  of  its 
spirit  and  meaning;  yet  in  a  manner  as  attractive  as  it  is  emphatic. 
He  most  emphatically  declares  the  concealed  anger  against  a 
brother  to  be  no  less  criminal  than  the  open  offence ;  or  as  it 
might  be  further  illustrated  in  the  popular  catch-word — Thou 
hast  heard  it  said,  and  supposest  that  the  gallows  is  the  end  of 
a  thief,  but  know  that  he  who  only  covets  his  neighbour's  goods 
already  deserves  the  gallows  !  But  He  speaks  this  also  to  con- 
ciliate and  win  them  to  the  spiritual  understanding  of  the  Law, 
since  the  impossibility  which  was  immediately  discerned  of  carry- 
ing this  principle  into  civil  jurisprudence  must  have  tended  to 
direct  their  views  to  the  higher  government  of  God,  and  to  the 
spiritual  law  of  the  Searcher  of  hearts,  whose  prerogative  alone  it 

of  ages  which  engendered  this  false  tradition.  It  was  not  the  work  of 
any  particular  person,  but  of  a  general  spirit  of  interpretation  (eppedr}) ; 
but  this  tradition  was  ever  received  and  gathered  up  with  diligence  by 
the  elders,  or  those  who  were  antiquity-minded. "  Correctly  as  to  the 
matter  in  hand,  though  we  cannot  but  regard  this  so  convenient  con- 
struction of  an  absolute  ippidrj  with  a  dative,  as  too  artificial.  It  is  a 
strange,  and  almost  impossible  construction.  It  was  so  said  to  the 
ancients, — by  those  yet  more  ancient  ?  Who  then  were  the  first  of  all 
these  ancients,  the  especial  depositaries  of  this  tradition  t 


158  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

is  to  convict  the  sinner  of  his  secret  guilt  before  his  own  judgment- 
seat.  Moreover,  the  Lord  here  utters  nothing  that  is  actually 
new ;  it  had  already  been  written  by  Moses  in  the  same  sentence, 
from  which  He  afterwards  extracted  the  summary  of  the  second 
table  (Lev.  xix.  17,  18;  comp.  Deut.  xix.  6).  Brother  is  an 
intenser  word  for  neighbour ;  Moses  used  it  as  such  in  the  pas- 
sage referred  to,  and  by  no  means  with  that  restricted  meaning 
of  the  Pharisees  which  our  Lord  condemns  in  ver.  47.  It  has 
been  hotly  disputed  whether  el/ci)  (whosoever  is  angry  with  his 
brother  without  a  cause,  needlessly,  to  no  purpose1)  is  or  is  not 
the  true  reading  :  such  contention,  indeed,  is  needless.  The  pro- 
position is  correct  with  eurf,  if  this  is  rightly  understood  ;  and, 
indeed,  without  this  qualification,  if  6pyi£6fj,€vo<;  is  rightly  under- 
stood, that  is,  as  signifying  a  righteous  and  holy  indignation 
(Mark  iii.  5 ;  Eph.  iv.  26 ;  Jas.  i.  19)  which  is  not  only  not  for- 
bidden, but  commanded  (1  Sam.  iii.  13).  It  is  observable,  that 
such  a  various  reading  just  here  was  designed  to  teach  us,  that 
the  matter  of  essential  importance  is  the  spiritual  understanding 
of  the  sense  and  not  the  mere  letter  of  the  word.     BengePs 

expression  :  plane    humanum   hcecce   glossa   sensum  redolet is 

not  satisfactory,  since  critical  authorities  are  in  favour  of  this 
glossa.  It  appears,  indeed,  more  conceivable  that  a  Rigorist 
should  have  struck  out  this  little  word,  than  that  its  so  fre- 
quent addition  should  have  been  permitted.  We  rather  hold 
with  Grotius  (who  quotes  Aristotle  on  unrighteous  anger) : 
Merito  kitci)  additum.  As  also  Euthymius  before  him:  rj  yap 
evfcaipo?  opyrj  o>0eXi/Ao?.  To  be  angry  and  to  hate  are  not  indeed 
one  and  the  same,  though  Bengel  confounds  them.  He  who 
hateth  his  brother  is  assuredly  a  murderer  (1  Jno.  iii.  15),  and 
Moses  said  directly,  Thou  shalt  not  hate  thy  brother  in  thine 
heart.  But  there  is  an  anger  springing  from  holy  and  jealous 
love,  existing  as  in  God  so  also  in  men  of  God ;  and  we  may 
suppose  that  our  Lord  in  His  severe  declaration  left  room  for 
this  by  an  express  word,  in  order  not  needlessly  to  harass  the 
consciences  of  His  disciples.  He  does  not  concern  Himself  with 
the  possibility  of  a  still  further  perversion  on  the  part  of  the 
Pharisees,  who  would  never  be  at  a  loss  to  find  adequate  cause 

1  Lange:  "ins  Eitle  hinein." 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  159 

for  their  unrighteous  wrath :  for  all  that  follows  must  also  be 
spiritually  understood.  The  letter  even  of  Christ's  word  demands 
an  interpretation  which  adheres  not  to  its  letter  ;  for  a  letter  that 
may  not,  without  the  Spirit,  be  misunderstood,  is  a  thing  impos- 
sible, as  is  manifestly  shown  by  such  subsequent  sayings  as  vers. 
29,  30,  34,  37,  39—42.  Whosover  should  literally  follow  out 
all  these,  would  be  at  the  farthest  distance  from  the  Lord's 
meaning.  St  James  addresses  the  fool,  who  boasts  of  his  faith 
without  works,  with  an  avOpwire  iceve,  which  is  literally  equivalent 
to  this  forbidden  paica}  Jesus,  like  John,  termed  the  Pharisees 
a  brood  of  vipers,  and  the  Jews  even  children  of  the  devil  (as  St 
Paul  did   Elymas),   which   goes   beyond  fxwpos   ^2?   godless. 

T    T 

Thus  it  may  be  seen  that  ei/cr},  which  it  is  sought  to  take  away 
from  the  anger,  must  be  supplied  in  this  case  also : — he  who, 
out  of  the  anger  of  hatred,  and  not  in  love,  calls  his  brother  Raka 
or  Fool  (vain  fellow,  scoundrel,  madman,  heretic).  The  Lord 
designedly  conjoins  the  slightest  invective  of  a  rash  but  half- 
jesting  petulance,2  with  the  worse  and  indeed  most  malignant 
insult  that  the  language  afforded :  but  it  is  not  His  design  to 
bring  this  word  itself  into  judgment,  but  the  word  as  springing 
from  the  evil  heart.  The  Pharisee,  indeed,  asks  when  he  hears 
this  most  plain  and  evident  saying  :  Who  is  then  my  neighbour  ? 
and  goes  on  with  his  abatements  and  qualifications  till  no  one  is 
included  whom  he  thinks  his  enemy.  In  like  manner  he  asks — 
What,  then,  is  anger  ivithout  cause  ?  by  the  same  process  finding 
means  to  stipulate  for  all  his  ungodly  wrath.  The  Quaker,  at 
the  other  extreme  (to  which  he  has  come,  notwithstanding  his 
boast  of  the  Spirit,  through  the  self-same  want  of  the  true  Spirit), 
also  reduces  the  spiritual  law  to  a  letter  again,  swears  not  at  all, 
lets  his  coat  and  cloke  be  taken,  and  fulfils  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  in  all  external  gestures  and  acts.  But  all  this  is  no  more 
right  than  Origen's  mutilation  of  himself  as  a  safeguard  against 
adultery,  or  the  unconditional  rejection  by  our  latest  zealots  of 
any  divorce,  however  necessary  still  in  the  Christian  state  for 
the  people's  hardness  of  heart.  But  He  who  will  read  and  hear 
aright,  cannot  fail  by  this  first  precept  of  Jesus  to  learn  what 

1  Which  Matthdi  thinks  proper  therefore  to  intrepret  M  Gruzkopf." 

2  Which  "  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  morality  of  one's  neighbour  at 
all."     Braune. 


160  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

relation  the  directions  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  bear  gene- 
rally to  the  external  laws  of  the  state  and  the  church  :  that  they 
are  given  only  for  free  and  most  spiritual  fulfilment  in  those  who 
have  the  Spirit  within"  them  to  that  end.  Was  it  the  Lord's 
purpose  to  erect  any  human  tribunals  before  which  secret  anger 
and  the  saying  of  Raca  may  be  brought  !  Where  only  a  brother 
might  always  sit  in  judgment  upon  a  brother  concerning  the 
anger  without  cause  ?  He  does  not  reduce  the  spiritual  law  of 
divine  judgment  to  a  criminal  code  after  the  manner  of  men,  as 
the  Jews  of  that  time  did ;  but  rather  elevates  all  the  external 
ordinances  which  Moses  gave  at  God's  command,  into  the  region 
of  their  most  central  truth,  not  in  the  letter,  but  in  the  spirit, 
even  as  Christians  should  now  do  ! 

Thou  shalt  not  kill,  that  is,  thou  shalt  not  hate  I  This  is  the 
fundamental  meaning  of  our  Lord's  words,  according  to  the  say- 
ing of  Moses  to  which  He  tacitly  referred.  He  does  not,  how- 
ever, once  directly  express  it,  but  would  awaken  in  their  con- 
sciences the  remembrance  of  that  word,  and  the  consciousness 
of  His  meaning.  He  therefore  points  out  three  degrees  in  the 
expression  of  the  spirit  of  hatred  or  murder.  First,  the  inward 
expression,  if  we  may  so  speak,  the  rising  up  of  hatred  in  the 
heart,  as  an  unrighteous  and  unloving  anger,1  selfish  and  self- 
willed  (for  it  reads,  Thou  thyself  shalt  not  hate  !) ;  and  then  the 
progressive  outbreak  of  it  in  the  milder  and  in  the  severer  word. 
But  the  Lord  does  not  go  beyond  the  word  of  anger,  for  even  the 
Pharisee  would  admit  that  the  laying  a  violent  hand  upon  a 
brother  was  amenable  to  judgment.  Although  he  interpreted 
"  to  kill "  as  merely  signifying  the  act  of  murder,  yet  was  he  com- 
pelled by  reason  and  conscience  to  extend  the  literal  meaning  so 
far  at  least,  even  at  the  expense  of  contradicting  himself.  Judg- 
ment, high  council,  gehenna,  were  the  three  degrees  of  penalty 
in  Israel.  We  read  that  in  the  tribes  there  were  inferior  courts 
of  judgment,  (Deut.  xvi.  18) ;  in  the  holy  city  the  so-called 
council  of  the  Sanhedrim  (Deut.  xvii.  8),  which  might  cast  out 
of  the  congregation ;  and,  finally,  as  the  deepest  ignominy,  the 

1  Which  He  certainly  does  not  "  presuppose  as  something  unavoid- 
able by  the  sinful  subjects  of  His  kingdom,''  as  Dietlein  ventures  to 
maintain,  so  that  this  intensification  of  the  Law  would  only  lead  to  the 
acknowledgment  of  our  sinfulness,  and  not  also  to  its  fulfilment. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  161 

the  being  cast  out  into  the  valley  of  the  dead  and  of  all  abomi- 
nations. (Valley  of  the  children  of  Hinnom  or  Valley  of  Hin- 
nom,  where  had  been  the  service  of  Moloch,  2  Kings  xxiii.  10 ; 
Jer.  vii.  31.  The  corpses  of  malefactors  were  burnt  subsequently, 
and  all  the  most  filthy  refuse  thrown  there  ;  whence  in  the  Pro- 
phets we  find  it  used  as  a  type  of  the  place  of  condemnation 
without  the  city  of  God,  Isa.  xxx.  33,  lxvi.  24 ;  and  the  sym- 
bolical Jewish  style  of  teaching,  the  truth  in  which  our  Lord 
always  appropriated  to  Himself,  had  yet  further  carried  out  the 
figure.)  But  these  three  degrees  of  punishment  are,  as  the  Lord 
here  utters  them,1  only  intended  to  convey  an  increasing  emphasis 
of  assurance  in  the  expression  (he  already  deserves  the  judgment, 
yea,  even  more  than  that !)  and  by  no  means  the  idea  of  degrees 
in  the  actual  guiltiness.2  For  how  could  the  word  be  more 
guilty  than  the  disposition  ?  A  sincere  though  forward  Eaka 
which  might  escape  from  a  Peter  might  well  be  a  less  evil  than 
secret  wrath  concealed  behind  the  blandishment  of  words  :  and 
in  ver.  25  we  hear  only  of  one  punishment,  and  that  the  highest, 
for  the  implacable.  So  that  most  assuredly  there  is  here  only  an 
advancing  energy  of  expression  (though  degrees  of  guilt  are  not 
necessarily  denied) :  Kpiais  and  avveSpiov  cleave  more  closely  to 
the  transitional  figure,  efc  rrjv  ^kevvav  points  to  the  ultimate  and 
fearful  signification  of*  all  these  figures  taken  from  human  judi- 
cature. 

Vers.  23,  24.  Who  is  my  brother?  Every  fellow-man  from 
Adam  downwards,  every  Abel  to  whom  I  must  not  act  the 
part  of  Cain,  and  who  is  called  to  glorify  the  Father  in  heaven 
(ver.  16)  if  I  let  the  light  of  His  love  shine  before  him.  Yea, 
even  my  adversary,  who  has,  whether  justly  or  unjustly,  any 
thing  against  one  in  the  highway  of  life  (though  he  were  as  Cain 
himself),  and  who  at  the  end  of  it  will  bring  his  charge  against 
me  before  the  highest  tribunal,  if  I  should  have  retained  any- 
thing against  him  in  my  own   heart.      Thus  does  the  Lord 

1  Who  does  not  (as  Von  Gerlach  thinks)  merely  follow  here  the 
usual  forms  of  the  judicature  of  the  time,  in  order  to  make  Himself 
intelligible  to  the  people  who  expected  from  Him  the  establishment  of 
an  external  kingdom;  but  speaks  figuratively,  in  the  long-established 
Jewish  manner  of  teaching,  as  we  observe  in  the  use  of  Gehenna. 

2  Against  which  Roos  (Lehre  Jes.  Chris.  §  138)  very  well  protests  ; 
and  also  speaks  with  full  correctness  of  the  "heavenly  Council  "  of  the 
divine  judgment  which  was  tvpified  in  the  "  Synedrium." 

11 


1  62  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

explain  His  own  meaning  in  the  strict  connexion  of  His  words  ; 
and  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  think  that  vers.  25,  26  do  not 
belong  to  this  place,  simply  because  they  are  repeated  elsewhere. 
The  Lord  here  lays  the  deep  preparatory  foundation  for  what 
is  fully  set  forth  in  vers.  43—48,  where  the  general  conclusion 
reverts  back  again  to  the  commencement  of  the  discourse. 

It  was  observed  above  that  in  vers.  23, 24,  the  entire  ceremonial 
service,  the  law  pertaining  to  which  is  here  referred  to,  is  denoted 
by  the  'offering,  which  is  its  centre.      It  is  not,  as  Luther  has  it, 
upon  the  altar,  but,  if  thou  now  (consequently,  in  a  state  of  con- 
demnation before  God  on  account  of  the  anger  in  thine  heart) 
bringest  thy  gift  to  the  altar,  and  unreflectingly  preparest  to 
offer  it,  as  if  it  could  then  be  acceptable.     This  is  spoken  once 
more  against  the  Pharisees,  who  omitted  the  weightier  matters, 
while  exact  in  ceremonial  observances,  and  violated  the  most 
sacred  rights  of  filial  obligations  and  love  to  man  through  their 
own  superadded  corban,  (ch.  xv.  3 — 6.)      The  Lord  only  re- 
utters  what  all   the  Prophets   had   said,   especially  that  most 
important  passage  which  He  more  than  once  quoted,  (Hosea  vi. 
6)  ;  yea,  what  Moses  had  already  borne  witness  to  in  his  history 
of  the  first  offering.     He  reproves  all  idea  of  palliating  the  lack 
of  charity  to  man  by  attention  to  the  service  of  God,  as  a  rem- 
nant of  Pharisaism  in  His  disciples.      Until  He  has  brought  in 
by  His  offering  of  Himself  the  abrogating  fulfilment  of  all  types 
and  shadows,  He  retains  in  His  language  to  the  people  the  altar 
and  its  gifts,  but  His  meaning  goes  forward  to  the  reality  which 
was  implied  in  these  figures.     It  is  not  tt)v  Ovalav  gov,  but  to 
hoopov  gov,  because  in  the  New  Testament  the  offering  up  of  our- 
selves in  spiritual  consecration  is  continually  realized.     This  is 
now  the  true  Christian  service  of  God,  with  prayer  as  its  centre : 
the  fundamental  petition  of  which  for  a  perpetual  sense  of  recon- 
ciliation is  a  self-contradiction  unless  there  accompany  it  a  plac- 
able disposition  towards  our  brother.     Hence  our  Lord  at  a  later 
period  (Mark  xi.  25,  26)  illustrates  His  present  words,  or  more 
fully  in  this  New  Testament  meaning  repeats  them.     And  there 
rememberest :  before  thine  and  thy  brother's  Father,  with  a  col- 
lected and  self-examining  mind,  in  the  sacred  place  of  atonement 
and  forgiveness,  thinking  of  the  way  of  life  and  the  end  thereof 
— this  being  the  germ  of  the  thought  in  ver.  25.     Its  being  first 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  163 

there  remembered  is  not,  indeed,  approved  of,  but  rather  cen- 
sured. That  thy  brother  hath  aught  against  thee :  designedly 
put  thus  instead  of :  that  thou  hast  something  against  thy  brother. 
For  as  I  must  ask  :  whose  neighbour  am  1 1  in  order  to  know 
who  is  my  neighbour  (Lu.  x.  36)  :  so  it  is  not  enough  quickly 
to  justify  one's  self  with  hypocritical  inconsiderateness — I  have 
nothing  against  thee;  while  possibly  my  brother  may  have 
well-grounded  cause  of  complaint  against  me.  Probably  I  have 
too  easily  forgotten  that  there  rankles  in  his  mind  some  Raca  of 
mine  uttered  yesterday  or  the  third  day  :  or  there  may  be  some 
anger  in  my  heart  against  which  he  would  complain  if  he  knew 
of  it,  as  that  God  knows  it  who  looks  into  the  heart  which  I 
have  brought  before  Him.  Yea  even  if  my  brother  had  any 
thing  against  me  eucr),  without  cause,  had  spoken  against  me  as 
a  yjrevSo/JLevos,  (ver.  11) — this  also  should  I  remember  in  my 
charity  before  God  (though  Braune  improperly  denies  this), 
and  show  myself,  as  a  disciple  of  Christ,  in  the  intention  of  my 
heart  an  elprjvoTroio?  (ver.  9  ;  Rom.  xii.  18).  The  signification 
of  this  "  aught  against  me  "l  thus  grows,  as  the  sensitiveness  of 
my  conscience  increases  :  and  the  letter  of  this  declaration  which 
fully  expresses  its  own  spiritual  meaning,  tolerates  no  hasty  and 
partial  dispatching  of  the  matter,  but  pierces  to  the  ground  of 
the  heart,  and  rigorously  looks  for  that  pure  spirit  of  love  with 
which  alone  I  can  abide  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  erect 
in  the  consciousness  of  an  accepted  offering,  behold  His  face 
with  joy.  These  are  fundamental  principles  which  were  already 
embodied  in  the  history  of  Cain  and  Abel,  to  which  undoubtedly 
our  Lord  here  directs  our  thoughts  :  so  profoundly  one  is  His 
new  word  with  the  most  ancient  revelation,  and  so  manifest  is 
the  folly  of  those  vain  enthusiasts  who  impute  to  Him  in  contrast 
with  Moses  a  new  and  purer  ethical  system  of  charity.2  Leave 
there  thy  gift  before  the  altar,  and  lay  it  not  thereupon  !  With- 
out any  delay  leave  every  thing  lying,  if  it  may  be  possible,  in 

1  Compare  the  Apostle's  word  (Col.  iii.  13:  dvexopevoi  dWrjkau  kcu 
Xapi£6}i€voi  eavTois  idv  tis  irpos  rtva  exy  n6[j.(prju. 

2  Which  folly  finds  now  again  acceptance  with  Christian  theologians 
and  expositors  : — a  lamentable  sign,  whither  this  crypto-rationalist, 
yea,  this  crypto-pantheist  treatment  of  the  Old  Testament  must  infal- 
libly lead. 


164  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  holy  place :  there  is  such  danger  in  deferring  it  that  even 
the  service  of  God,  which  till  then  is  worthless,  must  be  inter- 
rupted. Thou  standest  as  Cain  before  God  if  only  this  aught 
justly  cries  out  against  thee  in  thy  brother.  How  inconceivably 
strict  does  the  law  of  love  thus  become,  though  only  fulfilling  its 
own  original  meaning !  What  we  wrongfully  call  a  little  thing, 
condemned  equally  with  the  great !  By  the  same  Spirit  of  Christ 
St  John  likens  him  who  only  loveth  not  his  brother  to  the  first 
murderer  (1  Jno.  iii.  10 — 15).  Many  a  disciple  might  be 
disposed  to  rebel  against  this  precept  of  the  Fulfiller,  and  miti- 
gate it  by  saying :  How  can  I  answer  for  every  matter  that 
any  man  may  bring  against  me  %  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  t 
Assuredly  men  (ver.  11)  have  many  things  to  say  against  Christ's 
disciples  falsely ;  and  the  Lord  of  course  does  not  mean  that  we 
must  be  answerable  for  all  that  they  may  perversely  say.  But  it 
is  nevertheless  true  on  the  other  hand,  that  it  is  our  precious 
vocation  to  be  our  brothers'  keepers  in  love,  and  to  be  messen- 
gers of  peace  to  them  ;  that  in  Christ  not  only  should  the  world 
be  crucified  unto  us  and  we  unto  the  world,  but  in  the  selfsame 
cross  the  world  should  be  reconciled  unto  us  and  we  unto  the 
world.  Go  thy  way  I  Thus  speaks  the  Father  to  that  child  of 
His  who  would  approach  with  an  offence  in  his  heart  against  His 
holy  love  :  Away  from  me,  thus  mayest  thou  not  see  my  face ! 
Thus  will  the  Lord  dispense,  as  it  were,  with  His  own  service 
and  honour  until  we  have  rendered  to  our  brother  what  love 
demands  as  his  due !  First  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother — the 
imperative  requirement  that  for  ever  recurs  as  long  as  there  is 
any,  the  slightest  flaw  in  this  reconciliation.  AiaWdynOi,  forgive 
or  obtain  forgiveness,  do  at  least  thy  best,  that  so  nothing  may 
be  set  against  thy  account  by  the  great  Judge.  For  to  "  mitigate 
thy  neighbour's  wrath"1  may  not  be  always  in  thy  power,  and  is 
not  always  to  be  attained.  Pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use 
thee  and  persecute  thee,  when  thou  bringest  thine  offering,  that 
so  thou  mayest  have  a  vital  fellowship  with  that  dying  settle- 
ment of  a  great  reckoning — Father  forgive  them  !  which  accom- 
panied the  One  Offering  through  the  virtue  of  which  alone  we 
may  bring  our  offering  to  God. 

1  As  Von  Gerlach  at  Rom.  v.  10  explains  this  place. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  165 

And  then  come  and  offer  they  gift  !  The  first  coming  avails 
nothing,  now  first  thou  contest  aright.  The  offering  itself,  how- 
ever, must  not  be  omitted.  The  Lord  expressly  guards  against 
that  other  aspect  of  Pharisaism,  the  Pharisaism  of  practical 
virtue :  which  with  equal  impropriety  sets  the  duty  we  owe  to 
our  neighbour  above  the  requirements  of  God's  worship,  and 
supposes  that  this  may  be  dispensed  with  if  that  misconceived 
charity  to  man  be  not  forgotten.1  Whence  hadst  thou  then  thy 
mercy  towards  thy  neighbour,  supposing  it  to  be  genuine,  but 
from  the  mercy  of  God  I  Tliank  Him  that  thou  canst  love,  and 
let  that  be  thy  offering !  The  Lord  also  discountenances  every 
attempt  to  compound  for  a  deficiency  in  the  worship  of  God,  by 
deeds  of  charity  to  our  neighbour :  such  charity,  indeed,  being 
no  more  genuine  than  the  Divine  worship  was  in  the  opposite 
kind  of  compromise  already  referred  to.  For  "  that  is  not  the 
most  acceptable  homage,  which  is  offered  to  God  by  a  man  who 
loses  sight  of  his  neighbour  altogether,  and  seeks  to  sink  wholly 
and  entirely  into  a  consciousness  of  nought  but  the  Highest 
Being,  forgetting  entirely  the  testimony  urged  against  him  by 
the  whole  time  past  of  his  life,  in  all  relations  of  right,  propriety, 
and  love."     (Braune.) 

Vers.  25,  26.  The  reconcilable  and  in  Himself  reconciled  God, 
to  whom  we  bring  our  offering,  becomes  a  Judge,  or  rather  con- 
tinues to  be  only  a  Judge  to  all  those  who  would  fain  merely  be 
the  objects  of  His  holy  love  without  receiving  it  in  their  hearts, 
and  rendering  it  back  in  charity  to  their  neighbours.  This  is 
that  rending  of  his  one  law  which  is  the  last  and  most  subtle 
Christian  Pharisaism.  There  is  an  economy  of  judgment  and 
punishment  at  the  end  of  the  way,  corresponding  to  the  provision 
for  offering  and  reconciliation  in  the  way  itself.  The  penal  laws 
of  ver.  22,  which  are  explained  in  what  now  follows,  being  referred 
to  the  tribunal  and  period  of  their  award,  assume  there  their  full 
severity.     Now  they  only  hang  threateningly  over  our  heads,  to 

1  Over  the  door  of  a  Dessau  church  is  inscribed  "  Preiset  Gott  hier 
und  durch  gute  werke "  (praise  God  here  and  in  good  works) ;  but 
there  are  many  who  not,  only  altogether  leave  out  the  "here  and,"  but 
"  God's  praise"  also,  inasmuch  as  their  hypocritical  way  of  speaking  of 
good  works  being  the  only  worship  of  God  must  be  understood  in  the 
same  sense  as  when  they  say  :  Cease  from  Revelation,  Reason  is  the 
only  «*  revelation,"  that  is,  none  at  all  is  necessary  ! 


1G6  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

drive  us  to  that  grace  which  will  take  away  all  our  guilt,  and 
extinguish  all  our  hatred  and  anger.  And  whereas  after  the 
mention  of  appearing  before  God  (though  God  is  designedly  not 
named,  but  only  the  altar,  before  which  man's  conscience  should 
think  of  God  Himself),  the  language  of  ver.  22  is  reassumed ; 
we  are  thereby  assisted  to  perceive  its  meaning,  and  the  due 
relation  between  grace  and  justice.  The  adversary  (avriSi/cos, 
accuser,  a  judicial  term  which  had  been  received  into  the  Jewish 
phraseology)  is  by  no  means  the  Devil  (who  presently  appears 
for  the  first  time  as  the  keeper  of  the  prison),  but  simply  and 
obviously  the  eywv  rl  Kara  gov,  my  fellow-man  in  the  journey  of 
life,  whom  I  must  regard  as  a  brother  (ch.  xviii.  35)  whether  he 
reciprocate  it  or  not.  But  inasmuch  as  every  man  who  may 
charge  me  with  omission  of  the  rights  of  love,  does  not  this  by 
any  right  of  his  own  (being  himself  equally  guilty),  but  by  the 
authority  of  the  Divine  law  which  takes  up  and  corroborates  his 
complaint ;  this  complaint  and  this  complainant  may  be  regarded 
as  representing  the  accusing  Moses  (Jno.  v.  45)  or  the  Law. 
Hence  in  the  repetition  of  the  parable,  Luke  xii.  58,  59,  this 
meaning  appears  more  distinctly  shadowed  out.  Be  disposed  to 
agree,  ready  on  thy  part  for  reconciliation,  and  proposing  it  to 
him  ;  thus  is  the  previous  ScaWdyrjdi  now  fully  explained. 
According  to  the  Roman  law,  which  the  Lord  thus  recognizes 
in  Israel,  the  complainant  carries  the  defendant  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat,— in  jus  rapit  ;  on  the  way  thither,  however,  an 
amicable  accommodation,  transactio,  being  possible.  So  is  it 
with  us  all  on  our  way  to  the  highest  tribunal ;  and  inasmuch 
as  this  way  is  short  and  precarious,  the  exhortation  has  a  most 
urgent  fulness  of  meaning :  agree  with  thine  adversary  quickly, 
before  it  may  haply  be  too  late  !  If  I  have  done  my  best  towards 
my  brother  in  the  advances  of  reconciliation,  the  amicable  dispo- 
sition will  be  set  to  my  account,  even  though  the  other  would 
not  respond  to  it.  It  is  not  always  possible  to  go  actually  to  my 
brother  and  speak  to  him ;  in  that  case  this  inward  reconcilia- 
tion will  avail  for  me  at  the  very  place  of  offering  and  of  prayer. 
But  when  this  is  neglected  to  the  last,  then  comes  in  the  rigour 
of  the  righteous  law ;  the  just  complaint  of  the  complainant, 
even  though  himself  guilty,  has  its  force,  and  the  blood,  not  of 
Abel  but  of  another  Cain,  cries  out  against  Cain.     So,  finally, 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  1G7 

adversaries  mutually  bearing  testimony  against  each  other  meet 
in  one  common  prison. 

Who  is  then  the  officer,  if  God  is  the  Judge  I  In  chap,  xviii. 
34,  fiaaaviGTai  are  mentioned  in  the  plural,  but  here  it  is  Satan, 
the  chief  of  the  tormentors,  the  minister  and  executioner  of  the 
Divine  judicial  wrath — a  profound  intimation,  though  only  thus 
given  by  the  way !  Verily — here  comes  in  the  second  great 
Amen  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  first  having  previously 
confirmed  the  Law,  ver.  18.  But  as  the  prison  of  the  Devil  and 
of  those  delivered  over  to  him  has  its  threatening  Amen  appended 
to  it,  so  has  also  the  kingdom  of  the  Father  in  heaven,  and  of 
those  who  are  redeemed  into  it  from  all  evil,  with  all  its  power 
and  glory,  its  Amen  of  promise,  (chap.  vi.  13).  The  Amen  which 
confirms  the  fulfilment  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  unites  both. 
Besides  the  three  main  Amens,  there  is  only  found  the  threefold 
Amen  which  seals  the  recompense  of  the  hypocrites,  (chap.  vi.  2, 
15, 16).  (A  contribution  of  internal  criticism  in  favour  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  doxology,  as  well  as  testifying  to  the  con- 
nexion of  the  whole  discourse !) 

By  no  means  come  out  thence — an  iiceWev  which  forms  an 
antithesis  with  i/cei  in  ver.  23.  If  the  Judge  and  the  executioner 
of  His  wrath  were  not  so  manifestly  before  us,  and  if  the  whole 
was  not  a  representation  of  strict  justice  in  opposition  to  grace, 
the  <f>v\afcrj  might  have  been  here  as  elsewhere  regarded  as 
Scheol ;  and  in  the  admonitory  till  an  actual  period  might  have 
been  traced  when  the  sins  carried  forward  into  the  other  world 
would  find  forgiveness  (ch.  xii.  32).  But  the  connexion  will  not 
permit  us  to  regard  the  Lord  as  here  speaking  of  any  such  pro- 
spect. Though  not  to  be  excluded  in  other  connexions,  here  it 
would  be  quite  out  of  keeping.  They  who  thus  interpret  the 
paying  of  the  uttermost  farthing,  pervert  its  meaning;  for  if 
there  be  any  deliverance  in  Sheol  it  can  take  place  only  through 
grace,  in  the  way  of  forgiveness  and  atonement :  it  is  absolutely 
impossible  that  needy  man,  possessed  of  nothing  in  the  sight  of 
God,  should  ever  legally  pay  the  slightest  instalment  towards  the 
extinction  of  his  debt.  He  has  not  even  the  first  farthing,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  last  (ch.  xviii.  34,  35).  Bengel  wonders  that 
the  uttermost  farthing  is  not  urged  in  the  argument  by  those  who 
think  otherwise,  rather  than  the  till :  but  when  we  closely  look 


168  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

into  it,  the  reality  of  the  airohfo  rov  ecxarov  is  immediately 
withdrawn  by  the  ea>?  av}  and  marked  as  an  impossibility  in  such 
terms  as  we  are  wont  popularly  to  express  what  is  impossible. 
To  be  cast  into  prison  remains  thus  just  equivalent  to  the  enter- 
ing in  no  case  the  kingdom  of  heaven  (ver.  20). 


In  the  discourse  upon  the  Second  Commandment  of  Sinai, 
which  now  follows  in  its  order  in  the  second  table  (according  to 
Matt.  xix.  18,  not  as  reversed  in  Mark  x.,  Luke  xviii.,  Rom. 
xiii.),  we  find  the  same  process  observed.  First,  we  have  the 
letter  of  the  Law,  the  merely  literal  acceptation  of  which  does  not 
need  to  be  more  particularly  pointed  out :  against  this  is  set  the 
rigorous  vindication  of  its  spirit  which  judges  the  heart,  now  ex- 
hibited more  briefly  and  plainly  than  in  the  former  case  :  finally, 
the  corresponding  exhortation  to  an  earnest  endeavour  after 
purity  of  heart  (as  before  to  love  or  mercy,  ver.  7,  8),  with  the 
warning  once  more  of  the  prison  of  hell  for  the  unclean,  in  which 
verses  22  and  25  are  blended  into  one. 

Vers.  27,  28.  The  doubtful  reading  "  by  them  of  old  time"  is, 
by  the  authority  of  internal  criticism,  now  more  properly  left 
out ;  for  thus  there  becomes  evident  a  descending  abbreviation 
of  the  words  down  to  "  it  hath  been  said  "  in  ver.  31 ;  after  which 
the  new  section  begins  again  (ver.  33)  with  iraktv  and  the  full 
formula.  "Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said"  is  immediately 
understood  as  in  the  former  case  to  signify  that  they  had  been 
taught  the  Divine  Law  in  its  merely  literal  acceptation ;  as  if  he 
only  was  guilty  of  adultery  who  committed  the  act  of  carnal 
uncleanness.  Such  conciseness  in  His  words  was  adapted  to 
open  the  ears  of  His  hearers,  and  would  test  them,  so  to  speak, 
on  the  second  occasion,  whether  they  understood  the  first  aright. 
Those,  however,  who  were  dull  of  apprehension  must  have  under- 
stood clearly  enough  what  had  been  intended  by  the  "said"  and 
"heard,"  when  the  Lord  uttered  His  own  contrasted  words  : — 
But  I  say  unto  you,  that  ivhosever  only  looketh  upon  a  woman 
hath  committed  adultery  already.  Job  long  ago  declared,  in 
making  a  covenant  with  his  eyes,  (Job  xxxi.  1,  comp.  Ecclus.  ix. 
5 — 8),  that  the  first  provocation  to  carnal  lust  was  in  the  eye  full 
of  adultery  (2  Pet.  ii.  14.)     The  first  spiritual  adultery,  which 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  169 

was  the  principle  and  type  of  all  carnal  adultery,  began  with 
looking  (Gen.  iii.  6).  u  In  /3\e7rcov  ryvvcuKa  7T/3o?  to  €7ri0vfirj(rat 
avrrjv  is  condemned  that  active  lust,  into  which  the  will  enters. 
This,  indeed,  only  is  sin,  not  the  passive  involuntary  impulse  of 
that  flesh  which  is  our  nature,  not  the  "  spontaneous  observation 
of  the  greater  beauty  of  another  man's  wife" — as  De  Wette  ex- 
presses himself.1  He  who  experiences  at  a  first  glance  this  desire, 
and  then,  instead  of  turning  away  and  withdrawing  from  sin 
(2  Pet.  ii.  14),  throws  a  second  glance  with  lustful  intent  and  in 
order  to  retain  and  increase  that  impulse,  commits  the  sin.  He 
has  already  committed  adultery  in  his  heart :  for  the  proper  deed 
begins  earlier  than  the  Pharisees  suppose.  It  is  in  word  or  look 
before  the  act  itself  is  performed,  yea  in  the  heart  before  the  look 
is  cast,  for  it  is  there  that  that  inner  act  of  the  will  takes  place, 
which  alone  gives  its  significance  to  the  outer  deed.  This  is  a 
stronger  and  plainer  utterance  than  in  ver.  22,  where  it  is  not 
directly  said,  "  he  hath  killed  him  already  in  his  heart."  It  is 
the  perfect  formula  applicable  to  all  the  commandments,  and  it  was 
not  necessary  similarly  to  quote  those  which  followed,  as  :  whoso 
desireth  his  neighbour's  house,  has  already  stolen  it  in  his  heart. 
But  so  profoundly  internal  is  its  application,  that  it  goes  yet  be- 
yond this : — Whoso,  only  in  thought,  by  a  glance  of  the  imagi- 
nation, looketh  on  a  woman  in  his  heart,  who  is  not  present  to  his 
eyes  !  The  Lord  says  simply  a  a  woman"  (even  if  not  the  wife 
of  another),  and  "  whosoever"  looketh  (even  if  himself  not  any 
woman's  husband.)  Just  as  conversely  (Job  xxxi.  1),  speaks  of 
a  maid  when  the  married  woman  is  also  signified.  (In  like 
manner  it  must  necessarily  be  understood : — Whatsoever  woman 
thus  looketh  upon  man,  &c.)  Has  committed  adultery — how 
then,  if  both  man  and  woman  are  unmarried  ?  The  Lord  speaks 
according  to  Old  Testament  usage,  in  which  adultery,  in  the 
sixth  commandment  and  everywhere,  indicates  and  includes 
whoredom  in  general.2  j  Marriage  is  the  making  one  flesh,  and 
consequently  every  carnal  lust  which  seeks  its  gratification  inde- 
pendently of  the  union  which  God  has  appointed  in  marriage,  is 

1  Matthai  has  further  and  rightly  mentioned,  that  as  we  must  in 
order  to  marriage,  look  upon  a  woman  to  desire  her;  so  that  only  the 
adulterous,  sinful  "  desire"  can  be  referred  to. 

2  As  in  ver.  32,  fornication  stands,  conversely,  for  adultery. 


170  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

a  breach,  and  offence  against  this  sacred  order. a  He  who  has  not 
recognized  a  spiritual  meaning  in  the  Law  generally,1  must  at  least 
discern  it  here,  where  the  Lord  evidently  includes  every  con- 
cupiscence under  the  letter  of  the  commandment.  And  the 
unmarried  by  this  offence  commits  adultery  by  anticipation, 
sinning  against  that  future  marriage  for  which  he  should  reserve 
himself :  and  further  in  the  deepest  sense  is  guilty  of  infidelity  to 
himself,  and  the  Lord  to  whom  his  body  belongs. 

Yers.  29,  30.  Contemplate  it  now  more  closely  and  observe 
that  there  is  a  desire  which,  springing  indeed  entirely  from  the 
body,  becomes  an  offence  which  thou  must  involuntarily  endure  : 
but  that,  at  the  same  time,  there  must  be  a  continual  victory 
over  this  desire  and  casting  away  of  this  offence,  or  a  consent  to 
it  which  implies  the  actual  sin  of  positive  and  active  lust.  The 
commandment  stands  in  terms  which  already  explain  its  meaning 
(Deut.  v.)  rDNJin  lkh>  suffer  thyself  not  to  desire  !  The  Lord 
mentions  the  eye  and  the  hand,  and  means,  as  He  explains  Him- 
self, one  of  our  members.  This  He  does,  partly  for  the  sake  of  a 
decorous  concealment  of  the  member  to  be  further  alluded  to 
afterwards ;  partly  on  the  ground  of  what  had  just  been  laid 
down,  that  the  impulse  of  lust  usually  begins  with  the  eye ; 
and  partly,  because  of  the  general  importance  of  these  two  chief 
members  in  every  impulse  to  every  kind  of  act.  (For  in  the  pro- 
foundest  sense  all  sin  is  here  included  as  being  uncleanness, 
spiritual  impurity ;  hence  the  repetition  of  this  saying  with  this 
wider  meaning  in  ch.  xviii.  8,  9.)  The  eye  is  both  the  organ  of 
reception  through  which  sensual,  and  therefore  already  spiritual, 
enticement  enters,  and  the  most  certain  betrayer  of  that  conceiv- 
ing lust  which  will  bring  forth  the  act  of  sin ;  the  hand  is  the 
general  organ  for  its  performance  and  practice.  Casting  the  eyes 
upon  a  forbidden  but  desired  object  leads  directly  to  the  stretch- 
ing out  of  the  hand  towards  it  (Gen.  xxxix.  7, 12, 13)  and  the  rest 
follows.  The  eye — the  light,  the  lamp  of  the  body,  its  most  pre- 
cious and  dearest  member  (Gen.  xxxii.  10)  :  the  hand  or  arm — 

1  Although  the  last  Sinaitic  commandment  already  and  expressly 
forbids  coveting  !  No  one  but  Ernst  Meier,  with  his  universal  perver- 
sion, could  have  concluded  that  because  Christ  brought  in  a  purer 
morality  than  the  Old  Testament,  therefore  he  could  not  have  spiritu- 
ally understood  this  -jfcnjl  tih  J !  (Dekalog  P-  73). 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  171 

the  strength,  the  support,  the  defence  of  the  body,  its  most  indis- 
pensable instrument.  Now  it  is  quite  evident  that  objects  and 
persons  around  us  may  be,  through  our  close  connexion  with 
them,  like  an  eye  or  a  hand,  on  one  of  our  own  members,  and  that 
if  any  of  these  should  become  a  stumbling-block  to  us,  they  must 
be  resolutely  cast  off  (Deut.  xiii.  6 — 10  ;  xxxiii.  CJ).  But  it  is 
folly  to  take  that  as  the  only  meaning,  which  is  only  a  right  ap- 
plication of  it ;  since  this  very  application  must  rest  upon  the 
internal,  intrinsic  truth  itself.  The  first  and  most  obvious 
meaning  of  the  expression  is  doubtless  to  be  sought  in  the  words 
"  looketh  upon  to  lusf  (to  long  for,  and  then  to  reach  forth 
towards)  with  which  it  is  directly  connected,  as  well  as  in  their 
manifest  antithesis — thy  whole  body.  The  expression  which  is  so 
readily  termed  figurative,  is,  as  usual,  very  literal  and  real  in  its 
meaning,  though  obviously  not  in  the  bare  literalityof  an  external 
accomplishment.  It  is  not  the  eye  or  the  hand  that  we  are  to 
pluck  out  and  cut  off,  but  the  offending  eye,  the  offending  hand, 
and  this  leads  our  thoughts  to  those  members  of  that  inner  body, 
of  that  internal  organism  of  sin,  which  corresponds  to  the 
external  members,  and  which  might  continue  all  the  more  vehe- 
mently to  look  and  to  lust  and  to  strive,  if  those  external  mem- 
bers were  actually  plucked  out  and  cut  off. .  (As  an  eunuch 
embraceth  a  virgin  and  sigheth.  Ecclus.  xxx.  20).  They  are  the 
7rpafet?  tov  crco/LtaTo?  (Rom.  viii.  13)  which  we  are  to  mortify,  and 
this,  indeed,  is  only  possible  through  the  spirit  of  life,  without 
whom  the  body  of  this  death  brings  us  into  captivity  to  the  law 
of  sin  in  its  members.  (Rom.  vii.  23,  24).  How  it  is  to  be 
accomplished  we  are  taught  by  the  experience  of  grace,  of  that 
grace  which,  preparatorily  given,  had  taught  men  before  the 
coming  of  Christ  ;  having  from  the  beginning  placed  enmitv 
between  the  woman  and  her  seed  and  the  serpent,  and  from  the 
time  of  Cain  downwards  provided,  in  the  veiy  exhortations  which 
it  uttered,  a  certain  gracious  power  to  resist  sin  in  the  will  and 
conquer  it.  But  that  such  inward  mortifying  of  the  members 
which  in  idolatrous,  adulterous  desire  mind  and  aim  at  the  things 
of  earth  (Col.  iii.5)  is  demanded  by  the  rigorous  voice  of  the  Law 
— Thou  shalt  not  ! — and  that  the  ceaseless  process  of  sin  from 
within  outwards  can  only  be  checked  by  the  suppression  of  that 
lust  which  is  the  root  of  all  its  acts,  must  be  manifest  to  every 


172  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

sincere  hearer  of  the  Law  who  observes  that  his  eye  is  not  him- 
self, and  yet  that  the  commandment  of  God  says — Thou  shalt  not  I 
The  important  word  is  not  efek*  or  eKKoyjrov,  which  are  figurative, 
but  that  which  is  attached  to  both  /3d\€  oltto  gov — renounce  in 
thy  will  and  deny  the  dcpdakfios  arov  and  he^id  a  ov,  declare  thy 
member  to  be  not  thine,  place  thyself  as  far  as  may  be  in  contra- 
diction to  thy  member,  hate  thyself,  that  is,  thy  flesh,  thine  own 
life,  so  far  as  it  is  bent  upon  sin  l4  Yet  cast  from  thee  with  earnest 
detestation  the  offence  in  thy  own  dear  body  and  life  !  Every 
unconditional  thou  shalt  not !  is  accompanied  by  the  tacit  addition 
— not  even  if  thou  must  die  Pj 

But  because  every  creature  in  every  condition,  and  fallen  man 
also  in  his  ruined  estate,  cannot  and  may  not  cease  from  loving 
self,  so  that  even  the  self-murderer  only  destroys  himself  from  a 
conviction  that  it  is  better  for  him  to  die,  and  the  diseased  man 
will  undergo  amputation  rather  than  his  whole  body  should 
perish  ;  therefore  to  the  commandment — hate  thyself!  there  must 
be  appended — only  by  so  doing  dost  thou  love  thyself  in  truth  ! 
The  requirement  to  cast  from  us  an  eye  or  an  hand  must  derive 
its  force  from — It  is  better  for  thee  !  Not  merely — "  it  is  good 
for  thee"  (avfi^ipec  carries  with  it  a  comparative  sense)  ; — still 
less  is  it  merely — "  it  will  hurt  thee  not."  Tliy  whole  body  should 
be  cast  into  hell — that  fearfully  greater  evil,  to  avoid  which  the 
lesser  evil  becomes  an  advantage  ;  that  essential  death  in  death, 
from  which  only  a  "  dying  to  sin"  before  death  can  redeem  us. 
Thy  whole  body  (which  significant  repetition  is  lost  in  Luther's 
translation)  ;  just  because  thou  regardeclst  it  with  false  kindness 
as  thine  own,  and  wouldst  not  kill  its  sinful  members !  Cast  out 
thyself  from  Jerusalem,  because  thou  wouldst  not  cast  from  thee 
thy  offending  members !  One  sin  developed  into  dominion  draws 
the  whole  man  after  it.  v  The  body  is  the  organ  of  sensation  for 
future  punishment  at  the  last,  when  the  prison  of  Gehenna  opens 
to  receive  the  eternally  corrupting  and  burning,  who  in  dying 

1  Which  might  literally  be  the  result  of  an  instant  cessation  from 
some  accustomed  vices.  How  profoundly  spiritual,  moreover,  the 
application  of  this  mortifying  of  our  members  may  be  made,  and  how 
comprehensively  it  may  meet  every  man's  distinctive  individuality, 
may  be  seen  in  Oetinger's  exposition  of  the  plucking  out  the  eye  : — 
Does  thy  studying  offend  thee,  lay  it  by  for  a  while,  just  as  Paul  was 
blind  for  a  season. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  173 

shall  never  die,  even  as  it  is  now  the  organ  for  the  commission  of 
their  sin.  Hints  are  here  given  us  in  passing,  the  far-reaching 
significance  of  which  we  can  only  now  forecast.  In  everlasting 
life  even  the  body  has  become  spiritual  and  enjoys  the  life  of  God 
received  through  the  Spirit :  in  everlasting  torment  even  the  last 
remains  of  spirit  are  entirely  absorbed  in  the  body,  and  thus  the 
condemned  man  experiences  bodily  that  death,  which  is  the  wages 
of  sin.  This  death  is  something  very  different  from  that  perishing 
of  our  members,  by  which  the  casting  them  from  us  is  imme- 
diately explained.  Their  present  perishing  is  the  means  of 
avoiding  that  eternal  death.  And  the  member  which  has  offended 
in  the  sinful  life  withers  away,  but  is  spiritually  given  back  as  in 
a  present  resurrection. 

Finall}r,  let  it  be  observed  that  the  sacrifice  of  "  one  of  thy 
members"  is  demanded,  definitely  and  inexorably  it  is  true,  but 
yet  with  a  certain  forbearance  towards  cases  in  which  man's  soft 
nature  would  shrink  from  the  exaction  of  an  eye  or  an  hand.  He 
who  does  not  shrink  but  accepts  it  in  all  its  rigour,  will  evermore 
experience  that  it  is  through  many  such  acts  of  mortification  that 
the  way  of  life  is  won.  He  finds,  indeed,  at  the  same  time  that 
this  exaction  does  not  proceed  once  for  all  from  the  eye  to  the 
hand,  but  that  it  is  ever  beginning  anew.  As  it  is  intimated  in 
these  words,  which  simply  mark  the  commencement  of  it,  it  ad- 
vances from  the  hand  to  the  arm,  from  the  arm  to  the  heart,  and 
thus  all  the  members  and  the  whole  body  must  submit,  lest  as  the 
body  of  sin  it  should  be  cast  into  hell.  And  yet  such  dying  is 
not  death,  but  tends  to  true  life  in  the  overabounding  restoration 
of  all  that  is  thus  sacrificed.  What  the  Lord  says  in  chap,  xviii. 
8,  9,  concerning  the  entering  into  life  maimed  or  with  one  eye, 
is  spoken  in  yet  stronger  and  more  striking  proverbial  language, 
and  with  yet  more  condescending  accommodation  to  the  position 
of  those  addressed  ;  but  it  has  its  own  deep  truth  which  may  be 
viewed  under  two  aspects,  as  the  hearer  may  accept  it.  The  old 
body  as  the  old  must  undergo  entirely  the  process  of  healing  de- 
struction ;  thus  viewed,  the  language  is  that  of  severe  irony — shrink 
not  at  the  beginning  of  their  entrance  from  becoming  maimed  or 
from  losing  one  eye !  The  new  body,  however,  will  be  perfectly 
restored,  for  all  who  inherit  eternal  life,  and  thus  viewed,  the 
language  assumes  a  character  of  affectionate  appeal  to  their 


174  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

shame — art  thou  then  foolish  enough  to  think  that  thou  wilt 
remain  halting  in  the  resurrection,  or  that  anything  will  be  want- 
ing to  thee  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  thou  mayest  have 
given  up  in  order  to  enter  it  ? 

Vers.  31,  3#.  When  the  Lord  turns  from  a  commandment 

given  by  God  upon  Sinai  to  a  civil  ordinance  connected  with  it ; 

which  latter  may  be  regarded  as  given  by  Moses  in  God's  name, 
but  the  former  rather  as  given  directly  by  God  through  Moses— 
when  He  passes  into  another  region  of  the  Law,  where  its  pre- 
cepts in  the  nature  of  the  case  assume  a  more  transitory  cha- 
racter,  He  designedly  adopts   that  most  general  and  concise 
expression — It  hath  been  said.      Neither  Moses  is  mentioned  nor 
the  apxaloL,  although  Moses  actually  spake  what  is  here  briefly 
quoted  from  Deut.  xxiv.  1.     Thus  vers.  31  and  43  stand  in  con- 
junction :  in  the  former  a  Mosaic  law  and  in  the  latter  a  human 
ordinance  immediately   attached  to  God's    commandment  and 
entirely  perverting  it,  are  joined  under  one  general  "  it  hath 
been  said."      For  the  Lord's  saying  opposes  itself  in  the  most 
comprehensive  sense  to  every  kind  of  false  reading,  or  teaching, 
or  hearing,  out  of  the  Law.  We  have  already  observed  above  that 
the  Mosaic  precept  concerning  the  letter  of  divorce  was  closely 
connected  with  the  Sinaitic  prohibition  of  adultery,  and  by  it  only 
could  be  rightly  explained,  the  fulfilment  of  the  Mosaic  ordi- 
nance in  its  spirit  being  itself  the  abrogation  of  its  letter.   Car- 
riage is  the  most  sacred  of  human  relations,  in  which  pure  love, 
that  in  which  one  person  loves  another  as  himself  (Eph.  v.  28) 
finds  its  highest  expression,  and  impure  carnal  lust,  which  con- 
ceals in  itself  the  spirit  of  hatred  and  destruction  of  another's 
personality,  its  most  perfect  cure  and  prevention^    So  that  this 
question  of  divorce  most  appropriately  follows  in  strict  connexion 
with  ver.  27,  as  well  as  with  vers.  21  and  22. "Marriage  is  the  foun- 
dation and  nursery  of  all  social  relations,^  and  therefore  the  bond 
of  that  civil  order  which,  deranged  by  sin,  is  to  be  re-established 
through  Christ  according  to  the  design  of  the  Creator  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  creation.  (Mk.  x.  6).  It  was  quite  natural  that  the 
letter  of  the  Mosaic  Law  in  relation  to  this  would  be  miserably  per- 
verted by  sinful  men,  since  every  law,  in  proportion  as  it  descends 
more  directly  into  the  details  of  common  life,  becomes  more  liable 
to  abuse  through  the  spirit  of  literal  interpretation.      And  here 


MATTHEW  V.— VII.  175 

we  are  encountered  by  an  actually  false  exposition  of  the  law,  in 
addition  to  the  merely  literal  acceptation  of  it ;  the  transition  being 
thus  effected  from  the  first  to  the  second  department  of  examples. 
For  what  was  only  a  permission  is  regarded  as  a  law,  as  if  it  had 
been  said,  thou  shalt,  and  not  merely  thou  mayest,  be  divorced ! 
(ch.  xix.  7,  8)  :  whereas  divorce  was  in  no  other  sense  tolerated 
than  that  in  which  polygamy  was,  which  still  more  directly  opposed 
the  design  of  God's  original  creation.  The  precept  was  read, 
expounded,  and  practised  as  if  it  had  been  written  ^"7-73 
{Kara  irdaav  auiav)  instead  of  ■^•J  JTny  »  anc^  *nus  ^  was  au^°~ 
gether  falsified,  everything  being  made  to  depend,  according  to 
the  mind  of  Moses  thus  interpreted,  upon  the  observance  of  the 
mere  formality  of  divorce  !  But  as  Moses  at  the  beginning  took 
care,  in  immediate  connexion  with  his  precept,  to  prevent  that 
wanton  and  abominable  divorce  and  remarrying  between  the  same 
persons  which  would  have  been  the  worst  consequence  of  such 
perversion  (Deut.  xxiv.  2 — 4)  ;  so  also  the  last  prophet  Malachi, 
who  at  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  (iv.  4)  enforces  the  whole 
Law  of  Moses  with  its  statutes  and  judgments  till  the  coming  of 
Him  who  was  to  come,  bears  similar  witness  against  polygamy 
and  divorce,  alleging  the  high  example  of  Abraham.  Deal  not 
treacherously,  he  says,  with  the  wife  of  thy  youth,  who  is  thy 
companion  (helpmeet !)  and  the  wife  of  thy  covenant,  for  the  Lord 
hath  been  witness  between  thee  and  her,  that  is,  in  effect,  what  God 
hath  joined  let  not  man  put  asunder  !  (Prov.  ii.  1 7).  Take  heed  to 
your  spirit,  he  says,  that  ye  apologise  not  by  the  letter  of  the  Law 
for  your  sin  against  its  spirit.  "  If  he  hate  her,  let  him  put  her 
away,  saith  the  Lord" — that  is  the  wicked  language  of  your  own 
spirit,  but  it  is  also  said,  "  evil  will  defile  his  garment,  saith  the 
Lord."  (Mai.  ii.  14 — 16).  Mark  here  again,  that  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  utters  or  lays  down  nothing  new,  even  where  it  seems 
most  to  do  so  ;  but  where  in  any  sense  it  annuls  the  command- 
ment, actually  fulfils  it  in  its  harmony  with  the  Prophets. 

As,  further,  in  the  Sinaitic  commandment  the  letter  of  the  Law 
was  first  laid  down,  which  expressed  the  extremest  development 
of  the  evil  in  act,  (kill  instead  of  hate,  commit  adultery  instead 
of  lust),  thus  manifesting  a  condescension  to  the  position  of 
that  hardness  of  heart  which  would  only  thus  apprehend  it  at 
the  first  ;■  so  do  we  also  find  it  in  the  further  statutes  and  ordi- 


176  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

nances  of  the  civil  law.  The  spirit  of  the  ordinance  to  which  its 
letter  must  give  place,  is  not  an  abolition  of  it,  but  rather  its 
re-establishment  in  the  spirit  of  the  original  command —Thou  shalt 
not  commit  adultery ! 

Hence  we  shall  sufficiently  understand  in  what  sense  the  Lord 
speaks  when  He  proceeds — It  hath  also  been  said  (by  Moses), 
but  I  say  unto  you  :  Divorce  either  presupposes  past  adultery,  or 
contains  and  involves  it,  ye  shall  not  in  any  case  practise  divorce ! 
(as  ver.  34,  to  which  indeed  this  is  a  transition).  He  who  is 
divorced  from  his  wife,  saving  for  a  \6yos  iropveias  (equivalent  to 
•wj  in  Moses  or  atria)  that  is,  the  cause  of  fornication  in  the 

T   T 

woman  which  had  already  taken  place,  not  only  himself  commits 
adultery  by  his  unjustifiable  divorce  (which  is  not  mentioned  as 
being  self-evident),  but  is  the  cause  that  she  also  commits  adultery 
through  another  marriage  or  illicit  intercourse  without  marriage. 
Especially,  however,  in  the  former  case,  which  therefore  is  addi- 
tionally explained.  r  The  man  himself  sins  who  puts  away  the 
divorced  woman,  the  woman  so  divorced  sins,  and,  in  addition, 
the  other  man  who  marries  her  thus  divorced  :  so  that  from  this 
wantonness  of  divorce  nothing  but  perpetual  fornication  can  fol- 
low— nothing  but  the  weakening,  disannulling,  and  contempt  of 
the  inviolable  sanctity  of  marriage,  which  is  the  essential  and  dis- 
tinctive meaning  of  "  adultery."^  It  is  clear  that  the  Lord  here 
designedly  says  fornication  instead  of  adultery,  just  as  in  ver.  28 
adultery,  on  the  other  hand,  included  fornication,  j  Yet  the  ex- 
pression has  a  wider  scope,  and  does  not,  for  example,  exclude  the 
incontinence  of  the  wife  before  marriage,  if  she  should  not  be 
found  a  virgin  by  her  husband,  or  impose  upon  his  paternity  an 
illegitimate  child. j 

But  let  us  see  to  it  that  we  rightly  understand  the  Lord,  and 
fall  not  into  the  same  error  of  a  too  literal  understanding  of  His 
new  law !  Let  us  take  heed  that,  while  He  in  abolishing  fulfils 
the  old  law,  we  do  not  conversely,  in  thinking  that  we  fulfil  it, 
abolish  the  new  law  which  he  has  given  us !      What  then  is  the 

1  It  is  clear  to  us,  that  airokikvutvriv  signifies  only  the  unlawful lv 
divorced,  and  thus  that  the  re-marriage  of  one  put  away  because  of 
adultery  lies  under  no  prohibition  here.  We  find  in  this  no  such  obscu- 
rum,  as  Augustine  in  the  place  here  cited  by  Alford,  de  fide  atque  oper. 
c.  xix. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  177 

relation  of  the  New  Testament  age  to  that  of  the  Old  Testament 
in  regard  to  the  law  of  outward  ordinances  ?      It  belongs  to  the 
perfection  of  the  New  Covenant  that  it  contains  no  longer  any 
external  statutes  immediately  given  by  God,  no  theocratic  con- 
stitution for  society  and  the  nation.   And  wherefore  not  ?  Because 
those  who  are  in  the  fellowship  of  the  New  Covenant  stand  and 
live  in  the  Spirit.     Thus  for  these  His  disciples,  so  far  as  they  are, 
or  aim  to  be,  perfect,  the  Lord  lays  down  the  original  command- 
ment of  God's  pure  ordinance  as  His  own  new  commandment, 
doing  away  with  all  that  conventional  license  which  had  been 
given  in  condescension  to  an  imperfect  state.  But  only  for  these,  as 
they  have  His  Spirit  for  its  fulfilment. '  Now  if  any  should  pervert 
the  letter  of  the  new  legislation  for  God's  spiritual  commonwealth 
to  an  external  use,  instead  of  spiritually  subjecting  himself  to  its 
judgment  and  rule ;  if  he  should  impose  it  as  a  yoke  upon  the  neck 
of  those  who  have  not  yet  received  the  requisite  spirit,  and  thus 
transform  the  law  of  liberty  into  an  ordinance  of  bondage  again; 
could  he  be  said  to  deal  with  it  on  New  Testament  principles, 
and  according  to  that  love,  which  is  the  abiding  and  true  spirit 
of  all  fulfilment  of  the  law  and  application  of  the  commandment  f  ^ 
That  would  be  rather  the  re-appearance  of  a  New  Testament 
Pharisaism,  the  Quakerish  observance  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
which,  in  the  corresponding  aspect  of  the  opposite  extreme,  coin- 
cides with  the  Catholic  externality  of  the  Church  of  Christ.    And 
the  well-meaning  zealots  who  would  elevate  the  Lord's  command 
into  a  Church  ordinance,  have  by  no  means  escaped  the  Catholic 
error,  which  goes  only  one  step  further  beyond  the  express  letter 
of  the  Lord's  word,  and  holds  every  marriage  to  be  indissoluble, 
forbidding  every  re-marriage.      Wherefore  then   do  they  not 
expound  the  whole  Sermon  conformably  ?      Is  it  the  Lord's 
design  then,  as  the  letter  of  His  word  plainly  seems  to  run  in  ver. 
34,  to  abolish  swearing  as  a  necessary  regulation  in  imperfect 
human  society  t     He  Himself  swore  !     Is  it  His  design  in  ver. 
38  to  banish  the  jus  talionis,  which  is  the  Divine  basis  of  all  requit- 
ing justice,  from  the  tribunals  of  Christendom  1    No,  He  will  not 
abolish  in  matters  to  which  it  must  ever  appertain,  the  rule  laid 
down  in  Lev.  xxiv.  19 — 20,  any  more  than  what  is  said  in  Ex.  xxi. 
12  :  he  that  smiteth  a  man,  so  that  he  die,  shall  be  surely  put  to 
death.  As  the  Law  in  its  Sinaitic  letter  condemning  sin  continues  its 


a*  fc>^ 


173  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

function  in  the  Gospel,  so  also  does  the  Law  as  wisely  restraining 
sin  in  the  Mosaic  ordinances.  It  is  the  Lord's  design  to  forbid 
to  His  disciples  in  his  discourse  (ver.  39 — 42)  all  protection  of 
themselves,  their  interests,  or  their  property :  and  to  impose  upon 
them  such  all-endurance  and  all-abandonment  as  would  require 
them  to  go  out  of  the  world  in  which  they  must  nevertheless  live  1 
rHe  has  himself  obviated  this  gloss,  for  He  did  not  turn  the  other 
cheek !;  and  as  all  this  is  to  be  understood,  so  also  is  His  word 
concerning  divorce.  The  unconditional  ordinance,  which  the 
Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  reveals,  runs  in  simple  terms, — 
Let  not  man  put  asunder  t  (ch.  xix.  6).  Now,  if  sin  or  fornica- 
tion has  sundered,  may  not  enduring  patience  and  forgiving 
love  join  them  together  again  I  God  Himself  in  His  covenant 
of  grace  takes  back  again  that  which  was  separated  from  him. 
Or,  if  adultery  has  been  committed,  may  not  the  unoffending 
consort  retain  the  offending  one  in  the  bond  of  love,  and  receive 
her  back  if  penitent  ?  The  Christian  Church  from  the  beginning 
has  determined  that  he  may,  and  practised  accordingly.1  And  God 
Himself  takes  back  His  adulterous  people  to  Himself,  becomes 
anew  the  husband  of  the  adulteress  (Hos.  ii.  1 — 20),  and  con- 
tinues to  do  Himself  what  He  has  forbidden  in  His  precept 
(Jer.  iii.  1).  But  we  should,  and  we  must  love  perfectly,  as  our 
Father  in  heaven  loves.  So  if  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  thou  must  not 
divorce  even  on  account  of  fornication.  Wherefore,  while  we  find 
once  more  in  Matt.  xix.  9,  irapeKTos  Xoyov  iropveias  (in  another 
expression),  it  is  ivanting  in  the  parallel  passage  (Mark  x.  11,  12) 
as  well  as  when  the  Lord  a  third  time  alludes  to  it  (Lu.  xvi.  17, 18.) 
This  is  not  accidental,  but  an  intimation  of  the  Spirit  which  goes 
beyond  the  letter.  The  Lord  constrains  us,  by  this  change  of 
the  letter,  to  understand  its  meaning  spiritually :  for  both  are 
true ;  on  the  one  hand  that  fornication,  or  any  infidelity,  gives 
the  right  of  divorce,  since  that  has  already  in  effect  taken  place, 
but  that  also  on  the  other,  neither  the  man  nor  the  woman  in  the 
church  of  Christ  ought,  generally  speaking,  to  exercise  that  right. 

1  Though  not  always,  for  in  the  Const,  apost.  vi.  15  we  find:  'O 
Kare'x<Mf  rfjv  7rapa(p6apelaav  (pixreais  Oecrpov  irapavopos*  Luther  on  the  other 
hand  confidently  urges  that  the  unoffending  party  should  forgive.  I/eng- 
stenberg  (on  Hosea)  speaks  of  great  criminality  on  his  part,  if  he  do 
not  use  every  means  to  bring  about  repentance  and  reconciliation. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  170 

When  the  Apostle,  again,  having  the  Spirit  of  God,  quotes  the 
Lord's  words  with  emphasis  in  ver.  10  of  1  Cor.  vii.,  and  then 
immediately  after,  in  ver.  15,  gives  his  more  liberal  decision,  (not 
by  commandment,  but,  on  account  of  sin  and  infirmity,  by  per- 
mission), that  a  separated  person,  having  been  left  and  repudiated 
by  the  unbelieving  partner,  might  marry  again  ;  is  not  that  also 
a  no  less  manifest  intimation  how  this  commandment  of  the  Lord 
is  to  be  understood,  and  that  it  is  not  to  be  carried  out  literally 
in  all  its  rigour  and  literal  compulsion  in  the  external  church, 
mixed  up  as  it  is  with  heathenism  ?  What  then,  finally,  is  for- 
nication and  adultery  in  our  Lord's  mouth  %  Shall  we  be  willing 
to  limit  the  word  just  in  this  place  to  the  gross  act,  after  He 
Himself  has  in  ver.  27,  28,  immediately  preceding,  expounded  it 
otherwise  I     Will  the  Lord  abate  from  the  ^^  j-yyytf  wmcn  is 

xt        —  :  v 

written  in  Moses,  one  jot  or  tittle ;  will  he  not  rather  provide  for 
its  being  retained,  like  the  whole  Law,  but  for  right  use  ?  (Edv 
Tt?  avrdp  voiiium  xprjrat.  1  Tim.  i.  8.)  What  other  shameful 
things  of  various  kinds  might  not  in  Christian  matrimony  be 
brought  forward  as  ground  of  divorce  equally  valid  with  the 
accomplished  act  of  infidelity  I1 

Our  Lord's  new  law  of  marriage,  consequently,  like  all  the 
laws  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  is  not  uttered  with  design  to 
abolish  the  wholesome  relaxation  contained  in  the  Mosaic  institu- 
tion of  divorce,  viewed  according  to  its  original  spirit.  It  does 
not  intend  to  do  away  with  it  once  for  all  by  a  compulsion  which 
works  from  without  inwardly,  but  by  a  fulfilment  of  its  design 
working  gradually  from  within  outwardly.  This  is  its  true  rela- 
tion, conformably  with  God's  will,  in  every  external  national 
church  down  to  the  present  day.  The  secular  law  of  the  state 
(albeit  Christian),  and  no  less  the  ecclesiastical  statute  also 
(which  should  not  be  violently  sundered  from  the  state),  not 
only  may  exercise  a  Mosaic  forbearance,  but  must  do  so,  where 
the  same  reasons  are  presupposed  as  those  for  which  the  Lord  by 
Moses  exercised  it.  "  Divorce  may  no  more  be  removed  than 
the  oath."  T  It  is  impossible  that  Christ  should  command  mar- 

1  Maintaining  this  we  are  not  perplexed  by  any  such  rigorous  views 
as  Sixt  has  lately  once  more  defended  (Stud.  u.  Kr.  1845.  3.)  The 
Kirchliche  Vierteljahrsschrift  declares  its  agreement  with  us,  and 
Rolhe's  Ethik  quotes  us  often  with  approbation. 


180  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

riages  sinfully  contracted,  such  as  were  properly  no  marriages  and 
therefore  dissolved  themselves,  to  be  made  binding  by  force4:  and 
equally  so  that  He  should  intend  to  oppose  the  sin  which  might 
afterwards  break  in,  by  any  thing  but  the  power  of  the  Spirit. 
When  severity,  through  the  infirmity  of  the  flesh,  might  aggra- 
vate the  evil,  He  still  may  relax  the  law.  For  such  ordinances 
of  nature,  as  this — Man  shall  not  divorce  !  are  in  their  externality 
not  on  a  level  with  the  commandments  of  holiness  uttered  on 
Sinai,  which  are  fulfilled  inwardly  in  the  spirit,  and  which  alone 
unconditionally  admit  of  no  relaxation.  The  external  church, 
which  in  a  sense  is  still  partly  after  the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, condescends,  like  Christ  Himself,  to  sinners  in  many  ways, 
with  all  its  severity  of  testimony :  and  has  for  the  unconverted  a 
confirmation,  for  the  unworthy  (whom  she  in  most  cases  has 
not  the  power  to  judge)  a  Eucharist,  a  marriage  service  for  those 
who  come  in  wanton  carnality  to  marriage ;  but  she  must  give 
up  all  this,  and  by  a  licensed  civil  marriage  separate  herself  in 
this  also  from  the  state,  if  her  doctrine  of  divorce  were  otherwise. 
A  Presbytery,  Synod,  or  Consistory,  standing  to  mediate  between 
the  Law  and  the  Gospel,  bears  witness  of  the  commandment  of 
Christ,  with  all  the  spiritual  force  of  His  word,  to  the  consciences 
of  those  who  should  hear  it ;  but  those  who  insist  upon  separa- 
tion, even  when  no  future  marriage  can  take  place,  are  sundered 
and  granted  a  bill  of  divorce  : — for  their  hardness  of  heart !  and 
the  church  under  certain  circumstances  may  have  a  blessing  for 
the  second  marriage  of  those  who  are  thus  separated,  bestowed 
upon  them  in  the  hope  that  now  the  true  grace  of  matrimony 
may  find  its  true  New  Testament  entrance  into  their  hearts,  j 

The  false  interpretation  of  the  law  more  distinctively  con- 
sidered now  follows,  as  the  developed  result  of  this  literal  accep- 
tation of  it.  Of  the  three  examples  which  are  given  in  illustration 
two  are  taken,  as  we  have  already  shown,  from  the  civil  code, 
and  one  from  the  law  of  holiness.  Viewed  yet  more  closely,  the 
two  first  deal  wTith  our  words  and  deeds,  the  third  with  our 
disposition  of  mind.  Thus  the  error  is  exhibited  as  advancing 
from  a  too  close  and  insincere  straining  of  the  letter  of  the 
precept  first,  onwards  to  the  complete  perversion  and  destruction 
of  its  meaning,  such  as  is  seen  in  the  antithesis  which  is  unscru- 
pulously added  in  ver.   43,   and   which  entirely  subverts  the 


Matthew  v.— vii.  181 

precept  of  love  with  which  vers.  21 — 26  set  out.  The  first 
example  concerning  our  words  goes  back  in  its  ultimate  allusion 
to  the  Sinaitic  precept — Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness,  not 
speak  falsely ;  but  conjoins  this  with  the  commandment  of  the 
first  table  which  forbids  the  taking  God's  name  in  vain ;  and 
mentions  particularly  swearing  or  a  protesting  use  of  that  holy 
name.  The  false  exposition  or  application  of  this  Mosaic  ordi- 
nance borders  upon  a  too  strict  adherence  to  its  letter :  but  the 
perfect  disciple  of  Christ  in  reality  stands  by  that  ordinance.  In 
ver.  33,  we  have  the  letter  of  the  ordinance,  with  an  intimation 
of  that  abuse  which  being  well-known  is  not  directly  mentioned : 
as  was  the  case  in  vers.  27,  31,  after  the  pattern  of  ver.  21. 
Against  this  is  set,  vers.  34 — 37,  what  in  a  certain  sense  may  be 
considered  a  new  and  severer  rule,  yet  perfectly  in  the  spirit  of 
the  old  one :  the  disciple  of  Christ  need  not  in  general  swear  at 
all !  although  He  may,  on  account  of  evil  (having  to  do  with  the 
sin  and  untruthfulness  of  the  world),  swear  by  God,  yet  is  he 
never  to  do  this  without  strict  necessity  and  solemn  earnestness. 
By  tilings  independent  of  God  (and  here  was  the  Pharisaic  abuse 
of  swearing  most  manifest,  particular  examples  being  named 
of  their  perversion)  he  may  not  swear  at  all  I  Neither  by  things 
out  of  himself  (heaven,  or  earth,  or  Jerusalem,  the  place  in  which 
both  meet),  which  are  altogether  God's ;  nor  by  any  thing  in 
himself  since  his  head  (his  life)  and  even  his  hair  (the  highest 
individual  thing  belonging  to  him)  is  also  and  only  God's.  For 
the  disciple  of  Christ,  must  speak  the  simple  truth  in  its  most 
simple  possible  expression. 

This  general  analysis  would  give  a  clue  to  thinking  minds  for 
all  that  should  follow  ;  but  however  anxious  we  might  be  to  keep 
these  hints  within  concise  limits,  they  must  become  here  a  little 
more  diffuse,  on  account  of  the  evil  of  false  interpretation,  which 
underlies,  even  in  Christendom,  the  word  of  Christ. 

Ver.  33.  The  irakiv  which  now  meets  us,  equivalent  strictly  to 
weiter  in  German,  indicates  the  commencement  of  another  series 
of  examples  of  a  different  kind,  as  an  arrangement  of  the  discourse 
has  already  shown.  It  speaks  once  more  of  our  words,  as  ver. 
22  did,  for  in  word  as  well  as  in  deed  our  holy  dispositions  must 
manifest  themselves,  and  perfection  excludes  every  sinful  word  as 
well  as  act.     (J as.  hi.  2).     Our  speech  must  be  sanctified  in 


182  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

truth,  as  our  deeds  in  love !  But  that  which  the  ap^aloi  in  this 
matter  taught  the  people,  as  if  out  of  the  Law,  did  not  immediately 
and  directly  refer  to  the  decalogue,  but  to  the  Mosaic  ordinance 
concerning  oaths  and  vows  given  to  the  holy  commonwealth  of 
Israel.  This,  indeed,  is  yet  more  closely  connected  with  the 
second  (properly  the  third)  commandment  of  the  first  table,  than 
the  ordinance  concerning  the  letter  of  divorce  was  with  the 
seventh.  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery !  Yet  the  Lord  does 
not  directly  cite  Ex.  xx.  7  as  He  had  done  Ex.  xx.  13  and  14 — 
but  He  makes  what  we  may  term  a  collective-citation  of  the 
Mosaic  ordinances,  designedly  changing  the  expression1  in  doing 
so,  because  it  is  not  what  was  written  there  that  He  opposes,  but 
its  incorrect  apprehension.  He  refers  to  Lev.  xix.  12  ;  Numb, 
xxx.  3 ;  Deut.  xxiii.  21,  of  which  the  last  two  places  deal  more 
especially  with  promissoriis  or  vows.  The  first  passage  connects 
itself  immediately  with  the  decalogue — Thou  shalt  not  desecrate 
the  holy  Name;  in  the  other  two  also  tS  tcvpia>  is  expressly 
inserted :  hence  arose  the  false  interpretation,  that  an  hrioptcelv 
consisted  only  in  the  express  mention  of  the  Divine  Name,  and  the 
consequent  shameful  abuse  of  other  kinds  of  frivolous  and  deceit- 
ful protestations.  This  unrighteous  limitation  our  Lord  indicates 
in  the  concluding  sentence  which  He  cites: — cnroStoaeis  Be  tg5 
Kvptca  Tot/?  opicovs  gov — thus  you  have  heard  it  said  out  of  the  Law, 
as  if  only  to  the  Lord  was  signified  !  If  we  place  ovtc  eVtop/ajcrei? 
in  juxtaposition  with  ov  fovevaeis,  ver.  33  will  here  have  a  mean- 
ing similar  to  that  of  ver.  21.  Ye  vainly  think  that  killing  only 
is  murder,  and  only  a  lying  and  faithless  abuse  of  the  Holy 
Name  is  perjury.  But  as  the  letter  of  the  law  in  the  former 
case  had  reference  in  its  spirit  to  perfect  love  in  disposition,  so  in 
the  latter  it  refers  to  perfect  truth  in  word. 

Vers.  34 — 36.  Mr)  ofioaai  o\g)?,  that  is,  assuredly,  by  all  means, 
generally  or  absolutely  swear  not.  To  expunge  the  comma 
between  oXw?  and  fir)T€,  and  read :  absolutely  not  by  heaven, 
earth,  Jerusalem,  or  the  head, — is,  whether  we  regard  the  lan- 
guage or  the  matter,  extremely  forced,  yea  decidedly  false,  for  it 

1  Emoptcelv  is  not  found  in  the  Sept.  canonical  Old  Testament — only 
in  Wisd.  xiv.  28.      Similarly  the  LXX.  have  never  opicoi  for  QVy-q, 

but  eu^m. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  183 

overlooks  the  sharpiy  defined  antithesis  between  ^r/  o/\o>5  taken 
by  itself,  and  the  simple  ovk  £ttl — opfcrjo-eis.  And  in  any  case 
there  would  still  remain  in  ver.  37  the  unconditional  prohibition 
of  every  word  that  went  beyond  Yea  and  Nay — consequently  of 
any  oath.  To  say  with  Stdudlin  (Geschichte  der  Vorstellungen 
und  Lehren  vom  Eide)  that  the  Apostles  afterwards  in  their 
permission  of  the  judicial  oath  deviated  from  the  Lord's  interdict, 
does  not  touch  the  point.  But  what  is,  then,  the  relation  of 
these,  one  to  the  other  ? 

That  Christ  forbids  to  His  disciples  as  such,  and  in  their  inter- 
course one  with  another,  every  form  of  protestation,  including 
God's  name  ;  that  He  abolishes  them  all  as  useless,  because  with- 
out their  aid  his  disciples  should  speak  the  truth,  is  most  mani- 
fest, in  spite  of  all  invalidating  misinterpretation ;  hence  St  James 
(ch.  v.  12)  thus  repeats  the  Lord's  commandment,  yet  more 
irrefragably  strengthening  His  fjur)  oA,a)? :  fjLrjre  aWov  tip  a 
op/cov.  But  are  we  therefore,  with  a  Quakerism  wdiich  is  only 
the  re-appearance  of  Pharisaism  on  the  spiritual  side,  to  set  up 
externally  the  spiritual  law  of  Christ  alone  and  contrary  to  its 
spirit  in  the  midst  of  an  evil  world  ;  to  apply  the  perfect  ordin- 
ances of  Christ  for  His  perfect  ones  to  the  regulation  of  churches 
and  states  which  are  in  a  condition  in  which  imperfection  so 
largely  mingles  %  and  may  we,  similarly,  thus  summarily  send 
abroad  peace  in  the  earth  (ch.  x.  34),  where  yet  the  angels' 
word  (Luke  ii.  14)  must  excite  conflict  among  men?  The 
Christian  should  not  divorce,  but  on  account  of  fornication 
he  does  it,  and  it  is  then  not  a  divorce  which  proceeded  from 
himselfj  but  the  outward  expression  of  one  that  had  already 
unhappily  taken  place.  The  Christian  should  not  utter  Raka 
or  Fool,  as  the  language  of  hatred  or  anger,  but,  nevertheless, 
on  account  of  the  vileness  and  foolishness  of  men,  he  may,  in 
his  holy  hatred  of  sin  and  in  the  anger  of  his  zealous  love, 
term  them  what  they  are,  even  children  of  the  devil.  So  also  he 
swears  and  confirms  his  word  by  oath  on  account  of  the  deceit- 
fulness  and  incredulity  of  men,  and  the  strife  which  thence  arises : 
and  this  he  can  all  the  more  readily  do,  as  all  his  words  should  be 
and  are  yea  or  nay,  words  of  truth  spoken  before  God,  that  is  to 
say,  oaths.  Consequently  in  the  perfect  kingdom  of  God  the 
oath-ordinance  ceases  simply  because  tho  oath  has  no  longer  any 


134  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

distinctive  or  especial  force,  beyond  any  other  utterance  of  a 
man's  mind.  Hence,  again,  it  is  written  by  the  Apostle,  and  his 
words  are  not  a  relaxation  of  the  Lord's  prohibition,  but  when 
rightly  understood  actually  include  it,  just  as  that  prohibition 
itself  includes  some  such  abatement  as  the  Apostle's  seems  to  be. 
"Men  verily  swear  by  the  greater,  and  an  oath  to  them  is  an  end 
of  all  strife" — a  confirmation  of  truth  and  love,  only  the  yea  and 
nay  more  effectually  said  (Heb.  vi.  16).  That  can  by  no  means 
be  wicked  or  sinful  in  itself,  since  God  Himself,  on  account  of 
our  unbelief,  oftentimes  swears  by  Himself  (Heb.  vi.  13,  17,  vii. 
21 ;  Isa.  xlv.  23,  &c),  since  the  Son  of  God  incarnate  not  only 
takes  a  judicial  oath  (Matt.  xxvi.  63,  64),  but  even  in  this  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  as  also  elsewhere,  appends  His  Amen  to  His 
words  ;  since  the  holy  angel  (Rev.  x.  6)  swears  by  Him  that 
liveth  for  ever,  and  the  Apostles  frequently  by  the  Lord  whose 
coming  they  announce.  As  Christ,  according  to  ver.  17,  does  not 
destroy  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  so  neither  does  He  abolish  that 
unconditional  toleration  of  the  oath  which  we  find  in  the  Old 
Testament.  The  Sinaitic  commandment  permits  and  enjoins  the 
right  use  of  the  name  of  God,  in  that  it  condemns  its  profane 
abuse ;  in  Deut.  vi.  13,  x.  20,  the  swearing  by  His  name  is 
actually  commanded  to  Israel  as  the  avowal  of  His  worship  ;  in 
Ps.  xv.  4,  swearing  and  changing  not,  is  attributed  to  the  true 
and  spiritual  Israel ;  and,  finally,  in  the  Prophets,  Jer.  xxiii.  8, 
Isa.  lxv.  16,  swearing  by  the  God  of  their  deliverance,  by  the 
God  of  truth,  is  vindicated  for  the  distant  future  of  His  king- 
dom. Consequently  the  ei/cfj,  too  harshly  rejected  in  ver.  22, 
may  be  added  also  in  this  connexion,  if  it  be  rightly  and  spiritu- 
ally understood.  As  pure  love  would  prefer  to  say  brother  only, 
if  for  that  brother's  sake  Eaka  is  not  necessary,  so  pure  truth 
would  prefer  the  simple  yea  and  nay,  if  stronger  confirmation 
were  not  necessary  in  order  to  its  overcoming  the  falsehood  to 
which  it  is  opposed. 

We  should  certainly  be  very  far  from  discerning  or  exhausting 
the  full  meaning  of  Christ,  if  we  regarded  Him  as  merely  prohi- 
biting that  profuse  and  frivolous  swearing  to  which  the  Jews 
were  addicted  in  common  life,  in  contradistinction  to  judicial 
swearing.  That  might  be  the  preparatory  instruction  for  cate- 
chumens, whose  apprehension  could  go  no  further.    There  might, 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  185 

indeed,  be  light  swearing  even  in  a  court  of  justice,  and  the  Chris- 
tian man  "  in  common  life  "  may  stand  and  make  his  appeal  to 
the  judgment-seat  of  God,  if  there  be  need.  Yet  assuredly  Christ 
in  what  follows  does  take  account  of  the  customs  of  His  age,  and 
draws  His  examples  from  them.  It  is  His  design  to  exhibit  and 
to  condemn  Pharisaism  in  the  aspect  which  it  assumed  before 
His  eyes.  "  As  Heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  so  pass  away  all 
vows  by  heaven  and  earth,"  was  a  saying  uttered  in  Israel  at 
that  time.  Thus  while  they  abused  the  name  of  His  throne  and 
footstool,  yet  because  they  barely  evaded  the  name  of  God  itself, 
they  dared  to  think  that  they  avoided  the  lie  and  the  sin  !  Thus 
they  forgot  that  heaven  and  earth  should  be  changed  but  not 
pass  away  ;  that  they  wrere  rather  to  become  more  plainly  mani- 
fest, the  Heaven  as  the  throne  of  God's  glory,  this  lower  earth 
as  His  footstool,  before  which  all  his  enemies  should  be  bowed 
down.  Hence  Christ,  designedly  sustaining  His  word  by  Scrip- 
ture (Is.  lxvi.  1),  traces  back  all  such  formulas,  here  as  in  chap, 
xxiii.  16 — 22,  to  the  name  of  God ;  and  by  so  doing  gives  us 
in  His  wisdom  much  else  to  reflect  upon.  (Let  Isa.  lxvi. 
be  only  read  carefully  again).  After  heaven  and  earth  have 
embraced  the  whole  universe  of  the  first  creation,  He  most  signi- 
ficantly mentions  further  the  holy  Jerusalem  (Rev.  xxi.  1 — 2), 
as  the  type  of  the  new  creation  of  grace  which  brings  heaven 
down  to  earth,  designating  it  out  of  Scripture  as  the  city  of  the 
great  King,  which  is  Himself.1  It  is  in  direct  contradiction  with 
the  rightly  understood  meaning  of  the  oath  generally,  if  I,  instead 
of  mentioning  His  Name,  by  wliom  we  swear,  simply  because 
heaven  and  earth,  and  Jerusalem  especially  (as  a  citizen  of  which 
I  know  His  Name),  are  His ;  if  I,  instead  of  naming  this  great 
Ruler  of  the  Creation  and  King  in  His  City,  make  mention  of 
some  particular  portions  greater  or  less  of  His  Kingdom,  and 
think  that  I  thereby  avoid  mentioning  Him,  and  that  this  affects 
Him  not !  As  if  aught  could  have  significance  when  conceived 
of  independently  of  God,  so  that  to  swear  by  it  without  thinking 
of  God  were  reasonable  and  right,  or  that  such  an  oath  might 

1  Hamann  contra  Mendelsshon  (see  his  works  by  Roth  vii.  120), 
found,  and  not  without  some  grounds  for  it,  a  far-reaching  meaning  of 
general  significance  in  this  prohibition  to  name  Jerusalem  needlessly  and 
irreverently. 


188  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

innocently  be  trifled  with  !  The  God  of  Truth,  who  will  not  let 
His  name  be  falsely  used,  will  not  permit  any  particle  of  dust  in 
all  His  universe  to  be  thus  dealt  with.  If  I  indeed  know  His 
name,  then  must  I  also  know  that  heaven  and  earth  are  His,  as 
well  as  I  know  that  my  head  and  its  hair  belong  to  me,  though 
not  essentially  and  only  to  me.  When  I  pass  from  things  out 
of  myself  (things  which  in  their  true  sense  are  holy,  being  sanc- 
tified by  God),  to  my  self j  and  swear  by  myself ;  there  is  more 
significance  in  this  than  the  former,  though  that  significance 
is  altogether  godless,  since  I  thus  regard  myself  as  my  own,  pluck 
self  from  the  authority  of  God,  and  wickedly  usurp  God's  own 
prerogative — to  swear  by  Himself.1  By  my  head — borders  closely 
upon — by  my  life  !  by  my  soul !  as  I  live  !  and  then  the  sin  be- 
comes most  manifest,  for  none  of  us  liveth  to  himself.  But  even 
the  smallest  hair  of  the  head  or  the  beard  (by  which  they  also 
swore  in  the  East)  is  not  mine,  as  I  may  soon  discover  if  I  attempt 
to  change  its  colour  by  my  own  power,  though  this  is  still  less 
than  making  one  hair  grow.2  I  may  indeed  with  deceitful  dyes 
give  it  a  brighter  or  darker  tincture,  but  nature  reasserts  its 
original  colour  in  the  hair  which  grows  afterwards.  I  can  no 
more  make  other  hair  to  grow  the  length  of  a  line,  than  add  a 
span  to  the  measure  of  my  life,  (ch.  vi.  27).  We  see,  con- 
sequently, that  Christ  here  interdicts  to  His  disciples  first,  all 
swearing  generally,  even  by  the  name  of  God,  inasmuch  as  it  is 
enjoined  upon  them  as  their  perfection  to  speak  perpetual  truth 
in  the  name  of  God,  without  the  necessity  of  any  confirming 
appendage  whatever.  As  the  consequence  of  this,  the  oath 
which  protects  truth  is  supposed  to  be  abolished  in  the  inter- 
course of  Christians  by  an  influence  working  from  within  out- 
wards, just  as  the  locks  and  bolts  which  protect  against  thieves. 
Secondly  and  especially  is  forbidden  all  swearing  by  things  inde- 
pendent of  God,  be  they  appertaining  to  ourselves  or  otherwise, 
because  we  should  think  of  God  and  give  His  name  its  honour 
in  the  mention  of  all  His  creatures ;  because  He  only  has  and 
He  only  is  the  confirming  Amen  of  all  truth  ;  because  His  name 

1  As  Caesar  by  the  fortuna  Cassaris,  and  the  younger  Doria  in  Schil- 
ler's Fiesco  with  his  "  Donner  und  Doria  I" 

2  But  we  much  doubt  whether  this  is  to  be  regarded  (with  Sepp)  as 
meaning  that  they  swore  "  may  I  become  gray,  if  it  be  not  so." 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  187 

only  is  above  the  yea  of  any  creature.1  Finally  is  prohibited  all 
inconsiderate  and  useless  swearing,  all  confirmation  and  corrobo- 
ration of  our  yea  and  nay  without  cause.  As  this  was  miser- 
ably current  in  the  Pharisaic  Israel  of  that  age,  so  it  attests  the 
hypocrisy  of  men  in  every  age  ;  for  by  adding  such  strengthen- 
ing appendages  to  our  discourse,  we  confess  ourselves  to  be,  with- 
out them,  untrustworthy.2  But  when  adequate  reason  for  an  oath 
occurs,  it  is  not  only  permitted  but  even  commanded,  as  a  service 
to  God  and  our  neighbour,  to  corroborate  our  plain  words  by 
such  confirmation  as  may  maintain  the  truth  and  advance  the 
cause  of  charity.  Consequently  the  judicial  oath  of  the  Christian 
citizen  is  justified  under  such  circumstances,  as  well  as  the  oath 
with  which  the  Apostle,  the  Preacher,  the  Disciple  may  solemnly 
confirm  His  testimony.8  He  who,  in  what  he  is  constrained  to 
say  before  man,  looks  up  in  his  spirit  to  God  as  his  witness,  may 
and  indeed  ought  openly  to  avow  it.  The  true  New  Testament 
oath,  however,  must  ever  retain  its  own  formula — I  call  God  for 
a  record  upon  my  soul.  (2  Cor  i.  23).  On  the  other  hand  the 
formula — So  help  me  God — if  it  mean,  otherwise  may  He  not 
help  me  !  May  God  punish  me !  though  under  the  old  covenant 
of  the  Law's  severity  it  might  have  been  tolerated  (The  Lord  do 
so  to  me !),  must  under  the  covenant  of  grace  be  absolutely 
avoided  as  being  a  self-willed  invasion  of  the  future,  like  the 
language  of  Cain  (Gen.  iv.  13). 

Yer.  37.  Our  communication  should  be  Yea  on  the  lips,  where 
Yea  is  in  the  heart,  Nay  on  the  lips  where  Nay  is  in  the  heart, 
and  therefore  sincere,  not  like  the  devils'  or  the  liars',  or  what 
according  to  Sliakspeare  is  "no  good  divinity,"  consisting  of 
yea-nay  and  nay-yea.     This  is  the  first  and  most  obvious  mean- 

1  To  swear  by  the  life  of  the  King,  Pharoah  or  Solomon,  was  in  a 
sense  tolerated  in  the  Old  Testament  as  being  a  type,  which  referred  to 
the  greater,  the  only  great  King,  (Ps.  lxiii.  12). 

2  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  imoptxh  which  is  here  used  meant 
originally  to  swear  merely,  or  to  swear  often,  and  thence  naturally 
passed  in  its  signification  to  false  swearing — just  as  oaths,  the  more  fre- 
quent they  are,  the  more  frequently  are  they  perjuries  also. 

3  Indeed  "  the  sanctity  of  the  solemn  adjuration  is  exalted  by  the 
prohibition  of  common  and  gratuitous  swearing,"  as  Von  Gerlach  says. 
Compare  also  Rothe's  theory  in  his  Ethik  iii.  576 — 536,  which  agrees 
with  my  exposition. 


188  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ing.  But  then  it  must  be  only  yea  or  nay,  that  is,  of  course,  not 
just  necessarily  this  little  word,  but  affirmative  or  negative  with- 
out any  thing  Trepio-vov,  without  any  superfluous  corroborating 
additions,  therefore  simple  and  definite  : — what  I  say  I  say  and 
believe,  and  let  me  be  trusted !  St  James'  expression  embraces 
both  (ver.  12) : — the  more  sincerely  we  speak,  the  more  simply 
also  shall  we  be  able  to  speak,  since  others  will  have  learnt  to 
rely  upon  our  word.  Further  there  should  only  be  yea  or  nay 
in  our  speech  and  in  our  heart,  where  there  is  yea  or  nay  in  the 
thing  itself,  as  it  is  before  God,  as  the  eternal  truth  of  God  says 
yea  or  nay :  consequently  our  communication  must  be  true, 
according  to  the  reality  of  the  matter  we  speak  of,  so  far  at  least 
as  with  our  best  ability  and  in  good  conscience  we  can  discern  it. 
Finally,  for  this  cannot  be  excluded,  more  particularly  as  the 
discourse  had  just  run  upon  the  keeping  our  word  and  vow  ;  we 
may  not  afterwards  say  nay,  where  we  had  previously  said  yea, 
or  the  reverse,  and  consequently  our  communication  must  be 
consistent  and  stedfast  and  trustworthy  (2  Cor.  i.  17).  Thus 
does  the  Lord  set  before  us,  Himself  using  the  simplest  possible 
form  of  words,  the  ideal  model  of  what  the  holy  speech  of 
God's  children  might  be  and  should  be,  if  the  sin  that  is  in 
the  world  and  their  own  remaining  sinfulness  be  left  out  of  the 
question.  It  does,  indeed,  exclude  even  the  oath  by  the  name  of 
God,  and  relatively  abolish  it ;  but  it  is  not  unconditionally  done 
away,  for  after  the  preceding  words  jur)  ofioaai  oXw?,  this,  as  being 
the  only  oath  permissible,  was  not  expressly  mentioned.  What 
then  is  the  meaning  of  the  following  position?  It  evidently 
modifies  the  former  part  of  the  sentence.  The  literal  observance 
of  the  former  clause  is  necessarily  connected  with  a  false  inter- 
pretation of  the  latter,  as  if  the  Lord  had  said — Whatsoever  is 
more  than  these  is  sin.  But  this  He  did  not  say,  nor  could  He 
have  said  it,  without  subverting  the  system  of  the  world  as 
arranged  since  the  entering  in  of  sin,  and  reflected  in  the  law  of 
Moses ;  nor,  indeed,  without  condemning  Himself.  Not  only  is 
every  oath  a  Trepiaaov,  but  so  also  is  the  Amen  of  Christ  which 
strengthens  the  yea  (2  Cor.  i.  20),  and  even  that  second  yea  which 
on  this  occasion  the  Lord  adds  to  the  first.  Every  confirming 
addition  of  any  kind  may  be  said  to  be  only  a  second,  more  em- 
phatically repeated  yea.     All  this  cometh  of  evil,  the  Lord  says, 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  180 

and  we  are  not  to  understand  6  Trovnpos  as  immediately  referred 
to  in  this  place.  (Asalso  not  in  ch.  vi.  13  ;  Jno.  xvii.  15  ;  comp. 
Rom.  xii.  9  ;  1  Thess.  v.  22.)  Often  enough  it  does,  indeed, 
spring  from  the  sin,  the  evil  that  is  in  the  speaker  himself,  just 
as  Raca  springs  from  his  malevolent  anger,  and  divorce  from  his 
own  infidelity.  But  not  always ;  the  speaker  may  thus  utter  in 
truth  and  in  love,  what  is  forced  upon  him  by  the  world? s  sin,  with 
which  he  has  necessarily  to  do  :  just  as  the  manifold  and  incessant 
protestations  which  pervade  the  entire  Holy  Scripture  must  be 
accounted  for.  Such  conformation  is  consequently  permitted  and 
necessary,  that  is,  where  and  so  far  as  it  is  directed  against  evil. 
The  yea,  yea,  and  nay,  nay  of  God  which  His  servants  must 
maintain  and  protest  against  the  nay-yea  and  the  yea-nay  oi 
wickedness,  comes  not,  therefore,  in  an  evil  sense  from  the  evil 
of  him  who  utters  it,  although  it  is  spoken  on  account  of  evil 
and  therefore  may  be  said  to  originate  in  evil,  it  is  essentially 
good  in  itself  and  cometh  of  good,  even  of  the  very  zeal  of  the 
good  to  overcome  the  evil. 


The  second  example,  which  passes  from  the  word  of  truth  to 
the  work  of  love,  has  reference  to  the  Mosaic  judicial  ordinances 
concerning  revenge,  which  had  been  subject  to  a  still  worse  inter- 
pretation and  application  than  the  former.  For  although  before 
the  tribunal  of  the  sinners'  judge  a  strict  and  righteous  requital 
or  retaliation  of  evil  inflicted  will  find  place  ;  yet  it  is  both  per- 
verse and  perverting  to  appropriate  to  oneself  the  prerogative  oi 
such  requital  in  private  life.  The  Lord  gives  a  fundamental 
example,  which  illustrates  strikingly  the  relation  of  the  external, 
legal  ordinance,  to  the  internal  fulfilment  of  the  Law  according  to 
its  spirit, — to  Christian  love.  The  disciple  of  Christ  should,  in 
patience  or  passive  love  to  his  enemy,  rise  superior  to  all  revenge 
for  the  evil  inflicted  on  him  :  and  this  forms  the  wisely  prepara- 
tory transition  to  the  injunction  which  follows,  of  active  love  of 
our  enemies,  as  being  the  sum  and  the  end  of  the  spiritual  law, 
loving  as  God  loves !  The  Lord  first  specifies  the  falsely  applied 
and  wickedly  misunderstood  Law  of  Moses,  by  simply  quoting 
its  letter  just  as  in  ver.  31  :  presupposing  and  intending,  that 
misunderstanding  and  perversion  of  it,  as  the  contrast  which 


/for     07  THE  ^  ^5*\ 

(UITIVBRSITTJ) 


1  DO  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

follows  makes  evident.  He  commands  His  disciples  rather  to 
endure  evil  or  injustice  :  first,  by  a  general  prohibition  of  resist- 
ance, and  then  by  a  corresponding  command,  which  expressly 
and  precisely  indicates  the  Spirit  which  he  requires,  by  the  act 
which  is  the  test  of  it.  To  do  this  He  lays  down  three  signifi- 
cantly chosen  examples,  and  closes  by  a  requirement,  ver.  42, 
which  being  in  its  letter  incapable  of  being  fulfilled,  draws  our 
minds  from  the  literal  to  a  spiritual  acceptation  of  it,  and  leads 
the  way  to  the  active  love  of  our  enemies. 

Ver.  38.  These  words  occur  thrice  in  the  Law  of  Moses. 
First,  among  the  first  fundamental  precepts  given  to  Moses 
immediately  after  the  decalogue  and  still  upon  the  Mount  (Ex. 
xxi.  23 — 25  ;  where  it  is  defined  by  what  rule  the  arbitrators 
shall  be  guided  in  a  particular  case,  (and  the  proverbial  maxim 
goes  on,  hand  for  hand,  foot  for  foot,  wound  for  wound).  Then  in 
Lev.  xxiv.  19,  20,  where  the  general  judicial  law  for  injuries,  and 
their  compensation  is  laid  down — if  a  man  cause  a  blemish  to  his 
neighbour ;  as  he  hath  done,  so  shall  it  be  done  to  him.  Finally, 
once  more  in  Deut.  xix.  21,  where  this  principle  is  laid  down 
with  reference  to  a  particular  case,  not  being  one  of  injury,  as  a 
rule  of  proportion  to  be  rigorously  applied  :  Thine  eye  shall  not 
spare!  To  administer  this  compensation  of  like  for  like,  is 
entrusted  to  the  judges  as  OYT*?N  > for  &  is  an(i  must  ever  ^e  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  eternal  and  divine  government  of  the 
world,  and  as  such  is  confirmed  afterwards  by  our  Lord  in  ch.  vii. 
2.  Consequently  it  is  not  our  Lord's  design  in  what  He  now 
says  to  condemn  the  application  in  every  commonwealth  of 
this  perfect  rule  of  justice,1  which  provides  against  all  excess 
or  deficiency  in  punishment ;  for  Judgment  and  Justice  are  to 
be  administered  in  the  name  of  God  by  the  magistracy  in  every 
human  society,  and  the  pattern  of  that  administration  in  every 
State  must  be  sought  in  the  government  of  the  Great  King 
over  His  people.  What  He  designs  to  condemn  is  the  read- 
ing and  enforcing  and  obeying  the  statute,  as  if  it  had  been 
written  : — Re,  the  injured  man,  may  exact  like  for  like  from 
his  neighbour,  in  the  exercise  of  a   private  revenge  which  is 

1  Especially,  of  course,  directed  against  the  excess,  though  not  that 
alone  as  Augustine  supposed  :  non  forties  sed  limes  furoris  est.  Contra 
Faust,  xix.  25. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  191 

<niided  by  hatred  and  anger.  As  even  king  Solomon  in  his 
time,  though  not  unmindful  of  what  appertained  to  magisterial 
authority  and  judgment,  knew  how  to  teach  it  in  his  exhor- 
tation :  Say  not,  I  will  do  so  to  him  as  he  has  done  to  me : 
Say  not  thou,  I  will  recompense  evil :  but  wait  on  the  Lord 
and  He  shall  save  thee !  (Prov.  xxiv.  29,  xx.  22  ;  comp.  Ecclus. 
xxviii.  1 — 3).  So  that  the  Lord  here  again  utters  nothing  new, 
but  that  which  Moses  and  the  Prophets  had  already  uttered ;  in 
confirmation  of  which  consult  further  Lev.  xix.  18,  and  mark 
what  is  there  said  in  connexion  with  that  other  law  which  the 
Lord  is  about  to  bring  forward  in  ver.  43.  Our  exposition  may 
now  become  more  and  more  brief,  since  this  example  has  found 
in  part  its  illustration  in  the  two  preceding ;  and  the  three  great 
fundamental  principles  for  the  understanding  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  are  now  firmly  established  on  our  minds  ;  viz.,  that 
the  Lord  does  not  abolish  the  Law,  but  fulfills  it ;  that  He  only 
demands  a  perfect  obedience  to  it  from  His  own,  through  the 
power  of  that  grace  which  His  fulfilment  of  it  has  obtained ;  and 
that  His  requirements  to  that  end  are  by  no  means  to  be  exter- 
nally and  literally  put  in  practice  in  this  evil  world  and  mingled 
Christendom,  but  all  the  Mosaic  laws  and  ordinances  continue 
also  to  hold  their  place.  And  if  in  these  we  find  the  idea  of 
Law  as  opposed  to  Gospel,  and  of  strict  right. as  the  antithesis 
of  patient,  forgiving  love,  made  prominent ;  so  also  will  it  be 
made  clear  that  in  the  present  condition  of  this  world,  love  can 
only  very  gradually  and  in  restricted  measure  have  its  perfect 
exhibition ;  nay,  rather,  that  while  the  children  of  God  are  sup- 
posed to  possess  the  spirit  of  patience,  they  must,  even  for  love's 
sake,  maintain  and  enforce  punitive  and  protective  Law. 

Vers.  39 — 41.  t«  irovrjpw  is  not  to  be  understood  as  in  the 
masculine,  the  Evil  one,  the  Injurer,  any  more  than  in  ver.  37. 
The  expression  is  indeed  related  in  the  two  verses,  but  it  ad- 
vances in  meaning  here,  for  to  nrovnpov  is  not  so  much  evil  or  sin, 
as  the  evidence  of  it  in  the  injury  and  injustice  actually  inflicted 
upon  myself.  We  must  ot  course  oppose  the  sinner  as  such,  and 
his  sin,  even  as  we  resist  the  Devil,  the  wicked  one  whose  malig- 
nity shews  itself  in  each  individual  sinner,  (Jas.  iv.  7).  To  irovr]- 
pov  is  the  fundamental  principle  generally  of  that  evil  which 
opposes,  injures,  oppresses  and  burdens  the  children  of  God  in 


192  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  world.  Hence  is  chap.  vi.  13  to  be  understood,  where 
misery,  and  sin  its  cause,  are  united  in  one  grand  and  compre- 
hensive expression ;  as,  on  the  other  hand,  in  Rom.  xii.  21  to 
kclkov  makes  prominent  the  evil  distinctively,  as  sin,  yet  not 
without  including  its  consequent  suffering.  The  fundamental 
words  and  ideas  of  Scripture  must  be  apprehended  in  all  their 
depth  and  universality  of  meaning  first,  and  then  their  distinct 
and  critical  meaning  in  individual  passages  will  obviously  and 
naturally  present  itself.  To  resist  not  evil !  So  does  the  Lord 
absolutely,  in  the  infinitive  mood,  lay  down  the  law  of  His  king- 
dom for  His  disciples.  What  means  this  dvricrTrjvai,  to  resist  or 
to  oppose  ?  Were  the  word  expunged,  we  should  probably,  look- 
ing at  the  connexion,  supply  its  place  and  its  meaning  by  render 
bach  like  for  like,'  or  retaliate  :  and  this  is  the  actual  signification 
of  the  passage.  As  we  might  say :  ye  shall  not  put  yourselves  in 
opposition  (avTiraacrecrdai,  Jas.  v.  6),  not  strike  again,  not  revile 
again,  not  take  again  (ver.  38),  not  inflict  injury,  in  retaliation  for 
injury,  or  in  defence  against  it.  This  latter  is  necessarily  involved, 
inasmuch  as  he  who  thus  defends  himself,  anticipates  the  func- 
tions of  the  magistrate.  (If  we  could  requite  without  reference 
to  self,  not  in  our  own  person  but  in  the  stead  of  God,  then  might 
every  man  be  his  own  blood- avenger  and  arbiter).  The  three 
examples,  which  illustrate  the  general  position,  are  so  selected  as 
to  descend  from  the  worse  evil  to  the  less : — actual  personal  assault, 
spoliation  of  property,  forcible  constraint  to  a  service  not  due. 
The  Lord,  indeed,  refers  only  to  things  comparatively  unimpor- 
tant, in  order  that  His  words  may  find  their  easy  application  to 
ordinary  life.  He  does  not  begin,  for  instance,  with  the  dashing 
out  of  the  eye  or  the  teeth,  or  with  any  such  wounds  and  bruises  ; 
for  the  sentiment  and  conscience  which  His  word  necessarily 
awakes,  testifies  against  the  instant  exercise  of  private  personal 
vengeance  in  such  cases,  as  being  sinful  and  like  the  haughty 
violence  of  Cain,  (Gen  iv.  23  ;  1  have  slain  in  my  retaliation  a 
man  who  wounded  me !)  ;  but  he  would  teach  us,  that  we  must 
also  patiently  receive  the  smiting  on  the  cheek,  without  permit- 
ting ourselves  even  in  things  so  slight  as  this,  any  measure  of  self- 

1  Hence  Braune  speaks  at  least  without  sufficient  precision  when  he 
says  that  bodily  injury  stands  first,  because  it  is  hardest  to  bear  and 
most  swiftly  provokes  revenge. 


MATTHEW  V. — YII.  193 

revenge  or  retaliation.  This  is  one  side  of  the  case :  according 
to  another  view,  however,  the  slighter  injury  is  oftentimes  more 
irritating  and  more  fraught  with  temptation  than  the  greater, 
since  we  are  led  by  the  natural  impulse  of  fear  to  retire  before 
the  enkindled  rage  of  one  who  would  assault  us,  unless  our  own 
rage  be  as  hot  and  violent  as  his.  In  this  case  it  is  not  so  much 
the  pain  which  is  to  be  taken  into  account,  as  the  shame  of  a 
scornful  insult :  hence  among  all  people,  and  in  all  times,  smiting 
upon  the  cheek  has  been  in  proverbial  use  in  such  a  sense  as  this. 
See  in  the  Old  Testament  Lam.  iii.  30  ;  Job  xvi.  10  ;  Isa.  1.  6 ; 
and  in  the  New  2  Cor.  xi.  20.  The  general  usage  which  puts 
the  members  of  the  right  side  first,  will  explain  the  circumstance 
that  the  right  cheek  is  mentioned  first,  and  not  the  left,  which 
would  receive  a  blow  administered  by  the  right  hand  :  in  St  Luke 
the  one  and  the  other  are  used  instead.  Immeasurably  more  im- 
portant than  such  a  remark  as  this  is  the  rigid  and  most  impres- 
sive contrast  which  must  be  noticed  between  the  requirement : 
— .-turn  to  him  the  other  also!  and  that  heathenish  law  of  honour, 
which  will  not  accept  the  very  slightest  indignity,  but  even  in 
the  midst  of  modern  Christendom,  demands  the  duel  itself.  To 
this  'point  oVhonneur  stands  opposed  the  patient  acceptance  and 
endurance  of  insult,  as  the  genuine  Christian  courage  and 
knightly  honour.  Offer  him  the  other  also — that  is,  in  thy 
heart,  and  in  the  disposition  of  thy  mind ;  calmly  and  patiently 
wait  if  he  may  strike  thee  another  blow,  and  be  ready  to  receive 
that,  also  : — so  far  let  thy  spirit  be  from  opposing,  or  declining  or 
avoiding  it !  This  is  all  that  the  Lord  intends  to  say  by  this 
emphatic  expression,  the  figurative,  proverbial  letter  of  which 
must  be  understood  in  its  spirit,  just  as  we  saw  in  a  similar  case 
before ;  for  the  actual  turning  of  the  other  cheek  might  be  no 
other  than  a  challenge  to  continued  sin,  consequently  itself  sinful, 
and  opposed  to  the  love  of  our  neighbour.  There  might  even  be 
a  proud  despite  in  it,  or  a  mere  hypocritical  affectation.  Christ 
interprets  His  own  word  by  His  own  act  in  Jno.  xviii.  22,  23, 
where  He  gives  to  the  rude  officer  a  gracious  word  of  gentle 
admonition  in  return  for  his  blow,  which,  according  to  Isa.  1.  6, 
the  Lord's  Spirit  would,  however,  have  suffered  him  to  repeat. — 
The  enquiry  in  the  next  example  is  of  little  importance  as  to  the 
relation  between  the  ^ltcop  and  the  IfjuaTiov,  used  conversively  in 


194  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Lu.  vi.  29,  which  gives  a  slightly  different  presentation  of  the 
discourse.      We  must  regard  St  Matthew  the  Apostle  as  giving 
the  more  precise  words  of  our  Lord;  the  Spirit  in  St  Luke,  in 
another  grade  of  inspiration,  teaches  us  that  literal  exactness  in 
such  details  is  not  strictly  necessary.     St  Luke's  view  is  more 
general,  referring  to  an  actual  seizure  (aipeiv),  and  this  begins 
from  the  outside  garment  (Mic.  iL  8  Heb.)  ;  but  St  Matthew's 
refers  to  an  unrighteous  process  at  law  (tcpiQr\vai)  to  obtain  pos- 
session of  the  property  ;  and  the  closer  body-garment  is  therefore 
first  mentioned,  because  the  law  of  Moses  contemplated  the  taking 
of  the  outer  garment  also,  as  the  last  and   most  aggravated 
evil1  (Ex.  xxii.  26,  27).      So  that  it  means  :    if  any  one  would 
unrighteously  rob  thee  (tg>  Oekovri),  and  aims  to  do  it  under  the 
impudent  guise  of  right,  even  if  it  touches  thy  necessary  cloth- 
ing as  nearly  as  the  blow  on  the  cheek  touches  thine  honour, 
thou  must  rather  be  entirely  stripped  than  manifest  a  disposition, 
in  the  spirit  of  discord  and  violence,  and  personal  enmity,  to 
defend  thy  rights  at  law.     We  cannot  but  understand,  however, 
that  this  speaks  of  express  outward  conduct,  (which  could  not 
always  be  externally  maintained,)  only  as  the  figure  and  the  test 
of  an  inward  disposition,  which  should  ever  be  prepared  so  to 
act.     To  every  one  who  would  go  to  law  revengefully,  selfishly, 
stubbornly,  or  out  of  a  weak  devotion  to  this  world's  good,  it  may 
be  said,  as  the  Apostle  wrote  to  the  Corinthians  :  There  is  yet 
utterly  a  fault  among  you  (rjrTT^a) ;  why  do  ye  not  rather  take 
wrong  I  why  do  ye  not  rather  suffer  yourselves  to  be  defrauded  I 
(1  Cor.  vi.  7).       But  if  thou  art  conscious  of  the  indwelling  of 
forbearing  love  in  thy  heart,  that  very  consciousness  will  enable 
thee,  with  all  the  more  propriety,  to  withstand  the  sin  which 
would  wrong  thee  by  defence  of  law,  and  hold  fast  thy  property, 
as  God's  steward,  for  a  better  use.2     The  dyyapevew,  again,  (to 

1  Roos  thinks,  that  perverters  of  the  law  having  no  conscience, 
might  have  taken  away  the  lesser  garment,  imagining  that  so  the  letter 
of  the  Mosaic  Law  would  not  be  transgressed. 

2  Kleuker :  "  "Where  Christ's  aim  is  attainable,  there  the  means  to 
it  becomes  a  duty,  that  is,  though  Christ  specifies  it  not,  where  such 
means  are  means  really  to  that  end ;  and  where  the  spirit  of  Christ's 
aim  cannot  be  attained,  the  mere  mockery  of  the  means  to  it,  is  unreal 
and  unnatural,  even  though  seemingly  coming  under  the  Lord's  speci- 
fication." 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  195 

demand  service  as  messenger  or  guide,  to  lay  claim  to  it  by  force 
as  the  only  right ;  a  word  which  passed  from  the  Persian  usage 
and  speech  into  other  languages,  since  the  same  thing  every- 
where takes  place,  Matt,  xxvii.  32,  where  this  word  occurs,  being 
an  example),  violently  trespasses  upon  personal  rights,  so  that  a 
high  spirited  and  unloving  man  might  well  defend  himself  against 
it  with  all  his  might,  on  the  common  principle — Thou  hast  no 
authority  to  demand  this  of  me,  I  am  not  under  obligation  to 
render  thee  this  !  It  might  indeed,  in  some  circumstances, 
interfere  exceedingly  with  one's  own  wishes  and  business.  But 
yet  it  is,  in  comparison  of  the  blow  on  the  cheek  and  the  rob- 
bery of  one's  garment,  the  lesser  thing,  and  therefore  the  Lord's 
injunction  is  more  imperative — Art  thou  compelled  to  go  one 
mile,  go  with  him  twain !  Shouldst  thou  serve  any  one  for  an 
hour  in  any  matter,  add  yet  another  hour !  This  goes  beyond 
the  mere  negative  endurance  that  went  before,  and  with  ver.  42 
begins  already  the  transition  to  the  exhibition  of  active  love. 
Ver.  44.  Say  to  the  impetuous  maker  of  the  demand,  but  say 
it  with  thy  heart  as  well  as  with  thy  lips — although  I  am  not 
bound  by  any  obligation  of  external  right  or  law,  yet  am  I, 
according  to  the  spirit  and  law  of  love,  both  willing  and  obliged 
to  serve  thee  and  every  man ;  that  which  thou  art  disposed  to 
enforce  from  me,  I  will  do  for  thee  in  free  will  and  in  double 
measure,  preventing  thy  sin  by  my  kindness  !  Such  conduct  is 
actually  practicable  in  many  cases;  and  how  effectual  is  the 
rebuke  it  administers,  how  it  tends  to  peacemaking  and  the  pre- 
vention of  sin ! 

Yet  it  is  not  the  Lord's  will,  when  such  a  motive  is  out  of  the 
question  or  anything  else  might  stand  in  the  way,  to  impose  it 
upon  his  disciples  as  an  absolute  necessity  to  render  every  ser- 
vice that  may  in  this  evil  world  be  demanded  of  them,  any  more 
than  he  requires  them  to  allow  all  their  property  to  be  taken 
from  them,  or  to  tolerate  every  kind  of  personal  insult.  He 
enjoins  only  the  requisite  disposition  of  mind.  As  He  Himself 
often  before  His  hour  was  come,  withdrew  from  the  sinners  who 
assailed  Him  and  hid  Himself:  as  He  counselled  His  disciples  to 
flee  before  persecution  (ch.  x.  23) ;  as  St  Paul  availed  himself  of 
his  rights  as  a  citizen,  and  made  his  appeal  unto  Caesar ;  so  it  is 
permitted  also  to  us   to  do  in  all  respects  the  same,  and  even 


196  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

indicated  to  us  as  better  so  to  do,  for  the  sake  of  the  world's  sin, 
even  though  we  would  sincerely  prefer  to  suffer.  The  Jews 
made  the  regulations  of  public  justice  the  rule  of  private  life : 
but  Christians  must  not  elevate  the  sacred  private  prerogatives 
of  love  into  statute  law  before  the  time.  The  spirit  which  this 
would  require  being  absent,  nothing  but  disorder  can  follow. 
As  the  office  of  the  magistrate  continues  in  existence  for  punish- 
ment of  evil  and  protection  from  wrong,  it  is  our  right  and  our 
duty  to  avail  ourselves  of  it.  However  willingly  I  might  suffer 
myself  to  be  smitten,  as  far  as  myself  and  my  cheek  are  con- 
cerned, yet  must  I  maintain  also  the  honour  of  that  office,  and 
not  let  presumptuous  outrage  go  unpunished.  I  have  not  the 
less  fulfilled  the  Lord's  command  in  its  spirit,  though  I  make  my 
appeal  and  go  to  law  for  my  right,  being  compelled  thereto  by 
another's  wrong,  and  resigning  myself  patiently  to  litigation, 
which  is  directly  opposed  to  my  principles  of  forbearance.1  Even 
absolute  self-defence  is  not  excluded,  where  a  man  assumes  the 
office  of  judge  himself :  it  is  observable  that  the  Lord  did  not 
say — if  any  man  will  kill  thee,  defend  not  thyself,  but  let  it  be 
so  !  There  remain  cases  quite  sufficient  in  which  patience  may 
have  her  perfect  work,  and  Solomon's  word  may  have  its  force  : 
wait  on  the  Lord  and  He  shall  help  thee ;  as  well  as  Christ's 
example,  who  committed  Himself  to  Him  that  judgeth  right- 
eously. "  A  father  says  to  his  children  :  bear  what  your  brothers 
or  sisters  may  do  to  thee,  and  hurt  them  not  in  return ;  will  one 
of  them  take  away  thy  fruit,  give  him  thy  bread  also  rather  than 
engage  in  quarrel  with  him.  But  it  is  tacitly  understood  that 
the  father  means — I  will  presently  compensate  the  patient  child, 
and  visit  the  wrong  upon  the  other."3     The  Lord  will  render 

1  Rud.  Matthai :  "  The  disposition  to  reconciliation  must  be  as  strong 
as  life,  unquenchable  as  the  soul — the  act  of  forgiveness  should  be  as 
discriminating  as  the  distributing  of  any  pearls.  If  thou  wouldst  actu- 
ally heap  coals  of  fire  on  the  head  of  an  enemy,  and  thus  confirm  the 
neighbourhood  in  faith  and  love,  thou  mayest  also  literally  turn  the 
other  cheek,  and  go  the  two  miles,  &c.  But  where  thou  wouldst  only 
cast  thy  wheat  amid  the  hemlock  which  would  choke  it,  keep  it  for 
better  soil,  and  stand  upon  thy  right." 

2  Philosophische  Vorlesungen  iiber  das  sogenannte  Neue  Testament. 
Leipzig,  bei  Junius  1785.  An  original  book  of  Pfenninger,  too  much 
forgotten. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  197 

judgment  and  justice  to  all  who  suffer  wrong ;  vengeance  is  His, 
He  will  repay,  and  that  in  the  full  measure  of  the  most  rigorous 
jus  talionis. 

To  these  three  examples  of  deepening  wrong  which  is  inflicted 
upon  us,  the  Lord  adds  yet  another  word,  which  requires  a  more 
profound  consideration  than  at  first  sight  appears.  Asking  appears 
obviously  after  demanding  to  be  an  inversion  of  the  order :  for  it 
is  the  gentlest  kind  of  desire,  which  acknowledges  my  right  and 
submits  to  my  volition.  The  Lord's  saying,  indeed,  is  in  the 
same  strain  with  that  of  Moses  in  Deut.  xv.  7 — 11,  where  it  is 
commanded,  to  lend  and  give  to  the  poor  brethren,  and  forbidden 
to  harden  the  heart  or  shut  the  hand  against  them ;  just  as  it  is 
commanded  by  the  Apostle,  1  Jno.  iii.  17.  Compare  also  Ecclus. 
iv.  4,  xxix.  2  ;  Tob.  iv.  7,  in  harmony  with  which  passages  we 
have  here  the  admonitory  :  turn  not  those  away  !  Yet  this  asking 
may  be  in  an  imperative  style,  and  many  ungodly  ones  are 
eager  enough  to  borrow,  who  never  think  of  repaying  (Ps. 
xxxvii.  21).  Must  I  then  be  ever  giving  and  giving,  contrary 
to  all  propriety  encouraging  every  hardy  beggar;  and  must  I 
suffer  to  be  begged  and  borrowed  from  me  all  that  1  have  for 
mine  own  proper  use,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  true  service 
of  my  neighbour !  Here  becomes  most  manifest  the  utter  impossi- 
bility of  a  literal  accomplishment  of  all  this.  He  who  should 
thus  give,  would  indeed  give  no  good  gift  to  such  unrighteous 
one,  but  would  violate  the  law  of  love  to  individuals  and  to 
human  society  at  large.  Consequently  we  must  regard  our  Lord 
as  only  laving  down  this  saying  of  Moses  and  of  Sirach,  in  order 
that  He  may  point  out  and  enforce  the  spiritual  and  not  the 
literal  fulfilment  of  this  commandment  of  love,  which  has  become 
a  maxim  among  all  nations  ;  He  speaks  figuratively  as  in  the  for- 
mer instances.  The  transition  from  them  to  this  is  plain  in  this 
obvious*  connexion  :  do  to  him  who  violently  compels  thee,  what 
he  asks,  just  as  if  he  had  requested  it.1  Whom  does  the  Lord, 
in  his  deep  meaning,  intend,  by  him  who  asketh  of  thee  ?  No 
other  than  the  Whosoever  of  vers.  39 — 41,  just  as  the  Adversary 
of  ver.  25  was  the  brother  of  ver.  24.      Not  merely  he  who 

1  Which  connexion  in  Lu.  vi.  29 — 30  is  yet  more  obvious :  Let  the 
taking  away  and  robbing  be  like  asking  from  thee. 


198  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

expressly  and  in  words  asks  of  me  : — that  would  be  a  Pharisaical 
cleaving  to  the  mere  letter,  so  interpreting  I  might  let  my  bene- 
volence wait  till  asked,  and  keep  the  commandment  by  not  turning 
from  one  who  never  asked  me ;  or  with  hypocritical,  proud,  or 
heedless  dispatch  send  him  away  with  "There  thou  hast  it,"  which 
could  only  do  him  harm.  (Give  also  to  him,  who  asketh  not  of 
thee — is  as  valid  against  this  as,  on  the  other  hand,  Give  not  to 
every  one  who  asketh  of  thee !)  The  asking,  which  I  must  be 
accessible  to,  is  need  itself;  the  seeing  my  brother  in  want.  The 
needy  one  speaks  by  his  very  presence  to  my  heart — Help  me  to 
the  best  of  thy  ability  !  And,  finally,  in  the  spirit  of  the  word — 
what  is  it  that  he  who  injures  and  constrains  me  seeks  of  me, 
without  saying  so  or  being  conscious  of  it  1  Nothing  less  than 
the  best  and  highest  gift  I  could  bestow,  the  proof  of  my  love, 
which  he  in  his  hardness  of  heart  so  pressingly  needs  as  an 
example  for  his  reproof  and  amendment.  And  that  I  should  give 
him  in  the  form  which  may  seem  best  to  the  wisdom  of  my 
charity ;  either  by  enduring  or  resisting,  by  giving  or  withholding. 
Thus  much  remains  certain  after  all  is  said :  whosoever  opposes 
the  evil  which  comes  against  him  by  any  the  slightest  exhibition 
of  evil,  that  is,  does  any  thing  to  the  evil-doer  which  is  opposed 
to  the  spirit  of  enduring,  forbearing  love,  himself  commits  evil,  as 
far  as  in  him  lies,  aggravates  instead  of  amends  it  on  the  other, 
and  denies  that  example  of  righteousness  and  of  love  which  his 
neighbour's  unrighteousness  and  uncharitableness  demanded  at 
his  hands.  That  is  the  most  profound  significance  of  the  "  but" 
in  ver.  39.  Oppose  not  irovnpov  to  irovrjpov,  but  good  to  evil, 
patience  and  love  to  evil-doing !  Every  enemy  as  an  enemy  asks 
of  me  to  overcome  him  with  love,  to  heap  coals  of  fire  on  his 
head  :  that  thus  I  may  take  away  his  enmity  by  the  requital  of 
abounding  love,  according  to  the  highest  examples  of  my  Father 
in  heaven,  (^ers.  44—48  ;  Isa.  lix.  17,  18  ;  Ps.  xli.  11.)  It 
may  probably  be  found  to  be  only  a  lending  of  love,  which  will 
come  back  to  me  in  rich  return  :  but  I  should  be  disposed  to  im- 
part it  also  to  the  ungodly  who  would  borrow  it  without  ever 
repaying ;  and  unweariedly  to  impart  to  every  one  from  the  inex- 
haustible capital  of  my  love,  and  that  without  hope  of  interest  in 
the  return  of  love.     Consult  Lu.  vi.  32 — 35,  which,  in  a  more 


MATTHEW  V. — VI I.  199 

extended  discourse,  perfectly  confirms  the  view  that  lending  is  a 
figurative  expression  for  love. 


How  abundantly  has  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  hitherto  drawn 
out  of  the  depths  of  eternal  wisdom  its  fundamental  far-reaching 
principles  of  truth  !  In  what  luminous  words  of  its  own  has  it 
set  before  us  its  new  teaching,  which  is  yet  only  the  kernel  of  the 
already  extant  word  of  God  in  the  Old  Testament  released  from 
its  shell,  and  in  the  unity  of  fulfilment  is  one  with  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets!  How  majestic  in  its  independence  does  every 
isolated  word  stand,  and  yet  how  does  one  hang  upon  another, 
and  spring  from  it  in  a  living,  harmonious  organic  progression  ! 
Could  the  Publican  Matthew,  or  any  other  hand,  successively 
have  woven  together  this  fabric  from  detached  and  single  words, 
after  the  manner  of  men  \  Or  could  the  Spirit  of  Christ  Him- 
self have  blended  them  altogether  by  the  Apostle's  instrumen- 
tality under  the  untrue  superscription  :  He  went  up  into  a  moun- 
tain, opened  his  mouth,  and  taught  them  saying —  ?  No,  the 
Lord  did  verily  speak  from  the  mountain,  and  in  this  very 
manner  did  He  open  His  mouth  for  His  first  most  solemn  dis- 
course. 

It  may  be  hoped  that  we  are  now  more  able,  the  farther  we 
proceed,  to  enter  into  the  meaning  of  the  Lord's  words  and 
manner  of  teaching.  The  two  examples  taken  from  the  Mosaic 
statute  and  penal  law  were  intended,  in  opposition  to  the  Phari- 
sees' false  exposition  of  the  Law,  to  point  His  disciples  to  such  a 
fulfilment  of  it  in  its  spirit  as  should,  by  working  from  within 
outwardly,  render  those  ordinances  useless ;  while  at  the  same 
time  it  should  assign  to  the  legal,  judicial  element  in  them,  its 
proper  place,  and  vindicate  for  it  its  true  use.  Now  follows  the 
third  example,  which  returns  again  to  the  Moral  Law,  or  law  of 
holiness.  As  this  is  to  close  the  distinctive  reference  to  the 
commandments,  it  is  not  one  of  the  individual  commandments  of 
the  Decalogue  which  is  introduced,  as  the  first  quotations  had 
been ;  but  the  epitome  of  the  whole  second  tables  as  Moses  had 
already  specified  it ;  viz.,  the  law  of  love>  of  that  one  central 
disposition  of  mindy  which  should  evidence  itself  in  every  word 
and  every  work.     In  this  case,  in  which  the  wicked  principle  of 


200  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

natural  selfishness  not  willing  to  understand  the  law,  comes  into 
direct  collision  with  its  clear  and  unmistakeable  terms,  the 
mischievous  perversion  takes  the  form  of  an  arbitrary  addition, 
which  mutilates  the  precept  and  entirely  disannuls  its  meaning. 
The  misinterpreting  appendage  at  ver.  21  was  actually  a  precept 
of  the  Mosaic  ordinance ;  the  error  consisted  only  in  bringing 
down  the  Sinaitic — Thou  shalt  not  kill !  to  the  level  of  a  mere 
sentence  upon  homicide.  But  the  daring  addition  to  the  Divine 
precept — and  hate  thine  enemy  !  is  nowhere  found  in  holy  writ. 
This  human  and  wicked  selfishness,  which  would  assert  its  hatred 
in  the  very  face  of  the  commandment  of  love,  is  met  and  opposed 
by  the  fresh  disclosure  in  its  clearest  expression  of  the  central 
spirit  of  the  old  law.  Thou  shalt  love  just  as  God  loves, 
that  is  with  the  love  of  mercy,  with  the  active  love  of  thine 
enemy.  That  is  the  holiness  which  is  to  be  established  in  thee. 
The  whole  aptly  fits  in  with  that  which  commenced  in  vers. 
21 — 26  ;  where  the  adversary  was  manifestly  a  brother,  with 
whom  I  should  be  reconciled  in  the  love  of  God.  Yer.  44 
merely  lays  down  the  command  to  love  our  enemies  with  its  evi- 
dences, as  the  express  opposite  to  the  perverted  addition ;  ver. 
45  immediately  follows  with  its  foundation  in  the  example  of 
our  heavenly  Father ;  then  the  importance  of  the  subject  demands 
a  reference  once  more  to  the  contrast  of  those  who,  with  all  their 
selfishness,  yet  make  their  talk  and  their  boast  of  love  (vers.  46, 
47).  This  is,  however,  no  love  ;  but  the  Pharisees  prove  them- 
selves to  be  no  better  than  the  publicans,  the  arrogant  self- 
righteous  ones  in  Israel  no  better  than  the  despised  sinners,  yea, 
even,  the  heathens.  (This  latter  paves  the  way  for  the  second 
main  contrast  in  chap.  vi.  19 — 34  :  not  like  the  Gentiles !)  These 
are  two  convincing  questions,  which  presuppose,  notwithstanding 
all  their  hypocritical  perversion,  a  right  understanding  in  their 
consciences  :  the  one  points  forward  to  the  reward,  which  will 
presently  be  discussed  (chap.  vi.  1,  4,  6,  18),  the  other  points 
back  to  the  exceeding  righteousness  which  in  chap.  v.  20  was 
required.  Ver.  48  forms  the  sublime  conclusion — the  first  of 
those  three  fundamental  laws  (or  in  the  superficial  language  of 
modern  times,  principles  of  morality)  which  are  laid  down  by  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  the  second  and  the  third  being  found  in 
chap.  vi.  33  ;  vii.  12.     This  first  one  points  toward  heaven,  and 


MATTHEW  V.— Vir.  201 

the  fountain  of  mercy  in  the  Divine  love  to  enemies  (Kom.  v. 
10),  as  the  source  whence  our  love  should  flow.  It  also  at  the 
same  time  prepares  the  way,  in  passing,  for  that  which  chap.  vi. 
introduces  :  let  your  righteousness  be  in  the  sight  of  the  Father, 
who  looks  to  the  hidden  thought  of  the  heart ;  and  not  terminate 
in  hypocritical  acts  in  the  sight  of  man. 

Ver.  43.  The  beginning  of  that  wicked  and  wanton  misunder- 
standing which  is  here  condemned  in  Pharisaic  Israel,  was  their 
restriction  of  the  commanded  love  of  our  neighbour  to  their  own 
people  only,  and  their  contempt  of  the  heathens  as  enemies  whom 
they  might,  and  indeed  should  hate.  This  was  the  all-pervading 
false  interpretation  which  their  uncircumcised  hearts  put  upon 
God's  revelations  and  institutions  for  His  peculiar  people.  But 
as  the  Jewish,  like  all  other  national  pride  in  general,  is  only  an 
expansion  of  the  selfish  haughtiness  of  the  I  into  that  of  the 
We,  the  limitation  did  not  tarry  at  that  point,  but  the  "  neigh- 
bour "  became  more  narrowly  interpreted  even  within  their  own 
bounds  as  a  people.  It  has  been  assumed  that  Moses  does  indeed 
often  so  speak  as  if  the  neighbour  was  only  the  fellow-Israelite ; 
but  this  was  only  so  far  the  case  as  such  was  naturally  the 
most  obvious  application  of  the  term  in  common  life  among  a 
people  so  isolated  and  self-contained.  Let  it  be  noted,  more- 
over, how  expressly,  in  the  very  chapter  from  which  our  Lord 
derives  the  compendious  law  of  brotherly  love  (Lev.  xix.  18), 
the  strangers  are  included  in  that  law  (vers.  33,  34),  just 
as  in  ver.  10,  they  are  coupled  with  all  other  poor.1  And 
does  not  the  constantly-recurring  ajp  point  back  to  the  Deca- 
logue, the  commandments  of  which  are  recapitulated  in  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter  (Lev.  xix.)  ?  But  where  is  the  ex- 
positor who  would  venture  to  say  that  it  was  lawful  for  Israelites 
dwelling  in  heathen  lands  to  bear  false  witness  against  the  heathen 
man  outside  the  land  of  Israel,  or  to  covet  his  wife  or  his  house  1 
Thus  in  this  chapter  (Lev.  xix.  18),  "  the  children  of  thy  people" 
and  "  thy  neighbour"  cannot  be  one  and  the  same  ;  but  the  latter 
part  of  the  sentence  is  the  general  law  upon  which  is  based  the 
more  limited  application  in  the  former : — Thou  shalt  not  bear 


1  Zech.  vii.  10  includes  the  stranger  among  others,  who  are  called 
Brethren. 


202  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

grudge  against  the  children  of  thy  people,  for  thou  shalt  love 
every  man !  and  no  less  than  as  thyself  71  It  is  in  the  highest 
degree  characteristic  that  the  Lord  imputes  to  Pharisaism  the 
omission  of  just  this  word  :  though  the  doctors  of  the  law  tole- 
rated, and  included  it  in  the  dead  letter,  they  utterly  disregarded 
it  in  effect.  What  means  it  other  than  this, — that  I  should  place 
myself  in  thought  in  the  place  of  the  other,  and  do  to  him  what 
I  would  desire  to  have  done  to  myself?  (ch.  vii.  12).  Thus 
apprehended  it  gives  itself  an  immediate  and  sufficing  answer 
to  the  cavilling  question — Who  is  my  neighbour  1  Every  one, 
assuredly,  by  whom  I  would  be  loved;  and  would  not  the  Jew, 
needing  charity  and  its  kind  offices  of  help,  desire  them  even  from 
Samaritans  and  Gentiles  1  (Lu.  x.  29 — 36).2  But  here,  instead 
of  this  rejected  appendage,  which  condemns  all  selfishness  and 
opposes  all  limitation  of  the  precept,  another  is  substituted  which 
absolutely  sets  self  upon  the  throne,  above  our  neighbour  and 
against  him,  with  all  its  bitter  wilfulness — and  hate  thine  enemy  ! 
Who  then  is  my  enemy  1  Every  one,  in  fine,  whom  it  pleases 
me  so  to  term,  for  cause  of  enmity  sinful  man  will  never  be  slow 
to  discover  or  invent.  But  the  Law  says  rather — thou  shalt  not 
hate,  that  is,  on  thy  part  thou  shalt  have  no  enemy,  thou  shalt  regard 
and  treat  no  man  as  such.  Thou  shalt  not  hate  thy  brother  in 
thy  heart  (even  when  he  sins  against  thee),  but  rebuke  his  sin  in 
the  spirit  of  sincere  love,3  thou  shalt  not  bear  grudge  nor  avenge ! 
(Lev.  xix.  17,  18).  Even  the  adversary  in  judgment  is  continu- 
ally spoken  of  as  a  "neighbour."  (Ex.  xviii.  16 ;  Lev.  xix.  15). 
But  the  Pharisee  who  will  insidiously  evade  the  Law  without 
tampering  with  its  letter,  gives  its  meaning  a  rash  and  narrow 

1  There  can  be  no  more  mischievous  perversion  of  Scripture,  or 
slander  of  the  Old  Testament,  than  what  Dietlein  maintains  : — that  the 
Law  commanded  hatred  of  an  enemy,  not  merely  permitted  it — and  that 
the  enemy  whom  the  Mosaic  institute  commanded  to  hate  was  every 
stranger !  Formerly  the  Rationalists  only  spoke  thus,  and  every  Chris- 
tian man  contradicted  it. 

2  Observe  hence  once  more,  how  falsely  Christian  theologians  impute 
hatred  of  an  enemy  to  the  Old  Testament  Law.  Against  von  Gerlach 
let  the  great  difference  be  remembered  between  hating  "  the  enemy" 
and  uthy  enemy."  Where  in  all  the  Old  Testament  is  the  latter 
found? 

3  "  The  enemy  is  just  so  far  our  neighbour,  as  he  most  of  all  harasses 
and  occupies  us. " — Lange. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  203 

interpretation,  until,  finally,  nothing  remains  but — my  neigh- 
bour is  he,  who  loves  me  (ver.  46).  And  since  this  love,  so 
eagerly  desired,  very  easily  admits  of  any  cause  of  interruption^ 
he  is  only  my  neighbour  so  long  as  no  offence  causes  me  to  declare 
him  my  enemy.  Thus  is  the  godless  perversion  of  the  precept 
perfected  in  an  express  contradiction  to  it ;  just  as  now-a-days 
the  proverb  too  often  runs  among  Christians — Every  man  is 
his  own  neighbour ! 

Ver.  44.  In  sublime  contrast  to  this  is  the  mighty  re-assertion 
of  the  Law  which  must  be  fulfilled : — But  I  say  unto  you  !  What 
terms  more  entirely  harmonize  in  the  natural  mind  than  enemy 
and  hate  f  It  is  the  full,  undisguised  heathenism  of  the  carnal 
mind  which  the  Pharisees  condensed  into  an  express  precept,  a 
genuine  essential  precept  of  man,  and  then  appended  it  to  a  com- 
mandment of  God  as  its  exposition !  But  wrhen  that  command- 
ment said — "  Love  thy  neighbour,"  it  also  signified  no  less  than 
Love  thine  enemy  I  impossible  as  it  may  still  be  to  human  nature 
to  reconcile  the  two.  All  heathens  have  been  conscious,  that  the 
love  of  an  enemy  was  a  beautiful  and  a  noble  thing :  and  it  is 
actually  asserted  throughout  the  Old  Testament,  in  its  histories, 
proverbs,  and  precepts  ;  see,  for  example,  only  Ex.  xxiii.  4,  5 ; 
Job.  xxxi.  29 ;  Prov.  xxiv.  17  ;  xxv.  21,  22.  Thus  it  is  not  any- 
thing new  which  the  Lord  announces  as  His  Law.  He  only 
brings  new  grace  for  its  right  fulfilment,  as  He  thus  already 
erects  brotherly  love  into  a  new  spiritual  commandment.  After 
having,  in  the  impressively  simple  antithesis — Love  your  enemies  I 
laid  down  first  of  all  the  internal  sentiment,  which  was  of  chiefest 
importance ;  He  exhibits  its  progressive  operation  in  three 
degrees,  which  through  word  and  act  lead  back  to  the  inner  dis- 
position again.  As  enmity  advances,  must  the  maintenance  and 
proof  of  love  keep  pace  with  it.  Bless  them  that  curse  you, 
oppose  words  of  love  and  peace  to  words  of  scorn  and  insult !  If 
the  word  of  blessing  suffices  not  (which  is  mostly  the  case)  pro- 
ceed further,  to  deed  answering  deed  ;  do  good  to  them  that  hate 
you,  that  show  themselves  by  more  than  a  single  curse,  by  per- 
sistent conduct,  to  be  your  haters !  And  when  the  good  deed 
is  not  sufficient  (which  again,  when  rightly  understood,  is  always 
the  case),  continue  nevertheless  to  preserve  that  disposition 
before  God,  which  was  the  love  spoken  of  at  the  beginning: 


204  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use  you1  and  persecute  you  ! 
Bless  them  not  merely  in  words  but  in  acts — which  is  more 
difficult :  the  answer  of  kind  words  might  be  in  vain  without 
the  proof  of  deeds.  Let  it  not  be  thought  enough  to  say — I  will 
not  revile  again,  but  will  speak  affectionately ;  yea,  not  enough 
to  dispatch  it  quickly  by  saying  to  God — Let  them  curse  but 
bless  Tliou  !  But  there  must  be  a  real  earnestness  in  the  prayer, 
as  it  is  uttered  in  the  prophetic  Psalm  (cix.  28) : — Bless  thou 
through  me,  by  my  well-doing  to  them !  and  when  even  this  does 
not  overcome  the  enmity,  and  cause  the  despiteful  treatment  and 
persecution  to  cease,  continue,  nevertheless,  in  intercession :  Bless 
Thou  !  This  is  the  last  and  severest  test  of  the  pure  spirit  of 
love,  without  which  the  blessing  and  the  doing  good  could  never 
in  God's  estimation  bear  the  name  of  love  at  all.  The  putting 
one  who  hates  to  confusion  by  abundant  deeds  of  kindness  might 
even  be  a  matter  of  Pharisaical  and  hypocritical  pride,  a  sweet 
revenge  under  another  form  :  but  he  who  can  pray  for  his  enemy, 
loves  him  indeed.  This  already  penetrates  that  secret  region  of 
which  ch.  vi.  4—12  speaks  more  at  large,  and  is  the  transition  to 
what  immediately  follows  concerning  the  Father  in  heaven,  who 
looks  in  his  children's  hearts  for  love  like  His  own. 

Yer.  45.  That  which  in  vers.  9  and  16  was  preparatorily  spoken, 
is  summed  up  in  one  word — the  children  of  your  Father  which  is 
in  heaven  !  The  regeneration  that  underlies  this,  and  is  procured 
through  the  grace  of  the  Son  (John  i.  12),  is  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  a  mystery  unspoken,  but  which  betrays  itself  to  our 
notice,  or  at  least  to  our  anticipation,  in  the  very  foundation  of 
the  discourse.  For  the  faith  of  any  one  who  heard  it  might  have 
concluded : — He  who  discloses  and  condemns  with  such  severity 
the  sin  of  the  heart,  and  exacts  such  lofty  requirements,  Himself 
designs  to  bring  the  kingdom  of  His  Father  to  the  poor,  and 
with  it  satisfy  those  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  God's  love  as 
their  righteousness.     That  the  Lord  sets  up  the  perfection  of 

1  'Enrjped&iv  is  not  "slander"  or  "revile,"  for  that  would  be  no  advance 
in  meaning  upon  cursing  and  hating,  but  according  to  Hesychius  it  is 
equiv.  to  Pid(eiv,  inflict  injury.  The  persecution  points  back  to  ver.  10. 
Or  we  should  have  with  Lange  (iii.  386—389)  to  oppose  the  secret 
intercession  to  the  secret  and  quiet  vilification — but  how  could  this  be 
philologically  established  ? 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  205 

merciful  well-doing  after  the  example  of  the  Father  as  the  high 
aim  of  an  ever-growing  exercise  and  appropriation,  was  already 
intimated  in  the  progressive  series  of  the  benedictions,  as  it  is  now 
again  in  the  ascending  stages  of  ver  44.  The  mercy  of  the 
Father  comes  to  us  freely  and  preparatorily  :  he  who  exercises  to 
others  that  which  he  has  obtained,  experiences  thereby  more  and 
more  the  purification  of  his  heart  from  every  thing  which  is  con- 
trary to  that  mercy ;  as  we  there  apprehended  and  expounded  it. 
So  that  we  may  here  also,  without  hesitation  or  fear,  lay  the  stress 
either  upon  the  07r<w? — in  order  that  ye  may  be  so  ever  more  and 
more,  that  ye  may  approve  yourselves  more  and  more  fully,  and 
at  last  in  absolute  perfection  as  children  resembling  their  Father, 
or  upon  the  <yevr)<rde — in  order  that  ye  may  be  so.  Our  Lord 
designedly  does  not  refer  to  the  spiritual  exhibitions  of  mercy  to 
sinners  as  the  pattern  of  the  divine  and  fatherly  benevolence ; 
but,  in  order  to  work  a  more  instant  conviction,  appeals  to  that 
general  testimony  of  nature  which  was  as  open  to  the  heathen  as 
it  was  to  Israel  (Acts  xiv.  17)  :  for  it  is  His  purpose  to  reduce 
Israel  and  the  heathen  to  the  same  level,  in  relation  to  the  Law 
and  to  grace,  even  as  the  Baptist  had  done  before  Him.  Moses 
and  the  Prophets  had  demonstrated  the  goodness  of  God  from 
His  sending  down  rain  and  the  blessing  of  heaven  which 
made  fruitful  the  earth:  (Deut.  xi.  10—15;  Ps.  lxv.  10,  11; 
Jer.  v.  24,  xiv.  22).  The  heavens  cannot  rain  of  themselves, 
and  we  should  not  be  content  with  an  unmeaning  "it  rains" 
which  places  Nothing  in  the  place  of  the  living  God ;  for  it  is 
God  who  rains,  or  who  causes  rain  (as  Israel  sadly  learned  in 
the  frequent  shutting  of  the  heavens),  even  as  it  is  His  sun  which 
He  causes  to  rise.  His  manifestation  of  Himself  as  the  mighty 
Creator  and  Lord,  is  also,  as  such,  the  revelation  of  His  goodness : 
"  for  he  is  mighty  and  despiseth  not  any ;  for  he  is  mighty  also 
in  strength  of  heart."  (Job  xxxvi.  5).  His  loving-kindness  in 
nature  is  further  the  type  and  the  promise  of  the  spiritual  gifts 
of  His  grace  for  the  innermost  necessities  of  the  heart  of  man. 
Rain,  in  the  prophetic  Scriptures,  is  often  referred  to  with  this 
meaning,  (Ps.  lxxii.  6 ;  Isa.  xiv.  8 ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  2Q ;  Hos.  vi.  3, 
x.  12),  and  also  the  light  of  the  sun,  as  the  Lord  had  already 
intimated  in  ver.  14.  Christ  Himself,  according  to  the  conclud- 
ing promise  of  the  Old  Testament  (Mai.  iv.  2),  is  the  sun  of 


206  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

righteousness,  and  in  Him  beams  forth  in  its  fullest  radiance 
the  Divine  love  towards  enemies.  (Rom.  v.  8 — 10.)  We  who 
now  know  this,  detect  such  meaning  in  His  words  :  but  He  then 
spoke,  even  while  the  light  of  grace  was  graciously  beaming  in 
His  face,  only  of  the  light  of  the  natural  sun.  He  did  not  say  : 
that  ye  may  be  my  disciples  and  my  brethren  (as  afterwards  Jno. 
xiii.  34,  35,  as  I  have  loved  you ;  and  the  Apostles,  Eph.  v.  1) 
— but  in  His  labours  and  His  lessons  of  love  glorified  His  father 
in  heaven.  He  blessed  those  who  reviled  Him,  even  in  rebuking 
He  blessed  them ;  He  persisted  in  works  of  benevolence  and 
healing  in  spite  of  all  opposition  ;  and  He  openly  prayed  for  the 
evildoers,  who  inflicted  upon  Him  the  last  injury,  as  He  had 
prayed  for  them  all  His  life  long  in  secret  (Ps.  xxxv.  12 — 14, 
cix.  4).  That  He  here  magnifies  the  Father's  goodness  to  the 
evil  and  the  good,  the  just  and  the  unjust,  is  to  be  understood 
partly  as  referring  to  the  relative  proportion  in  a  mixed  multi- 
tude between  the  seeming  good  and  bad ;  and  partly  as  if  it  had 
been  said — on  the  evil  and  the  unjust,  who  deserve  it  not,  as  if 
they  were  good  and  just,  without  any  reference  to  merit  and 
worthiness.1  For  who  is  good  and  just  in  His  sight  3  We  are 
none  of  us  worthy  that  His  sun  should  shine  upon  us.  Hence 
St  Luke  briefly  expresses  the  fundamental  idea — He  is  kind  unto 
the  unthankful  and  to  the  evil. 

"Vers.  46,  47.  Eeturning  once  more  to  the  contrast  of  the  Pha- 
risaic spirit,  we  have  an  advancement  in  the  idea,  a  full  revela- 
tion now  for  the  first  time  of  their  unrighteousness  and  loveless- 
ness.  Before  it  was  that  they  hated  their  enemies,  thinking  that 
that  was  lawful,  provided  only  they  loved  their  "neighbour." 
But  they  really  love  not  at  all,  in  strict  truth,  these  their  so- 
called  neighbours,  friends  and  brethren.  They  have  so  far 
narrowed  the  circle,  that  not  merely  those  who  hate  them  are 
excluded  from  their  love,  but  also  those  who  love  them  not. 
But  if  ye  only  love  those  who  love  you,  can  this  be  indeed  called 
love,  which  is  in  its  very  nature  anticipating,  and  abundant,  and 
universal,  like  the  shining  of  the  sun  ?  Is  it  not  rather  a  seek- 
ing of  your  own,  and  in  its  principle  simply  a  loving  of  yourself? 


1  Which  is  also  indicated  by  the  interchange  of  the  leading  word — 
the  evil  are  mentioned  first  in  the  former,  the  just  in  the  latter. 


MATTHEW    V. VII.  207 

This  question  the  Lord  presses  upon  their  consciences,  which 
cannot  refuse  to  give  back  a  true  answer.  If  He  speaks  of  this 
as  "love,"  it  is  with  that  severe  irony  which  He  may  use  towards 
hypocrites  :  they  are  said  to  love,  in  the  same  sense  as  they  are 
called  righteous  and  have  righteousness  attributed  to  them  (ver. 
20).  This  is,  indeed,  the  sense  of  all  mankind  :  no  man  ever  yet 
hated  his  own  flesh ;  he  that  loveth  his  wife  loveth  himself,  and 
seeks  his  own  personal  comfort  (Eph.  v.  28,  29) ;  he  that  loveth 
friend  and  brother  is  not  impelled  by  any  voluntary  disposition 
of  his  mind,  but  by  the  mere  natural  feeling  that  it  is  his  own 
friend  and  brother  that  he  loves.  This  is  the  so-called  love  of 
his  neighbour  which  the  natural  man  is  said  to  entertain.  If  he 
attempts  to  plead  it  in  justification,  however,  in  the  presence  of 
strict  law,  the  mask  of  "  more  than  others  "  is  plucked  away  by 
the  Lord,  who  shows  it  to  be  only  the  common  Pharisaism  which 
extends  even  to  publicans  and  heathens.  No  man  is  so  wicked 
and  abandoned,  no  sinner  is  so  essentially  devilish,  as  not  to  have 
some  objects  of  his  selfish  election,  of  whom  he  may  say — I  love 
them  because  they  love  me.  Do  not  even  the  publicans  the 
same?  In  St  Luke  this  saying  is  expressed  in  another  form, 
which  simply  gives  the  general  principle  involved  in  it — sinners 
also  do  even  the  same.  But  here  the  Lord's  expression  deepens 
its  emphasis  in  the  second  question — do  not  even  the  heathens 
the  same?  (which  reading  is  both  on  external  and  internal 
grounds  to  be  preferred.)  For  the  Pharisees  always  placed  the 
publicans  on  a  level  with  the  heathen  (Matt,  xviii.  17) ;  as  they 
were  seen  to  be  no  better  than  the  publicans,  the  second  contrast 
(afterwards  again  in  ch.  vi.  7)  is  ready  to  be  introduced,  by 
which  the  Lord  will  teach  His  righteousness — not  like  the 
heathen !  Therefore  He  had  not  said  that  the  Father  caused 
His  sun  to  rise  and  sent  His  rain  upon  Jews  and  heathen: 
because  this  pharisaically-apprehended  antithesis  is  merged  in 
the  one,  true  distinction  of  just  and  unjust.  ' '  Aaird^eaOai,  to 
count  worthy  of  greeting  and  friendly  intercourse,  attaches 
itself  to  the  evkoyeiv  of  ver.  44 ;  not  without  allusion  to  the  fact 
that  a  Jew  only  gave  his  Di^ttf  to  a  Jew,  a  Pharisee,  certainly 
never  to  a  publican.  Your  brethren  is  ironically  spoken,  even 
as  the  love  here  apparently  conceded  is  to  those  whom  you 
regard   and    acknowledge   as   such :    whereas   (vers.   22  —  24), 


208  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

from  the  days  of  Cain  and  Abel  every  man  is  every  man's 
brother  !  Alas  that  the  disciples  of  Christ  in  the  present  day 
should  need  so  much  to  be  warned  against  a  Pharisaism  still 
extant — let  not  your  brotherly  love  fall  short  of  love  universal  I 
(2  Pet.  i.  7,  tt)v  dydTrrjv  simply,  which  is  alone  the  truly  catholic 
love).  What  reward  have  ye  ?  A  precarious  and  transitory 
reward  in  man's  praise  and  in  his  fleeting  favour,  but  none  from 
the  Father  in  heaven;  which  prepares  the  way  for  ch.  vi.  1, 
even  as  it  looks  back  to  ch.  v.  12.  Similarly  il  irepLa-aov  refers 
to  ver.  20,  where  a  ireptaaeveiv  of  righteousness  was  required, 
beyond  that  false  one  of  those  "  saints"  who  were  like  all  other 
sinners.  Thus  progressively  the  inner  connexion  of  the  fun- 
damental ideas  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  exhibit  themselves 
to  our  view ! 

Ver.  48.  Tekeios  is  primarily,  according  to  the  usage  of  the 
LXX.  D*ift]-|>  but  ctxnrep  gives  it  such  an  elevation  of  meaning 
that  it  becomes  equivalent  to  the  flJVffi  °^  (x°d-  &  is  used  here 
in  the  sense  of  that  fundamental  commandment  which  comprised 
within  itself  the  whole  Law  of  Israel,  as  well  the  external  ordi- 
nances as  those  moral  precepts  with  which  they  were  inwardly 
bound  up  : — Ye  shall  therefore  be  holy,  for  I  am  holy  !  (Lev. 
xi.  45,  xix.  2,  xx.  7,  26.)  It  is  to  this  that  the  Lord  now  refers 
on  closing  His  citation  of  separate  commandments,  reducing  the 
sum  of  the  second  table  to  the  sum  of  the  first  table  and  of  the 
whole  Law.  This  is  the  distinctive  irepiaaov  of  the  children  of 
God  (Deut.  xiv.  1)  through  which  they  are  sanctified  and  sepa- 
rated from  an  evil  world  to  the  honour  of  the  ever-praised 
Father.  But  what  is  that  virtue  of  His  holiness,  of  which  He 
will  make  His  children  partakers  ?  God  is  holy  as  the  conde- 
scending and  Merciful  One  :  His  highest,  most  perfect  praise  is 
that  it  must  be  said  He  is  Love,  in  a  sense  in  which  it  is  not, 
and  cannot  be,  said  He  is  Omnipotence,  He  is  Justice.  Love  is 
even  in  Him  the  bond  of  perfectness,  the  essence  of  all  His 
other  attributes  and  perfections.  We  may  be,  and  we  should  be, 
not  almighty  as  God  is,  but  merciful  as  He  is,  and  St  Luke  with 
perfect  propriety  uses  this  word  instead.  This  is  our  perfection, 
this  is  our  being  entire  and  complete  before  God  and  in  God.  For 
children  are  indeed  only  perfect  as  children.      This  is  set  up 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  209 

by  our  Father  as  the  goal  of  our  attainment — Be  ye  therefore ; 
and  as  this  command  contains  a  latent  fore-announcement  that 
the  Holy  One  designs  to  make  us  holy,  the  Perfect  One  to  make 
us  perfect,  so  now  in  the  Son  is  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,  the 
plenitude  of  Divine  love  brought  down,  in  order  that  it  may  enter 
our  needy  souls  through  the  Spirit.  If  we  believe  on  His  Name, 
we  are  already  regarded,  through  the  imputation  of  righteousness 
to  our  faith,  as  ireirXvpcDfievoL  iv  avrw,  (Col.  ii.  10).  If,  appre- 
hended of  Christ,  we  press  towards  the  mark  with  full  earnest- 
ness of  spirit  and  walk  according  to  the  rule,  we  are  now  reketoi 
in  the  principle  of  our  mind  and  will,  though  not  yet  TereKeiw- 
fievoi  in  consummation  and  attainment.  (Phil.  iii.  12 — 15).  But 
the  living  Law  of  our  Lord  gives  us  a  sure  and  comforting  secu- 
rity in  this  eo-e&Oe —  Ye  shall  be  perfect,  if  ye  abide  and  increase 
in  love.  But  this  does  not  set  before  us  a  general  prospect  of  an 
unending  progress  towards  perfection,  without  a  definite  goal  of 
completed  perfectness  ;  but  the  God  of  peace  will  sanctify  us 
until  we  are  actually  6\oT€\el<;  (1  Thess.  v.  23),  until  in  the  per- 
fect work  of  patience  we  have  become  iv  finSevl  Xeiiro/ievoi,  (Jas. 
i.  4).  To  that  end  it  is  said,  'El  Be  Tt9  Xelireral  tlvos,  aireiTw 
irapa  tov  &i$6vto<;  (Jas.  i.  5) — as  also  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  our  Lord  opens  up  to  us  the  path  of  prayer  which  leads 
to  the  fulfilling  of  all  the  commandments. 


The  discourse,  which  set  out  at  first  with  the  most  deep-drawn, 
fundamental  principles  of  truth,  the  pregnant  language  which 
embodied  them  demanding  most  rigorous  attention  for  its  exact 
interpretation,  becomes  henceforward  more  easily  intelligible  in 
its  phraseology,  and  descends  to  a  more  popular  style  of  teach- 
ing. There  follow,  however,  at  intervals,  sayings  the  meaning 
of  which  is  somewhat  disguised  in  figurative  and  obscure  expres- 
sions, and  is  not  immediately  obvious,  such  as  chap.  vi.  22,  23  ; 
vii.  6.  The  section  chap.  vi.  1 — 18,  may  be  termed  a  sacred 
example  of  popular  Keformator-Polemik  —  if  it  is  allowable 
thus  exactly,  though  in  unidiomatic  German,  to  express  our 
meaning. 

The  third  contrast  with  the  Pharisees  fully  discloses,  as  our 
general  survey  showed  us,  their  hypocritical  and  external  lega- 
le 


210  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

lity,  as  the  complete  development  of  that  false  system  of  expo- 
sition which  originates  in  an  adherence  to  its  mere  letter.  This 
is  exhibited,  to  wit,  as  the  original  internal  principle,  and  essen- 
tial quality  of  their  pseudo-righteousness.  There  is  designedly  and 
appropriately  no  further  reference  to  individual  commandments 
of  the  Divine  Law  and  their  fulfilment :  the  appealing  reference 
to  that  which  is  written,  and  to  what  they  of  old  time  substituted 
for  it  or  perverted  it  into,  was  brought  to  an  end  in  ch.  v.  by  a 
most  searching  and  comprehensive  contrast.  The  three  leading 
examples,  however,  which  now  are  to  follow  in  conformity  with 
the  Lord's  prescribed  plan,  are  taken  from  the  three  meritorious 
works  of  righteousness,  so  to  speak,  the  highest  acts  of  all  so- 
called  righteousness  according  to  universal  human  estimation,  hea- 
thenish as  well  as  Pharisaic.  For  this  whole  section  aims,  in  tran- 
sition, to  exhibit  the  Pharisees  as,  in  their  natural  state,  heathens 
in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  These  examples  are  the  three 
works  which  even  Christian  Pharisaism,  especially  in  the  Eomish 
Church,  has  on  similar  grounds  reproduced : — Almsgiving  to 
our  neighbour,  Prayer  to  God,  Fasting  for  ourselves.  See  them 
thus  united  in  Tob.  xii.  9.  It  may  probably  be  thought  that 
prayer  would  have  more  fitly  been  placed  last,  as  thus  the  con- 
trast between  the  hypocritical  and  the  sincere  performance  would 
have  been  more  direct,  and  the  transition  more  immediate  to  the 
fundamental  idea  which  follows  in  vers.  19 — 23  :— viz.,  the  single- 
minded  aim  and  pursuit  after  God's  own  righteousness  !  But 
the  order  in  which  the  Lord  places  them  is,  however,  that  of 
their  natural  development,  whether  in  the  good  or  evil  intention 
of  man.  He  who  seeks  righteousness,  begins  with  external 
good  works  (instead  of  the  right  commencement  which  is 
directly  in  prayer) ;  then  proceeds  to  grayer,  that  his  God 
may  regard  his  good  deeds,  pardon  their  deficiency,  and  be 
pleased  to  strengthen  him  for  their  performance:  and  finally, 
in  order  to  further  the  devotion  of  prayer,  he  fasts  and  exer- 
cises himself  in  keeping  under  the  flesh.  Thus  we  find  it 
with  Cornelius,  Acts  x.  2,  30,  31 ;  and  precisely  the  same  with 
hypocrites,  although  in  caricature  of  the  truth.  Yet  at  the 
same  time  almsgiving  was  most  immediately  included  in  the 
divine  statutes  for  Israel  (ch.  v.  42  ;  Deut.  xv.  11) ;  fasting,  on 
the  contrary,  was  for  the  most  part  optional,  since  there  was  only 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  211 

one  fast-day  appointed  to  Israel,  the  day  of  atonement,  to  which 
very  early  were  added  other  times  of  general  fasting  (Zech.  viii. 
19),  till  in  process  of  time  came  the  fasting  twice  in  the  week  of 
the  individual  Pharisee.     (Lu.  xviii.  12). 

In  ver.  1,  there  is  laid  down  a  general  warning  against  such  a 
performance  of  the  duties  of  righteousness,  such  a  righteousness  of 
works,  as  consists  only  of  hypocrisy  and  semblance,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  exhibited  only  in  the  sight  of  men,  and  to  be  seen  of  them. 
An  apparent  contradiction  to  ch.  v.  16,  which,  however,  really 
explains  it.  The  preliminary — your  righteousness  !  of  ch.  v.  20, 
here  recurs  again.  The  reference  to  the  Father  in  heaven,  and 
the  only  standard  of  worth  and  of  reward  in  His  sight,  is  here 
continued,  following  ch.  v.  46,  48.  He  who  was  there  in  ver. 
45  exhibited  as  the  highest  exemplar  of  perfect  holy  love,  is  also 
the  Rewarder  of  all  true  righteousness  which  consists  in  similitude 
to  Himself.  ("  Before  thee  nothing  else  has  any  value,  but  thine 
own  likeness.")  He  is  merciful  to  the  merciful,  and  gives  the 
pure  in  heart  to  see  His  face.  Hereupon  follow  in  their  order, 
first  of  all  almsgiving,  distinctively  by  the  Pharisees  termed 
a  righteousness,"  but  here  taken  as  a  general  designation  of  all 
good  works  towards  our  neighbour.  Now  occurs  for  the  first 
time  the  expression — the  hypocrites — so  often  cast  in  the  teeth  of 
the  Pharisees  down  to  ch.  xxiii.  For  they  are  no  better,  who  are 
like  the  publicans,  and  yet  arrogate  to  themselves  a  special  and 
exceeding  righteousness,  throwing  the  veil  of  an  apparent  sanctity 
over  the  wickedness  of  their  hearts.  The  same  is  uttered,  again, 
in  connexion  with  prayer,  ver.  5,  and  fasting,  ver.  17.  Thus  it 
is  the  leading  idea  of  this  section,  although  in  the  central  part  of 
it  concerning  prayer,  ver.  7,  the  reference  is  extended — like  the 
heathen.  In  opposition  to  this  our  Lord  tells  His  disciples,  that 
they  should,  as  far  as  possible,  perform  their  good  works  in  secret 
even  to  themselves,  to  avoid  all  imagination  of  having  by  the  deed 
in  itself  done  any  thing.  For  deeds  of  charity  by  their  very 
nature  neither  can  nor  should  be  altogether  concealed ;  they  can- 
not indeed  admit  of  concealment  at  all.  It  is  somewhat  less  so 
with  prayer  to  God ;  hence  afterwards,  enter  into  t'hy  closet,  and 
shut  thy  door  !  Finally,  exercises  of  self-restraint  and  discipline 
cannot  by  their  nature  be  concealed  from  ourselves,  and  they 
should  on  that  account  be  all  the  more  closely  hidden  from  others, 


212  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

for  here  is  the  greatest  danger.  Ascetic  discipline,  not  hidden, 
loses  all  its  value  ;  consequently,  in  ver.  17,  there  is  commanded 
even  a  holy  disguise,  of  fasting,  as  the  only  and  effectual  antidote 
to  a  wicked  hypocrisy.  These  are  the  three  stages  of  concealment 
before  man,  which  the  righteousness  of  Christ's  disciples  admits 
of. 

Prayer j  again,  is  the  centre  and  soul  of  all  acts  in  general 
which  pertain  to  the  service  of  God.  In  connexion  with  this, 
as  the  point  of  most  importance,  the  contrast  developes  itself 
more  plainly  as  twofold : — not  before  men  first,  but  also  not 
before  God  and  men  together, — which  is  the  consummation  of 
these  Pharisees'  hypocrisy,  and  of  the  wretchedness  of  the  blind 
people  who  follow  them, — by  much  speaking!  Word-making, 
instead  of  prayer  from  the  heart,  whether  before  men  or  only  in 
the  closet,  is  ever  the  direct  opposite  of  true  prayer.  Our  Lord 
sets  against  this  His  own  sacred  model  of  prayer  for  the  children 
of  the  Father ;  which  teaches  how  that  they  must  in  the  simplest 
terms,  before  and  after,  and  in  connexion  with  all  their  earthly 
necessities,  pray  for  the  establishment  of  His  Kingdom,  in  the 
doing  of  His  will,  to  His  own  glory  {the  fulfilling  of  His  Laiv),  as 
the  gift  of  His  grace;  that  thus  through  prayer  they  may  fulfil 
the  commandment.  We  see  this  in  a  very  different  light  from 
Neander,  to  whom  it  appears  evident  that  vers.  7 — 16  are  alto- 
gether foreign  to  the  organism  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  To 
us,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  manifest  that  this  prayer,  inserted  in 
the  very  midst  of  the  second  division  of  the  discourse,  is  its  proper 
centre,  the  key  to  all  the  mysteries  of  its  demands,  by  which  the 
way  to  their  fulfilment  is  pointed  out.  To  ask  is  all  that  is 
required  of  us  in  order  to  the  performance  of  every  requirement 
(ch.  vii.  7 — 13),  and  the  command  thus  to  pray  with  the  promise 
involved  in  it,  is  the  heart  of  the  evangelical  law.  Hence  the- 
Lord's  prayer,  as  we  shall  see,  is  arranged  as  the  counterpart  of 
the  Ten  Commandments.  Here  does  our  heavenly  Father 
exhibit  Himself  the  third  time  as  the  hearer  of  prayer  and  giver 
of  righteousness  :  as  in  ch.  v.  45  He  had  shown  Himself  to  be  its 
pattern,  and  in  ch.  vi.  1,  4,  6,  its  rewarder.  In  vers.  14,  15,  the 
fifth  petition  is  again  repeated  with  the  most  solemn  emphasis, 
for  in  it  is  especially  fulfilled  the  law  of  love  through  the  asking 
and  receiving  of  the  love  of  God ;  yet,  as  is  strictly  appropriate 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  213 

here,  with  a  warning  against  the  hypocritical  conceit,  which  might 
lead  them  to  imagine  that  such  prayer  as  this  is  already  heard 
even  without  any  such  condition. 

Finally,  in  vers.  16 — 18,  concerning  which  we  have  almost 
said  enough  already,  we  have  fasting  as  significative  of  all  asceti- 
cism and  abstinence  of  every  kind.  There  is  a  simple  repetition 
of  the  terms  of  the  first  contrast,  which  thus,  after  the  apparent 
interruption  of  the  pattern-prayer,  closes  the  section  as  it  was 
begun. 


Ver.  1.  Aifcaioavvrj,  for  which  iXerj^oavvr]  has  been  substituted 
as  a  well-intentioned  but  mistaken  gloss,  does  not  here  convey 
the  meaning  of  liberality  or  almsgiving ;  as  j-jiTTC  does  ni  tne 

't  t  : 

Pharisaic  usage  which  pervades  the  whole  Talmud,  though  never 
in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament.1  The  Lord  speaks 
assuredly  according  to  Scriptural  usage  only,  and  hittaioavvn 
vfjicov  can  be  no  other  than  that  of  ch.  v.  20,  to  which  this 
fundamental  position  looks  back  before  it  is  followed  out  into 
more  specific  detail.  It  is  consequently  quite  similar  to  ch. 
xxiii.  5  ;  all  their  works  they  do  for  to  be  seen  of  men.  There- 
fore is  added  the  admonitory  7rpocre^eTe,  take  heed  !  as  this  was 
also  contained  in  ch.  v.  20;  and  the  third  contrast  with  the 
Pharisees  now  deepens,  according  to  the  general  fundamental 
plan  of  the  sermon,  into  a  tone  of  warning.  Yet  does  the  Lord 
at  the  same  time  address  Himself  generally  to  the  poor  misguided 
people  who  blindly  followed  these  hypocrites,  as  well  as  to  His 
own  separated  disciples,  in  order  that  He  may  open  their  eyes 
the  cunning  treachery  of  their  guides  and  examples,  and  thus 
awaken  and  secure  their  desire  for  His  discipleship  and  its  better 
righteousness.  A  slightly  ironical  ambiguity  in  the  expression, 
which  rather  lay  in  the  word  as  understood  by  Plis  present 
hearers,  than  in  the  Lord's  own  design,  paves  the  way  for  the 
mention  of  that  iXerjfioavvr]  which  to  the  Pharisaic  Jews  was  the 
most  eminent  Sifccuoavvrj.     It  is  not  the  "  before  men"  which  is 


1  The  transition  is  seen  in  apocryphal  passages,  such  as  Tob.  xiv.  9, 

(ptkektrjuav  kcu   SiKatoy,    xii.  9,   i\er)nocrvi-as  Kal  diKaiocrvuaSj    where  also  in 

ver.  8  the  whole  three  occur  together,  prayer  with  fasting  and  alms. 


214  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

forbidden  as  such,  but  making  that  the  improper  aim,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  proper  aim  in  ch.  v.  16.  Hence  QeaOr\vai  in  this  passage 
is  quite  different  from  oVa)?  thwaiv  in  that,  and  contains  a  bye- 
reference  of  an  evil  kind  to  Oearpov  and  the  like,  to  mere  show 
before  the  world.  Hence  afterwards,  in  vers.  5  and  16,  the  yet 
more  severe  otto)?  cpavwcri,  which  plainly  expresses  an  empty 
appearance  without  any  truth  within.  But  the  reference  to  the 
everlasting  reward  of  the  Father  in  heaven  detracts  not  by  any 
means  from  righteousness,  but  rather  belongs  essentially  to  its 
reality,  since  it  is  wrought  for  GooTs  sake,  for  His  approbation, 
and  in  order  to  blessedness  in  communion  with  Him. 

Vers.  2.  As  the  you  had  already  in  ch.  v.  23,  29,  36,  39, 
passed  over  into  the  thou  of  a  more  specific  application,  so  does 
it  uniformly  now  in  each  part  of  this  section.  The  Jewish  over- 
estimation  of  almsgiving  begins  already  to  show  itself  in  certain 
otherwise  well-intended  apocryphal  sentences,  such  as  Tob.  iv. 
11,  12,  xii.  9 ;  Wiscl.  iii.  28,  xxix.  14, 15,  which  themselves  seem 
to  lean  on  such  canonical  sayings  as  Pro  v.  xix.  17  ;  Dan.  iv.  24. 
The  truth  which  lay  at  the  foundation  of  this  error,  but  which 
was,  alas,  perverted  and  altogether  lost  in  Pharisaism,  Christ 
Himself  acknowledges,  for  instance  in  Matt.  x.  42,  and  also  His 
apostles,  2  Cor.  ix.  9.  The  sounding  a  trumpet  or  letting  it  be 
sounded  cannot,  in  harmony  with  the  connexion,  be  regarded  as 
a  mere  figure,  denoting,  it  may  be,  "  loud  and  shrill  begging- 
litanies"  (according  to  Lange),  but  also  an  actual  custom  of  that 
age,  of  which  nothing  further  is  distinctly  known  to  us  i1  for  the 
Lord  is  now  describing  the  hypocrites  and  their  work  right 
strictly  after  the  life.  Before  thee,  the  saintly  man,  the  great 
benefactor — as  descriptively  as  it  is  scornfully  spoken — that  thy 
name  and  fame  might  be  trumpeted  forth  !  This  were  then  also 
thy  reward,  dismissed  with  which  no  other  awaits  thee. 

Vers.  3,  4.  But  when  thou,  a  child  of  God,  doest  alms — which 
must  no  more  be  omitted  than  the  offering  of  the  gift  according 
to  ch.  v.  24 — let  it  not  be  with  ostentation,  but  keep  it  rather, 
so  far  at  least  as  the  act  of  giving  will  admit,  a  secret  from  the 
world ;  no  artificial  concealment  is  necessary,  however,  or  that 

1  Compare,  however,  Sepp,  Lehen  Cbristi,  ii.  183.  Moreover  o-akni&iv 
is  not  merely  tuba  canere,but  tuba  cani  curare  also, according  to  a  general 
usage,  which  Meyer  cannot  well  deny. 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  215 

thou  shouldst  show  that  thou  art  ashamed  of  it  by  false  anxiety 
or  affected  modesty.  Especially  take  care — for  that  is  the  main 
point — not  to  glory  in  thy  act,  which  should  be  as  natural  to 
thee  as  shining  is  to  light.  The  saying  concerning  the  right 
hand  and  the  left  is  manifestly  proverbial :  forget  it,  if  it  may  be, 
even  while  thou  doest  it ;  let  it  be  far  from  thee,  while  the  right 
hand  is  giving  to  hold  in  thy  left  a  trumpet,  or  to  stretch  it  out 
for  reward  and  praise.  If  the  hands  know  nothing  of  it,  the  soul 
knows  nothing — we  may  say  with  von  Gerlach.  That  is  at  least 
more  simple  than  to  regard  it  with  Lange  as  referring  to  the 
solicitous  counting  from  one  hand  into  the  other  before  the  gift, 
and  the  clapping  of  hands  afterwards.  Take  ch.  xxv.  37 
as  its  best  exposition.  Be  not  afraid  that  thy  good  work  will  be 
done  so  secretly,  that  even  God  will  not  know  it  and  find  it 
again  for  its  reward.  He  forgets  no  work  of  love  (Heb.  vi.  10). 
If  thou  thinkest  of  this,  and  at  the  same  time  of  the  strong 
temptation  on  thy  part  to  forget  and  to  lose  it  while  receiving 
the  praises  of  men,  thou  wilt  prefer  ever  to  do  thy  work  in 
secret :  thus  shalt  thou  be  more  sure  of  that  secret  and  true 
estimate  in  the  sight  of  God  which  alone  gives  its  value  to  what 
may  be  termed  good.  Not  as  the  Chinese  proverb  runs : — Give 
thy  alms  in  the  day,  thy  reward  will  come  in  the  night — but  just 
the  reverse :  Give  in  secret,  and  thou  shalt  openly  receive  the 
true  Divine  recompense,  partly  even  in  this  world  (Eccl.  xi.  1), 
but  in  all  its  fulness  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just  (Lu.  xiv.  14). 
As  again  the  Mohammedan  proverb  says  :  Hast  thou  done  a  good 
deed,  cast  it  into  the  sea ;  if  the  fish  finds  it  not,  yet  will  God 
see  it.  He  reckons  to  thee  capital  and  interest  in  rich  return  : 
for  every  deed  of  love,  done  from  a  pure  heart,  as  unto  Him, 
bears  its  fruit  unto  everlasting  life. 

Vers.  5,  6.  Sincere  worshippers  pray,  indeed,  in  the  synagogues, 
and  there  is  nothing  wrong  in  that :  but  they  who  prefer  to  pray 
in  the  congregation,  instead  of  the  closet,  are  thereby  convicted 
as  hypocrites.  How  much  more  so  when  it  is  in  the  streets,  to 
which,  with  rare  exceptions,  prayer  is  not  appropriate, — and  even 
at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  where  is  the  greatest  concourse  of 
passers  by.  There  stand  they,  the  wicked  ones,  who  pervert 
the  most  holy  act  of  secret,  interior  communion  with  God, — 
concerning  which,  therefore  (according  to  Braune's  deep  and 


216  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

striking  remark),  Moses  gave  no  direct  precept — into  a  mere 
matter  of  ostentation  before  the  world.  They  have  artfully  so 
watched  their  opportunity  as  to  be  at  the  street-corner  at  the 
hours  of  prayer ;  they  then  continue  standing  there  as  if  it  was 
a  matter  of  conscience  not  to  omit,  even  there,  the  holy  hour. 
For  without  any  such  pretext  and  occasion,  to  stand  in  the  street 
for  prayer  would  appear  even  to  the  world  to  be  such  frenzy  as 
the  essential,  indelible  feeling  of  truth  in  the  most  wicked  hypo- 
crite would  be  ashamed  of :  manifest  as  it  is  that  prayer  is  out  ot 
place  in  the  street,  hypocrisy  itself  requires  another  cloke  to  hide 
the  shame  which  clings  to  it.  They  have  their  reward :  they 
pray  not  indeed  to  God,  and  seek  not  to  be  heard ;  therefore 
they  have  only  just  what  they  desire  and  seek.  But  thou,  it 
thou  truly  prayest  to  God,  must  know  that  while  the  temple  is 
a  house  of  prayer,  and  the  synagogues  places  of  prayer  also,  this 
does  not  prevent  the  equal  sanctity  of  all  other  places,  where  the 
Lord  may  be  near  to  all  who  call  upon  Him,  and  dwell  in  the 
heart  of  the  contrite  ones.  Thou  shalt  not  be  ashamed  of  the 
public  prayer  under  fitting  circumstances,  but  shalt  in  addition 
especially  and  habitually  retire  into  solitude,  where  nothing  must 
interrupt,  hinder,  or  tempt  thee  in  thy  devout  abstraction.  Go 
into  thy  closet,  if  thou  hast  one  (Judith  ix.  1,  viii.  5  ;  Tob.  hi.  12)  ; 
or  else  seek  one  under  God's  own  heaven,  which  may  become  to 
thee  a  Bethel.  Shut  to  the  door,  if  thou  canst  and  it  should  be 
necessary  (2  Kings  iv.  33) ;  but  in  any  case  the  door  of  thy 
senses  and  thoughts,  that  no  distraction  may  interpose  between 
thee  and  thy  Father.  So  pray  to  thy  invisible  Father,  Himself 
concealed  to  thy  sense  (tw  iv  to3  Kpvirrw  as  before  in  ver.  18), 
and  He  who  out  of  His  secret  place  looks  into  secret,  will 
openly  reward  as  well  thy  prayer  as  thine  alms,  each  in  its  kind. 
Reward  is  here  the  common  middle  term  between  the  ideas  of 
recompense  and  simple  grant. 

Vers.  7 — 8.  Frightful  and  shameful,  but  alas  true,  was  it  that 
the  Israelites,  the  holy  of  Israel,  in  their  very  prayer  to  their  God, 
have  become  like  the  heathen,  because  they  actually  do  not  pray 
to  Him  at  all !  The  heaping  up  many  words  is  essentially  the 
manner  of  all  heathenish  prayer,  which  supposes  that  God  must 
be  awakened  by  human  cries  (1  Kings  xviii.27)  as  all  the  babbling 
of  the  heathen  shows  to  the  present  day.      This  is,  however,  so 


MATTHEW  V. — VII.  217 

deeply  rooted  a  mischief  in  the  heathen  mind  of  the  natural  man, 
that  it  may  well  follow  the  disciples  of  Jesus  even  into  their  closets. 
Therefore  it  follows  :  and  when  ye  yourselves  pray  in  the  closet, 
before  God  and  not  before  men,  beware  of  this  same  folly,  which 
would  convict  you  either  of  hypocrisy  in  your  own  hearts,  or  at 
least  of  unbelief  in  a  present  and  living  God.  Even  Sirach  (vii. 
14)  said  long  ago  :  "  Make  not  much  babbling  when  thou  pray- 
est ! "  and  the  Jewish  teachers  abounded  in  good  maxims  to  this 
effect,  though  they  were  neutralized  by  others  of  opposite  ten- 
dency, such  as, — He  who  multiplies  his  prayers,  is  sure  of  a  hear- 
ing,— Whoso  lengthens  his  prayers,  will  not  return  empty, — 
Every  man  should  daily  repeat  at  least  eighteen  prayers — 
and  so  forth.  To  these  clung  the  hypocrites  of  that  age  with 
their  long  prayers  (ch.  xxiii.  14)  :  but  the  same  evil  breaks  out  in 
every  age  where  simplicity  and  truth  decline,  as  the  confusion  of 
Paternosters,  Ave  Marias,  and  Rosaries  among  the  Catholics  bears 
witness  ;  and  no  less  the  pious  babbling  of  many  a  pietist  keeper 
of  the  hours,  of  many  a  devotee  in  the  closet  relying  on  his 
enforced  opus  operatum.  Nothing  indeed  is  farther  from  the 
Lord's  meaning  than  to  repress  the  prayer  which  is  ever  welling 
from  the  full  heart,  the  spirit  of  persistent  wrestling  with  God. 
But  the  multa  locutio  wherein  there  is  not  multa  precatio  (to 
quote  Augustine),  the  words  which  are  not  urged  from  a  vehe- 
ment and  overflowing  heart,  He  esteems  a  vain  heathenish 
work ;  and  condemns  as  a  vain  delusion  the  imagination  that  any 
words,  as  such,  might  contribute  to  the  acceptance  of  prayer  (Isa. 
i.  15).  For  our  object  in  prayer  is  not  to  inform  the  Omniscient 
of  what  he  knew  not  before.  The  universal  subject  and  matter 
of  our  prayer  is, — that  which  we  have  need  of  for  body  and  soul, 
in  general  and  in  specific  things.  This  knoweth  the  Father 
before  we  ask  Him,  yea  better  than  we  can  ever  ask  or  conceive ; 
for  poor  fallen  man  knows  no  longer  what  he  is  in  need  of,  first, 
generally  for  his  soul,  and  then  in  particular,  at  least  very  often, 
for  either  soul  or  body.  (Rom.  viii.  26.)  While  before  God  we 
are  thinking  what  He  may  know  to  be  our  real  need,  we  shall  also 
remember  to  trust  it  entirely  to  His  hands.  In  this  utterance, 
finally,  so  stern  in  its  condemnation  of  all  that  is  not  simple  in 
prayer,  and  yet  so  encouraging  to  all  that  is  so,  the  Lord  solves 
that  ever-recurring  doubt: — Will  God,  in  deference  to  our  prayer, 


218  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

interfere  with  the  order  of  the  world?  He  has  already  in  its 
arrangement  provided  for  the  answer  of  every  praj^er,  as  gene- 
rally for  every  foreseen  expression  of  human  freedom,  and  for 
every  necessity  of  His  creatures  known  to  Him  from  eternity. 
Superstition,  which  can  only  take  root  in  hypocrisy,  supposes 
that  words  must  do  this ;  unbelief  into  which  superstition  ever 
degenerates,  for  it  is  essentially  one  with  it,  expects  no  help  to 
acceptance  from  the  words  of  prayer.  Neither  knows  aught  of 
the  living  God,  in  whom  true  faith  only  can  confide  for  the 
knowledge  of  its  need  and  the  willingness  to  help  it,  and  there- 
fore alone  can  truly  pray,  even  as  children  ask  of  their  father. 


THE    LORD'S   PRAYER. 

(Matthew  vi.  9—13). 

Yers.  9 — 13.  But  where  shall  we  begin  and  where  shall  we  end 
with  the  exposition  of  the  Lord's  prayer ;  not  His  own,  that  is, 
(after  this  manner  pray  ye  !)  but  our  prayer  who  are  and  would 
be  the  Lord's,  given  to  us  as  the  children  of  the  Father,  by  His 
Son  our  Lord  f1  What  has  exposition  to  do,  we  had  almost  said, 
with  the  words  in  which  the  wisdom  of  God  descending  upon  us 
in  perfect  love,  has  condensed  and  enshrined  for  us  neither  more 
nor  less  than  all,  all  which,  ever  has  ascended,  does  now  or  ever 
will  ascend  from  human  hearts  in  prayer  to  heaven  ?  Yes,  verily, 
whatsoever  may  not  be  included  in  this,  cannot  be  fit  subject  of 
prayer,  and  may  not  be  asked.  Such  unlicensed  prayer  is  indeed 
no  prayer  at  all  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  for  God's  Spirit  hath  not 
prompted  it ;  neither  can  it  be  real  communion  of  the  heart  with 
the  living  God,  for  presumption  and  error  have  never  the  confi- 
dence of  faith.  Think  of  and  utter  aught  which  it  is  in  thy  will 
or  thy  power  to  ask,  and  thou  wilt  find  it  already  spoken  for  thee 
in  this  prayer  of  prayers.     Whatever  from  the  beginning,  since 

1  How  Braune  can  suppose  that  the  Redeemer  Himself  often  used 
this  prayer  is  to  us  inconceivable  ;  particularly  on  account  of  the  fifth 
petition,  and  also  on  account  of  the  sixth  and  seventh — for  "  evil"  must 
be  pre-eminently  sin,  from  which  Christ  redeems  us,  but  never  needed 
Himself  to  be  redeemed  from  it. 


MATTHEW  VI.  9—13.  219 

men  first,  on  account  of  sin  and  evil,  lifted  their  hearts  and  hands 
to  heaven,  has  been  in  their  minds  to  ask,  is  here  reduced,  in  the 
simplicity  of  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  the  last  utterance 
of  God  to  us  in  His  Son,  to  one  word,  which  will  remain  man's 
last  utterance  also  to  God,  until  heaven  and  earth  are  divided  no 
more.  All  the  cries  which  go  up  from  man's  breast  upon  earth 
to  heaven, meet  here  in  their  fundamental  notes:  and  are  gathered 
into  words  which  are  as  simple  and  plain  for  babes  as  they  are 
deep  and  inscrutable  for  the  wise,  as  transparent  for  the  weakest 
understanding  of  any  truly  praying  spirit  as  they  are  full  of 
mysterious  meaning  for  the  mightiest  and  last  struggles  of  the 
spirit  into  the  kingdom  and  glory  of  God.  Whatever  Israel  may 
ever  have  prayed  in  words  given  by  the  Spirit  of  God  or  shaped 
by  the  spirit  of  man  ;  whatever  there  was  of  just  and  sound  in 
the  contents  of  any  Jewish  formulary  or  collection,  any  Kaddisch 
or  Machsor,  which  was  extant  in  the  time  of  Jesus,  was  but  the 
preparatory  aspiration  towards  this  most  living  of  all  formulas, 
full  of  spirit  in  its  letter ;  this  most  comprehensive  of  all  epitomes 
so  marvellous  in  its  brevity ;  into  which  our  Lord  and  Master 
condenses  now  for  His  own,  all  that  those  words  imply  : — When 
ye  pray  say  !  Thus  has  His  spirit  expounded  it  for  nearly  two 
thousand  years  to  those  who  have  prayed  in  his  name  :  and  all 
that  it  has  ministered  to  their  thoughts  and  they  have  derived 
from  it,  is  the  comprehensive  fulness  of  its  real  contents.  Learn 
to  make  it  thy  prayer,  and  it  will  interpret  itself  to  thee  with 
ever-deepening  impressiveness,  from  the  Fathername  which  it 
places  upon  thy  lips  down  to  that  Amen  of  faith,  which,  having 
first  impressed  it  upon  thy  heart,  it  draws  to  thy  lips,  that  out  of 
thy  own  mouth  thine  heart  may  be  strengthened  :  but  all  through 
the  power  of  God  the  Spirit,  without  which  the  most  consum- 
mate words  to  those  who  resist  it — remain  but  words.  Let  the 
reader  receive  the  exposition  which  will  now  be  given,  only  as  a 
finger-post  to  indicate  where  the  paths  of  profound  thought  go 
on  to  their  endless  development ;  especially  as  giving  some  very 
necessary  hints  for  the  unity  and  the  harmony  of  those  paths, 
which  as  the  individual  petitions  open  them  up,  proceed  in  com- 
pact and  harmonious  progression  towards  the  one  great  end. 

After  this  manner  then  pray  ye — the  Lord  says,  in  immediate 
connexion  with  the  prohibition  of  heathen  babbling.     In  the 


220  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

most  obvious  meaning,  therefore, — thus  briefly  and  simply,  em- 
bracing in  plain  and  sound  words  whatsoever  thy  heart  prompts 
thee  to  utter  before  God :  not  going  round  and  round  for  the 
mere  sake  of  saying  many  words,  as  if  He  did  not  understand. 
But  when  we  see  presently  after  that  the  Lord,  in  giving  a 
pattern  of  its  form,  incorporates  in  it  at  the  same  time  the  sub- 
stance of  all  prayer  for  which  words  can  ever  be  required  ;x  and 
in  so  doing  goes  entirely  out  of  and  beyond  the  immediate  con- 
nexion of  His  discourse  in  order  to  condense  the  whole  meaning 
of  the  Sermon  into  this  prayer  as  its  kernel ;— we  shall  not  be 
disposed  to  agree  with  many  who  unwisely  think  that  He  only 
designed  to  commend  to  us  by  an  example  simplicity  and  brevity 
in  the  expression.  He  who  should  cordially  assent  to  this  might 
well  despair  of  matching  this  by  any  other  prayers,  and  therefore 
rest  entirely  in  the  given  form  itself.  Did  the  Lord  by,  "  after 
this  manner,"  signify  these  very  words,  or  only  their  substance  and 
their  manner?  No  rational  man  can  think  that  it  was  His 
meaning  that  we  should  use  these  words  exclusively.  But  that  it 
was  His  design  that  they  should  be  adhered  to  and  used,  as  His 
church  has  understood  Him  and  acted  accordingly,  we  have  most 
decisive  proof  in  the  repetition  of  the  same  words  upon  a  subse- 
quent request  of  His  disciples  for  aform  of  prayer.  (Lu.  xi.  1 4.)2 

For  there  they  wished  for  a  directory  and  form  for  daily  use  :— 
as  John  also  taught  His  disciples.  The  Lord  did  not  refuse  it, 
but  most  emphatically  referred  them  in  their  need  to  that  which 
He  had  given  a  long  time  before  :  He  knew  nothing  and  had 
nothing  better  for  them,  and  now  says  more  distinctively  than  on 
the  former  occasion  :— When  ye  pray,  and  have  need  of  prescribed 
expressions,  then  say  ye  the  same  words !      There  is  a  prayer  of 

1  *J  Not  so  much  a  sacred  formulary  as  for  Divine  instruction  as  to  what 
petitions  are  universally  good,  universally  necessary,  universally  accept- 
able," says  the  Beuggen  Monatsblatt  with  perfect  correctness,  although 
it  cannot  be  gainsaid  that  the  Lord  set  out  with  the  immediate  design  to 
inculcate  simplicity  and  brevity  in  the  expression. 

2  As  certainly  as  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  spoken  by  our  Lord 
in  the^  form  in  which  St  Matthew  gives  it,  and  the  Our- Father  is  an 
essential  part  of  it,  so  certainly  St  Luke's  is  not  merely  a  "more  par- 
ticular account  of  the  circumstances  under  which  the  prayer  was 
given."  Alas  that  the  excellent  Harms  should  thus  express  himself 
upon  it,  from  whose  valuable  expositions  in  his  Sermons  we  have  else- 
where received  much  that  is  useful. 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  221 

the  heart  without  word,  but  let  him  who  should  think  himself  so 
qualified  and  capable  for  that  at  all  times,  as  to  be  able  to  despise 
the  prayer  of  words,  reflect  upon  this  saying  of  our  Lord : — 
When  ye  pray,  say  I1  Further,  the  Spirit  of  prayer  does  give 
the  special  and  ever  new  and  appropriate  words  of  prayer ;  but 
this  does  not  remove  the  necessity  of  the  weak  to  fall  back  upon 
a  given  form  of  words,  yea,  even  of  the  strongest  who  are,  some- 
times at  least,  equally  weak,  and  know  not  either  what  they  ought 
to  ask  or  how  to  ask  it.  In  any  case,  there  remains,  finally,  the 
great  necessity  of  a  common  prayer  of  general  consecration  and 
promise.  Therefore,  the  Lord's  commandment — Pray  thus,  and 
say  !  is  the  actual  appointment  of  a  letter  sanctified  and  blessed 
for  the  church's  spiritual  prayer,  the  institution  of  an  almost 
sacramental  word-element  resembling  that  other — Do  this  !  For 
as  we  have  need  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  well  nigh  in  like  manner — 
I  say  not  more,  for  there  is  yet  assuredly  a  difference — have  we 
need  of  a  word  of  prayer  full  of  promise  to  be  placed  in  our  lips, 
that  we  laying  hold  of  it  may  by  the  word  excite  the  Spirit, 
in  the  name  of  Jesus,  who  has  Himself  commanded  us  thus  to 
pray  ourselves  from  the  poverty  of  receiving  faith  into  the 
full  confidence  of  being  heard  and  accepted.  And  this  confi- 
dence is  especially  strengthened  by  this,  that  we  offer  the  same 
prayer  in  fellowship  one  with  another,  whether  in  external  or 
internal  communion.  In  that  request  of  the  disciples  a  purely 
human  need  uttered  itself  which  the  Lord  could  not  have  left 
unsatisfied,  yea,  well  knowing  what  they  needed  had  already 
provided  its  satisfaction.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  alas,  this  most 
sacred  prayer  has  been  desecrated  into  a  most  profane  formality 
of  babbling  by  the  misuse  of  it  in  endless  Paternosters  and  Our- 
Fathers  in  the  many  tongues  into  which  it  has  come ;  yet  on  the 
other  hand  an  unlimited  experience  attests  the  gracious  and  con- 
descending will  of  the  Lord  to  bless  these  words,  with  which  He 
has  connected,  and  into  which  He  has  inwrought,  a  sanctity 
beyond  that  of  any  other  prayers  that  we  may  use.  In  them 
the  little  child  begins  to  spell  out  the  rudiments  of  its  prayer, 
and  when  the  church  unites,  in  its  loftiest  festal  assemblies,  to 
pray,  these  words  and  none  but  they  are  still  its  most  perfect 

1  As  Dr  Schurf  answered  some  such  one. 


222  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

concerted  utterance,  sufficient  for  the  most  sublime  occasions,  and 
beyond  which  nothing  can  be  expressed.  All  that  is  needful  for 
every  act  of  Divine  service,  and  all  that  any  man  may  have 
especially  in  his  own  heart,  is  comprised  in  this  prayer ;  as  the 
ecclesiastical  formulary  (which  we  do  not  blame  as  Nitzsch  does) 
so  excellently  says. 

Thus  the  Lord  over  and  above  the  how  teaches  us  abundantly 
the  what,  and  not  merely  teaches  it,  but  gives  us  the  petitions 
which  He  commands  us  to  pray,  as  simple  promises,  for  the 
encouragement  of  our  confidence  in  asking,  if  we  lay  hold  upon 
them  in  faith.  But  it  is  indeed  only  a  prayer  for  us  poor  sinners, 
who  have  need  of  forgiveness  and  deliverance.  He  Himself,  as 
the  Son,  prayed  otherwise  to  the  Father,  and  has  opened  a  way 
whereby  we,  having  become  children  of  God  through  Him,  may 
have  liberty  to  pray  to  His  Father  as  our  Father  too.  Thus 
does  He  turn  our  asking  into  receiving,  and  makes  our  prayer 
the  way  and  means  of  our  fulfilling  the  commandment.  This  is 
the  meaning  of  its  position  here  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
Jehovah  cried  upon  Sinai  amid  the  thunders  of  His  majesty — 
Thou  shalt  be  holy !  Jesus  on  the  Mount  of  Blessedness  gives 
to  the  people,  who  sit  down  at  His  feet  and  receive  of  His  words 
(Deut.  xxxiii.  3),  the  word  of  living  power  from  His  own 
mouth : — Ask  and  it  shall  be  given  you  to  become  holy,  yea, 
finally  to  be  holy  for  ever  in  your  finished  redemption  to  the 
glory  of  God ! 

Hence  it  may  already  be  presumed  that  this  central  word, 
containing  the  very  heart  of  the  Gospel  as  the  life-giving,  self- 
fulfilling  law  of  grace,  would  stand, — through  the  marvellous 
wisdom  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  has  so  ordered  it,  that  all  things 
in  the  great  whole  of  Revelation  correspond  and  are  fitly 
joined  together, — in  immediate  relation  with  the  Decalogue,  the 
authentic  expression  of  the  law  of  commandment  for  all  ages.  And 
so  it  manifestly  does.  First  of  all  it  is  obvious  to  every  one  that 
in  this  as  in  that  there  are  two  tables,  and  indeed  in  a  similar 
manner  referring  to  God  and  man.  As  the  commandment 
begins— I  am  thy  God,  thou  shalt  consecrate  thyself  to  Me 
alone,  but  not  in  any  forms  of  thy  own  devising,  and  regard  as 
holy  My  name,  My  day,  and  My  representatives  (My  image,  in 
their  united  human  life,  thy  father  and  mother),  and  then  first 


MATTHEW  VI.  9—13.  223 

descends  into  the  circle  of  man's  relative  duties  and  obligations  ; 
so  also  in  the  prayer,  after  the  invocation  come  first  the  petitions, 
which,  as  they  ascend  to  the  Father,  utter  only  "  Thy,"  and  after- 
wards the  others  which  may  also  say  "  Our."  If  even  there 
the  gracious  covenant-word — Thy  God — preceded  the  command- 
ments, how  much  more  must  all  the  petitions  here  have  that 
first  word  of  appropriating  faith  before  them — Our  Father  ! 
Further,  as  there  the  precept  concerning  parents  (according  to 
right  reckoning  the  fifth),  while  it  essentially  belongs  to  the  first 
table,  is  yet  the  middle-term  of  transition  to  the  second,  so  also 
here  the  fourth  makes  such  a  transition  from  Thy  to  Our.  It 
does,  indeed,  say  "  our  bread,"  but  at  the  same  time — Give  it  to 
us  as  Thy  good  ;  while  in  the  following  petitions  we  ask  only  for 
the  turning  away  of  our  evil.  To  honour  God  in  the  person  of 
men,  is  the  internal  principle  of  the  loving  our  neighbour  as  our- 
selves (submitting  one  to  another  in  the  fear  of  God,  in  honour 
preferring  one  another)  ;  the  filial  feeling  is  the  foundation  of 
family-life,  from  which  society  and  the  community  grow  as  a 
more  extended  home  in  which  thou  shouldst  do  thy  neighbour 
no  harm,  because  he  is  thy  brother.  So  also  the  filial  petition 
for  the  true  bread  from  the  true  Father  is  the  beginning  and 
foundation  of  all  further  petitioning  for  all  our  need,  as  will  pre- 
sently be  shown.  Finally,  as  there  we  have  ten  words  (]-nt£^ 
D^l^rO?  so  here,  though  the  petitions — to  distinguish  the  new 
above  the  old — are  contained  in  the  holier  number  Seven  (repeat- 
ing the  most  holy  TJiree)  ;  yet  the  prayer  itself  is  found  to  be  also 
comprised  in  ten  words,  or  sentences,  if  we  include  not  only  the 
invocation  and  doxology,  its  commencement  and  its  close,  but  also, 
as  is  fitting,  the  single  vow,  which  appears  as  the  condition  of  the 
fifth  petition.  It  is  that  "  as  we  forgive,"  which  is  in  itself  some- 
thing distinctive,  as  the  Lord's  immediately  following  repetition 
teaches  us :  yea,  in  this  member  of  the  prayer  is  its  essential 
heart  to  be  found,  for  we  attain  to  this  love,  which  is  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  law,  only  in  the  way  of  asking  and  receiving  from  the 
love  of  God. 

Thus  the  one  prayer  runs  through  both  :  Be  our  God  and  give 
us  all  Ihy  good — take  from  us  all  our  evil,  in  order  that  in  us  also 
Thine  may  be  the  glory !  Give  Thy  grace,  take  our  sin — give 
Thy  glory,  take  our  evil  away.     But  as  the  prayer  bears  the 


224, 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 


relation  to  the  commandments  of  an  abounding  fulfilment  of  them, 
the  invocation  does  not  merely  correspond  with  that  first  word 
of  the  covenant— I  am  thy  God,  but  at  the  same  time  transforms 
the  two  first  commandments  into  a  prayer  which  fulfils  them. 
Every  other  God,  and  every  self  invented  likeness  and  image,  is 
already  excluded,  when  we  cry  in  faith— Our  Father  which  art 
in  heaven !  The  first  petition  for  the  hallowing  of  the  name 
embraces  in  itself  the  true  principle  or  beginning  and  the  final 
end  of  all  prayer,  but  it  aptly  corresponds  also  to  the  next  com- 
mandment—Thou shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God 
in  vain.  The  New  Testament  order  of  conception,  however, 
enters  here.  Now  in  the  great  fulfilment  we  pray  down  from 
heaven  to  earth  the  kingdom  which  is  come  and  is  coming,  and 
we  pray  the  good  and  gracious  will  of  the  Father  into  the 
hearts  of  ourselves  and  all  his  children.  The  three  first  petitions 
are  inseparably  triune.  The  Old  Testament  already  contained  at 
the  law-giving  in  the  hidden  back-ground  of  its  word,1  reference 
to  the  sacred  Three  in  God,  but  now  comes  into  clearer  promi- 
nence the  name  to  be  hallowed,  of  the  Father  just  now  invoked, 
of  the  Son  whose  kingdom  is  to  come,  of  the  Spirit  through 
whose  inworking  the  children  of  God  are  disciplined  to  do  His 
will.  The  three  petitions  are  inseparable,  while  each  introduces 
and  includes  that  which  follows ;  yet  do  they,  at  the  same  time, 
exhibit  the  development  in  which  they  are  fulfilled,  through  begin- 
ning, middle,  end.  For  the  first  invocation  and  petition  already 
hallows  the  name,  then  comes  the  kingdom  more  and  yet  more, 
until  in  its  perfection  the  will  is  fully  done. 

Such  is  first  and  essentially  "  that  which  toe  have  need  of"  (ver. 
8).  The  following  supplication  grounds  itself  on  this,  and  follows 
from  it,  as  Olshausen  rightly  seizes  the  connexion  between  them  ; 
"  In  order  that  this  may  be,  give  us  daily  the  bread  of  life."  Thus 
may  we  understand  the  true  meaning  of  the  fourth  petition, 
which  mediates  between  the  two  tables,  though  so  often,  alas, 

1  Namely  first  :  j-ftpp  ^£fcj  the  Father,  ;ppjSfc$  in  the  Son, 
^nM!hn  "ltt?N  through  the  Spirit's  power.  Then  again :  No  other 
gods  before  Me,  the  Father  ;  no  likeness  besides  the  Son,  in  whom 
my  Name  is ;  the  Sabbath  for  a  sign  that  I  sanctify  thee,  and  will 
carry  on  in  thee  the  work  of  my  Spirit  (Ezek.  xx.  12); 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  225 

wrested  from  its  connexion  : — give  us  Thy  good  !  It  is,  in  some 
sort,  as  a  condescension  that  it  begins  with  the  expression  of  our 
earthly,  bodily  need  !  it  designs  to  signify  more  than  that,  how- 
ever, elevating  bodily  need  into  the  figure  of  spiritual.  Impart 
that  to  us  whereof  we  live,  give  Thyself  to  us  for  the  good  of  our 
hunger,  for  the  satisfaction  of  our  desire.  This  is  essentially  the 
central  word  of  all  prayer  :  supply  our  need  !  Here  is  also  the 
proper  meaning  of  the  much  contested  sTriovo-Los,  in  its  plain 
position  before  us  :  that  which  is  necessary  to  our  ovaia,  the  sus- 
tenance of  the  creature  derived  from  the  power  and  gift  of  Him, 
who  alone  is  in  Himself  6  cov.  But  man  lives  not  by  bread  alone  : 
and  as  the  Lord  has  spoken  at  the  commencement  of  the  Sermon 
(ch.  v.  6)  of  a  hungering  and  thirsting  of  the  inner  man,  so  now 
in  its  centre,  yea,  in  the  innermost  heart  of  the  prayer  which  is 
its  very  kernel,  He  most  assuredly  does  not  bid  us  pray  merely 
for  the  need  and  nourishment  of  the  body,  but  speaks  also  of  the 
bread,  which  the  Father  giveth  from  heaven,  just  as  in  John  vi. 
27 — 33,  iv.  34.  The  details  will  follow  upon  the  individual1 
petitions. 

We  also  plainly  see  how  the  three  petitions  of  the  second 
table  further  describe  and  explain  that  bread  of  life,  for  which 
we,  on  our  soul's  behalf,  must  pray.  As  the  first  table  of  petitions 
is  from  above  downwards,  invoking  all  from  heaven,  to  which 
he  who  prays  has  risen  in  his  invocation,  until  the  earth  in  re-estab- 
lished obedience  becomes  like  heaven ;  so  now  the  prayer  returns 
back,  rising  from  the  confessed  and  expressed  necessity,  into 
which  the  Lord's  merciful  answer  descends,  towards  full  satisfac- 
tion and  accomplishment,  and,  indeed,  in  the  order  of  a  sacred 
three,  corresponding  to  the  former  : — our  trespass  is  that  we  have 

• 
1  It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  it  is  no  design  of  ours  to  exhibit 
the  commencing  petition  for  bodily  necessity  as  a  "  common  petition 
among  the  other  more  elevated  "  (Rothe's  Ethik  p.  339),  but  admit,  at 
the  outset,  its  full  significance  and  justness  as  such.  But  the  position 
of  Karrer  (our  Lutheran  critic,  to  whom  we  shall  revert  again)  that 
the  true  meaning  is  only  the  earthly  bread,  and  that  it  is  perpetrating 
robbery  upon  poor  Christians  if  they  are  not  allowed  to  use  the  prayer 
in  that  undivided  sense,  seems  to  be  pushing  the  matter  to  an  extreme. 
I  am  entirely  misunderstood,  as  if  I  only  tolerated  the  most  obvious 
and  bodily  reference,  with  little  approval. 

15 


226  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

not  done  the  will  of  the  Father,  and  reconciliation  is  the  bread 
which  we  first  and  most  inwardly  need  ;  then  comes  temptation, 
opposing  through  the  might  of  the  wicked  one,  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom ;  then  the  evil,  under  which  we  sigh,  to  the  very  last 
opposing  the  full  glorifying  and  hallowing  of  the  Name  of  God  in 
His  saints.  All  that  we  here  pray  for  is  indeed  embraced  in 
order  in  the  Son ;  the  true  wisdom  of  the  children  of  God  which 
is  to  pray  for  bread  from  their  Father  (in  the  four  first  petitions, 
but  especially  expressed  in  the  fourth),  is  taught  in  the  doctrine 
and  life  of  Jesus;  this  leads  us  to  His  death,  which  is  our  justifi- 
cation from  guilt ;  then  to  His  resurrection  in  order  to  our  sancti- 
fication  against  all  temptation ;  finally,  to  His  ascension  and  return 
for  our  full  deliverance  from  all  evil.  Yet  are  these  petitions  on 
the  other  hand  inseparably  three-one ;  so  that  in  the  first  we 
already  perceive  the  last,  and  each  prayer  petitions  for  a  spiritual 
sacrament,  in  which  there  is  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  also  vic- 
torious life,  and  salvation  to  blessedness  in  hope.  Thus  pray  we 
for  hedth  and  life  in  place  of  decay  and  death,  for  that  true  and 
only  deliverance,  in  which  the  Father  forgives  His  children  for  His 
name's  sake  (1  Jno.  ii.  12) ;  the  Son  strengthens  those  who  are 
His  against  the  evil  one ;  and  the  Spirit  perfects  the  deliverance 
unto  glory.1 

As,  consequently,  the  fourth  petition  sets  out  with  the  expres- 
sion of  bodily  need,  which  is  to  be  developed  into  a  spiritual 
meaning  ;  so  the  seventh  petition  obviously  first  of  all  refers  to 
spiritual  evil  in  its  principle,  sin  and  temptation  (as  the  connect- 
ing dXKd  evidently  intimates)  ;  but  it  also  includes  all  the  exter 
nal,  bodily  evil  which  sin  has  brought  and  is  bringing,  and 
authorizes  us  in  this  legitimate  way  to  pray  for  deliverance  from 

it. 

Thus  has  this  general  view  placed  the  two  petitions  concerning 
which  opinion  has  been  divided  in  the  true  light,  which  harmo- 

1  The  reader  must  consider  whether  this  disposition  is  the  logical 
construction  which  Theremin  deprecates  (Abendstunden  p.  439),  and 
also  whether,  besides  this  not  absolutely  necessary  arrangement,  other 
quite  different  combinations  are  supposable,  as  is  there  conceived  But 
we  very  much  doubt  whether  the  parallel  with  the  commandments, 
which  our  critic  Karrer  gives  (Zeitsch.  fur  die  luth.  Theol.1848.  3)  can 
be  regarded  as  preferable. 


MATTHEW  VI.  9—13.  227 

nizes  all  differences  :  and  pointed  out  our  way  for  the  right 
understanding  of  the  particulars,  to  which  we  must  now  direct 
our  attention. 

How  much  more  is  that  which  the  Son  now  puts  into  our 
mouth — Our  Father  !  than  that  former — I  am  thy  God !  He 
graciously  tells  us — thus  say  ye  !  well  knowing  that  the  permis- 
sion— thus  may  ye  say !  would  have  been  by  far  too  little  for  our 
diffidence.  Would  the  disciples  have  been  able  after  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  to  lay  hold  of  that  permission  and  diligently  avail 
themselves  of  it  1  It  appears  not  from  Luke  xi.,  and  therefore 
must  the  Lord  repeat  for  all,  what  that  one  had  not  heard  or  had 
not  understood  and  embraced.  We  may  place  our  little  children's 
hands  together,  and  teach  them — say  ye.  Well  for  every  one, 
for  whom  this  is  early  done  :  it  is  not  too  soon,  as  early  as  the  child 
can  cry — My  father,  and  my  mother  (Isa.  viii.  4) — and  lift  up  his 
eyes  to  heaven  as  a  child  of  humanity.  How  perfect  is  the  sim- 
plicity of  this  beginning  of  all  prayer,  descending  to  the  root  and 
principle,  already  naturally  present  in  the  heart,  of  all  sense  of 
love,  and  trust  for  gift  and  help  I  In  "  Father  "  the  Creator  is  at 
once  included,  but  the  glance  towards  heaven  immediately  adds  : 
Who  hath  made  all  these  things  !  Me,  with  all  other  creatures 
This  beginning  of  all  prayer  given  by  our  Lord  Himself  should 
be  proof  enough  to  all,  that  it  is  His  will  to  build  up  His  church 
in  families  and  in  nations  from  the  very  commencement  of  life, 
and  every  Our  Father  in  the  mouth  of  a  child  of  Christianity 
(and  should  we  then  by  any  means  suppress  it  ?)  asks  the  ques- 
tion— Can  any  man  forbid  water,  that  these  should  not  be 
baptized,  who  are  already  taught  by  the  Spirit  to  cry  Abba? 
But  again,  if  the  simplicity  of  childhood  has  departed  in  after 
time,  and  sin  has  broken  out,  how  hard  is  the  return  to  it  and  the 
becoming  again  as  little  children  !  We  might  almost  without 
qualification  say  that  he  who  has  never  trembled  at  that  invoca- 
tion, and  confessed  that  he  dared  not  take  it  upon  his  lips,  has 
never  yet  learned  to  utter  it  from  his  heart.  Then  does  the  word 
of  grace  attract  the  spirit  and  overcome — Have  I  not  brought  it 
down  to  thee  in  thy  sin  and  misery,  do  I  not  give  it  up  to  the  com- 
mon use  and  even  desecration  of  all  men,  in  order  that  those  who 
receive  it  in  faith  and  are  willing,  should  learn  to  use  it  in  spirit 
and  in  truth?     Then  hear  we  the  appeal  to  those  who  are  parents 


228  the  gospel  op  st  matthew. 

— If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  I 
And  then  comes  that  knowledge  which  can  never  be  enough 
learned,  that  we,  through  the  Son,  have  also  a  Father,  who  is  never 
weary  of  coming  and  laying  hold  of  us  through  the  power  and  im- 
pulse of  His  Holy  Spirit.  Only  begin  with  this  encouraging 
assurance,  and  let  every  Our  Father  anew  from  your  lips  to  your 
heart  declare — that  He  who  hath  given  thee  the  word,  gives  also 
the  faith,  the  grace  and  the  spirit  of  prayer  to  use  it.  Thus  the 
Gospel  goes  forth  among  the  heathen  in  this  prayer,  laying  hold 
of  their  innermost  and  first  natural  feelings  after  God—"  On 
high  above  the  stars  a  good  Father  dwells !"  and  transform  the 
presentiment  into  assurance,  in  every  one  who  receives  it  to  his 
heart. 

Further,  what  an  inexhaustible  meaning  is  there  in  the  con- 
junction in  this  first  glance  towards  heaven,  of  the  Father-name, 
which  is  inborn  and  sweet  to  every  child  of  man,  with  the  uni- 
versal compass  of  all  things  and  the  hosts  of  the  universe  !  He 
whose  are  all  the  heavens,  and  not  thy  own  earth  merely,  is  the 
Father,  is  thy  Father  !  All  true  prayer  from  under  heaven  goes 
up  to  Him,  even  though  eyes  and  hands  be  not  lifted  up,  even 
though  the  heart  should  return  into  itself  to  seek  the  Thou  of 
prayer.  Whosoever,  however,  would  in  the  wilful  delusion  of  his 
spirit  seek  it  there  alone,  is  at  the  very  first  appealed  to  by  this 
prayer  of  our  Lord :  Not  so  !  Not  in  thyself!  Every  good  gift 
cometh  down  from  above !  The  heavens  give  not  showers  (Jer. 
xiv.  22) ;  the  sun,  and  the  moon,  and  the  stars  have  no  power  in 
themselves  and  can  impart  nothing,  but  the  Living  God  in  His 
own  world.  By  this  is  all  Pantheism  condemned,  which,  having 
first  miserably  compressed  and  shrivelled  up  this  universe  of 
things,  knowing  no  other  spirits  than  the  spirit  of  man,  know- 
ing nothing  of  secret  things  beyond  the  history  of  the  earth;  then 
proceeds  to  make  this  scanty  "  all"  into  the  god  of  its  idolatry. 
Every  child  who  can  utter  "  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven," 
may  put  to  shame  such  vain  thinkers,  and  teach  them  a  lesson  of 
faith.     (Heb.  xi.  3). 

But  the  Lord  at  the  outset  does  not  teach  us  at  once  merely 
to  say — in  heaven,  as  afterwards  in  the  third  petition  it  is  used 
in  contradistinction  to  earth  (Matt,  xxviii.  18)  :  this  would  have 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  229 

been  ill  adapted  to  inspire  the  confidence  of  prayer,  and  would 
have  removed  Him  who  is  nigh  at  hand  to  far  distance  again. 
But  he  teaches  us  to  speak  according  to  the  language  which 
described  the  creation  :  in  the  heavens.  It  would  be  well  if  the 
Lutherans  would  take  that  again  from  the  Reformed.  Where 
God  is  there  is  heaven,  and  where  is  God  not  f  When  these 
first  words  are  more  deeply  pondered  after  this  first  upward 
glance,  there  is  found  to  be  no  antithesis  in  them  to  the  here 
below  of  him  who  prays,  but  they  rather  suggest  a  responsive 
descent  of  heaven  to  earth,  and  into  the  heart  of  the  petitioner. 
I  dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place,  with  him  also  that  is  of  a 
contrite  and  humble  spirit !  Here  is  the  heaven  of  prayer,  which 
opens  to  the  petitioner  when  the  High  and  Lofty  One,  whose 
glory  is  sung  by  all  principalities  and  powers  in  His  temple,  and 
in  His  house  of  many  mansions,  bows  down  in  His  holy  mercy  to 
the  abject  ones,  who  otherwise  could  never  by  any  struggles  and 
endeavours  rise  to  Him.  He  whose  are  the  heavens  is  the  Al- 
mighty Father:  as  He  can  help  as  God,  so  will  He  help  as  Father. 
He  is  the  true  Father,  in  a  sense  beyond  that  of  His  faint  images 
— the  fathers  upon  the  earth.  He  is  the  universal  Father  :  high 
and  extended  as  the  heaven  is  above  the  earth,  so  universal  is  His 
presence  to  praying  hearts,  opening  up  in  them  everywhere  the 
countless  heavens  of  His  manifestation,  like  the  suns  in  the  drops 
of  dew.  The  Lord  had,  however,  previously  said:  But  thou, 
when  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,  and  pray  to  thy  Father — 
for  the  "  thy"  must  have  its  own  prior  claim,  and  it  is  obviously 
understood  that  he  who  prays,  first  of  all  prays  for  himself.  Yet 
He  now  gives*  us  a  common  prayer — Our  Father !  And  even  in 
the  most  essentially  personal  supplication  and  wrestling,  which 
wTould  only  cry — My  bread — my  trespasses — deliver  me — we 
must  ever  bear  in  mind  that  we  do  not  alone  thus  pray.  If  faith 
utters  the  word  Father,  love,  without  which  faith  cannot  be,  im- 
mediately associates  with  it  our,  that  all  its  prayer  may  go  into 
the  great  fellowship  of  supplication,  and  all  its  petitioning  be 
intercession  also.1      Here  is  there  already  an  anticipation  of  the 

1  As  Lange  says,  "  even  childhood  is  not  without  its  distinctive  feel- 
ing of  human  brotherhood,"  though  this  expression  seems  to  embrace 
too  much,  when  "  all  good  spirits  "  are  incorporated  into  this  great 
brotherhood. 


230  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

subsequent — as  we  forgive  our  debtors.  (Mai.  ii.  10).  I  with 
all  others,  but  also  all  others  with  me  and  for  me,  in  the  presence 
of  the  one  common  Father  of  us  all !  Just  as  if  thou  wert  to 
enter  in  diffidence  and  fear  the  audience  chamber  of  thy  King, 
and  foundest  there  hundreds  else  with  whom  His  majesty  was 
kindly  speaking ;  so  should  thy  closet  be  large  enough  for  all  to 
enter  with  thee  who  pray  under  heaven,  that  thy  faith  may  thus 
gather  strength  :— Where  all  are  will  I  be,  I  will  wait  with  them 
and  with  them  be  heard  and  be  blessed  ! 

But  now  to  the  petitioning  !  Between  every  word  of  true 
prayer,  which  does  not  remain  the  mere  converse  of  the  heart 
before  Him,  but  becomes  communion  with  Him,  God  speaks  in 
answer.  Listening  to  these  answers  the  soul  is  moved  to  the 
most  inward  progress  of  its  utterance.  Thus  now,  after  we  have 
boldly  uttered  the  invocation,  the  first  voice  of  Majesty  speaks 
from  His  throne — Am  I  a  father,  where  is  mine  honour  !  (Mai. 
.  6).  Then  comes  the  confession,  in  common  with  all  who  pray, 
and  on  behalf  of  all  who  pray  not :  Alas  we  are  not  yet  thy  true 
children  !  We  are  yet  under  the  Heaven,  and  where  the  Holy  ! 
Holy  !  Holy !  of  the  highest  Heavens  fills  not  yet  all  lands  and 
all  hearts.  Holy  is  the  first  word,  which  we  are  taught  to  learn 
in  the  Lord's  prayer,  the  vocabulary  of  all  fundamental  and 
elementary  ideas  in  which  man  must  speak  of  God  and  to  Him ; 
and  it  can  only  be  learned  in  speaking  to  Him,  out  of  the 
invocation  that  is  first  uttered.  He  has  not  made  us  shrink 
back  terrified  by  His— I  am  holy !  He  has  indeed  by  anticipa- 
tion impressed  this  upon  our  hearts  in  the  Father-name,  but  He 
now  demands  that  which  he  has  given,  not  indeed  as  yet  by  His 
solemn — be  ye  holy  I  but  by  the  prayer  of  His  own  Spirit  pro- 
ceeding from  our  spirit :  we  would  be  holy,  oh  that  we  were  so 
and  might  be,  help  us,  good  Father  in  heaven  !  Hallowed  be — 
the  race  of  thy  fallen  children,  mankind,  upon  earth,  which  calls 
upon  Thy  name,  ana  which  does  not  call  upon  it,  yea  knows  it 
not  as  yet !  This  is  its  meaning,  but  it  is  not  so  said.  Not  for  our 
own  sake  do  we  pray,  so  much  as  for  His  name's  sake.  We  have 
taken  it  into  our  lips  with  all  the  boldness  of  permitted  and  com- 
manded confidence,  and  now  meets  us  the  solemn — not  in  vain ! 
Befitting  lowliness  and  reverence  are  joined  with  this  childlike 
confidence,  and  we  only  pray  for  the  honour  of  His  name.     Not 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  231 

unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  to  thy  namo  give  the  glory ! 
By  this  is  the  self  of  the  natural  man,  which  even  in  prayer 
would  ask  and  have  for  its  own  sake  only,  cut  up  from  the  roots ; 
and  the  first  and  last  principle  of  all  prayer,  is  laid  down  in  the 
first  petition  which  so  far  includes  all  the  rest.  The  prayer 
proceeds  from  the  individual  heart,  and  then  goes  forth,  with  a 
— hallowed  in  us — which  must  be  understood,  over  all  the  world, 
even  as  far  as  the  "  Our  Father"  reaches.  It  has  its  degrees 
of  meaning,  and  three  in  particular.  For  children  who  begin  to 
learn  it,  as  for  heathens  and  all  who  know  it  not : — Reveal  Thy 
name  that  we  may  know  it,  and  utter  it !  For  all  who  know  it, 
but  hold  that  knowledge  in  error  and  human  delusions  : — take 
away  man  s  lie,  which  hangs  around  Thy  name  !  Finally  for  all, 
who  know  it  but  deny  it  in  act,  who  acknowledge  it,  but  not 
from  their  hearts : — take  away  that  most  grievous  dishonour  of 
Thy  name,  that  those  who  call  upon  it,  sanctify  it  not  in  their 
lives  !  Thus  do  we  here  for  ourselves  and  all  the  world  lift  up 
our  confession  and  our  vows  :  Glory  be  to  God  in  the  highest ! 
In  this  all  is  included  in  one  compendium :  and  the  Pharisaical 
mine  be  the  glory !  wdiich  has  a  tendency  to  rise  in  God's  chil- 
dren's hearts,  for  ever  anew  condemned.  For  the  name  is,  indeed, 
not  merely  the  word  of  appellation  by  which  we  address  God ; 
neither  is  it  (as  a  false  catechetical  tradition  in  its  pretended 
wisdom  runs)  God  Himself  in  His  being  and  nature,  but  the 
acknowledgment  and  the  praise  of  God,  revealing  Himself  to  us 
and  in  us.1  But  He  reveals  Himself  through  Him,  in  whom  His 
name  is  (Ex.  xxiii.  21),  the  Son,  in  whom  the  Father  Himself  is 
honoured,  in  whose  coming  God's  kingdom  comes. 

The  kingdom  is  come,  as  the  Lord's  first  preaching  announced 
in  another  sense :  but  He  here  teaches  us  also  that  it  is  not  yet 
come,  but  ever  continues  coming  until  the  time  when  there  shall 
be  no  more  room  or  reason  for  such  a  prayer  upon  earth.     The 

1  Assuredly  the  first  petition  goes  out  from  the  previous  invocation 
M  Our  Father,"  continuing  its  invocation  and  adoration,  yet  it  is  not  the 
same  with  it,  in  the  sense  of  being  its  explication,  or,  as  it  were,  a 
customary  doxology  appended  to  it.  It  has  an  actual  petition  of  its 
own.  We  cannot  concur  with  Laufs  (Rheinische  Monatsschrift,  Nov. 
1847),  who,  following  older  precedents,  would  deny  this,  and  refuse 
to  admit  that  veneratio  and  laudatio  may  be  made,  in  any  sense, 
petitio. 


THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

kingdom  of  God,  by  which  He  rules  the  world,  is  not  here  signi- 
fied ;  that  stands  immoveable  and  admits  of  no  coming.  But  it 
is  His  kingdom  of  grace,  which  not  only  judges  but  extinguishes 
sin,  and  re-establishes  His  honour,  His  Father-honour  again  in 
the  sinner.  It  comes,  indeed,  of  itself  without  our  prayer,  inas- 
much as  if  it  did  not  descend  as  a  free  gift  for  the  poor  in  spirit 
they  could  never  have  prayed  for  it,  much  less  have  drawn  it 
into  themselves  by  their  prayers:  nevertheless  it  comes  not 
without  our  prayer;  but  in  it  and  with  it.  The  supplication 
which  is  excited  and  nourished  upon  earth — Thy  kingdom  come  ! 
is  itself  the  evidence  of  its  coming,  its  fruit  at  once  and  its  seed 
in  continual  mutual  co-operation  between  God  and  man.  Thus 
it  begins  to  exist,  and  goes  on  progressively  until  the  kingdom 
of  grace  is  consummated  in  the  kingdom  of  glory.  Until  this  is 
accomplished,  the  prayer  thus  given  to  us  retains  its  value  and 
force  as  a  promise.  Again,  as  it  is  not  we  who  are  hallowed 
but  the  name  of  God  in  us,  just  so  it  is  not : — Help  us  that  we 
may  come  into  Thy  kingdom,  but  let  Thy  kingdom  come  to  us  ! 
Whoso  with  a  kind  of  selfishness  supplies  in  his  heart — to  me — 
and  seeks  even  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  his  own  blessedness  as 
his,  is  at  once  and  always  condemned  by  the  language  of  this 
petition,  which  does  not  here  mention  "  to  us"  at  all.  It  does 
indeed  belong  to  it,  and  not  merely  in  the  sense  of  the  narrow 
"  even  to  us  "  of  the  Lutheran  Catechism  (which  without  the 
Mission-glance  is  very  faulty  here),  but,  in  earth,  yea  upon  the 
whole  earth,  where  as  yet  far  other  than  Thy  will  reigns !  That 
Christendom  has  prayed  this  second  petition  so  long,  and  prays 
it  now  so  much,  without  the  corresponding  Missionary  impulse, 
and  Missionary  work,  is  the  most  mournful  evidence  that  could 
be  adduced  of  the  great  blindness  which  opposes  everywhere  this 
prayer  and  its  clearest  words  of  light.  Where,  however,  this 
blindness  is  only  that  of  the  understanding,  the  horizon  over 
which  the  eye  may  range  being  limited  upon  this  subject,  the 
prayers  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  which  have  issued  from 
believing  hearts  may,  notwithstanding,  co-operate  to  the  good  of 
the  heathen.  From  the  beginning  they  may  have  been  sowing 
secretly  and  unconsciously  the  seed  of  future  harvests,  even  as 
the  children's  Hosanna  contributed  to  the  destruction  of  the 
Adversary. 


MATTHEW  VI.  9—13.  233 

Finally,  where  is  the  kingdom,  and  where  does  it  come?  Where 
the  Will  of  the  King  is  done.  The  three  petitions,  without  any 
"  And"  interposed,  are  inseparably  three-one,  as  was  said  above ; 
and  as  we  pass  from  one  to  the  other,  we  become  more  and, more 
convinced  of  the  deep  principle  that  underlies  them  all.  Thinkest 
thou,  that  His  name  is  hallowed  at  least  in  this  place  or  that, 
so  that  one  might  confidently  cry  out  concerning  it,  Lo  here  or 
lo  there  ?  Look  narrowly  whether  the  kingdom  of  honour  and 
glory  be  indeed  fully  come,  and  pray  on  !  Thinkest  thou  that 
the  kingdom,  too,  is  come  here  or  there,  question  profoundly 
whether  it  be  indeed  inwardly  set  up  in  the  children  of  the  king- 
dom, whether  they  do  the  will  upon  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven, 
voluntarily,  and  entirely  without  any  evil  will  or  device  openly 
or  secretly  contradicting  it,  and  pray  on  !  As  it  is  in  heaven : 
there1  there  is  no  disobedience,  nothing  disorganised,  nothing  but 
the  will,  the  kingdom,  the  honour  of  God ;  as  in  the  courses  of 
suns  and  stars,  so  among  the  morning  stars  and  sons  of  God 
(Job  xxxviii.  7),  there  is  the  festal  service  of  those  who,  active 
in  rest,  shout  for  joy  in  their  ranks  of  blessedness.  So  should  it 
be  upon  earth :  vast  is  the  meaning  which  carries  the  promise 
in  this  prayer  far  above  all  the  stir  and  tumult  of  humanity, 
inviting  and  urging  all  the  children  of  God  to  restless  wrestling 
in  praying  and  receiving,  and  fervour  in  doing  His  will !  By 
this  petition,  if  he  ventures  to  take  it  into  his  lips,  the  godless 
man  condemns  himself;  with  it  the  sufferer  comforts  himself, 
and  is  assured  that  through  the  gracious  will  of  God  all  evil 
shall  loose  its  hold  upon  the  meek,  who  already  have  in  hope  the 
earth  for  their  inheritance ;  by  it  the  slothful  man  invigorates 
himself,  the  self-willed  rebukes  himself,  and  by  it  the  will  of  the 
Spirit,  which  must  conquer,  prays  itself  through  all  the  impedi- 
ments of  an  opposing  flesh,  to  perfect  victory.  The  Forerunner 
Himself,  in  the  weakness  of  our  flesh,  prayed  this  prayer  before 
us,  yet  without  sin.1 

Thus  have  we,  arrived  thus  far,  prayed  down  and  prayed  away 
through  the  invocation  and  right  confession  of  God  the  Father, 
all  false  selfishness  of  mine  and  ours,  though  without  naming  it, 

1  Hamann  to  Herder  calls  this  Fiat  voluntas  tua  the  true  lapis  phi- 
losophorum  in  our  Pater  Noster. 


234  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

from  the  most  impious  and  devilish  pride  of  self-glory  which 
reigns  in  the  world  down  to  the  slightest  and  merest  volition  of 
poor  individual  humanity.  Let  him  who  has  not  in  this  sense 
used  this  prayer,  begin  it  entirely  anew.  In  the  three  first  peti- 
tions all  that  follow  them  were  profoundly  included  :  where  then 
was  the  need  of  these  after  the  former  were  fulfilled  !  f  The 
gracious  giver  of  our  prayer  permits  and  requires  us  to  speak 
more  plainly,  and,  after  having  spoken  of  the  honour  of  God,  to 
unfold  our  own  need,  and  our  own  plague.  The  prayer,  which 
aims  to  lift  us  up  to  heaven,  does  not  accomplish  that  at  once, 
but  we  still  sink  back  in  our  misery — still  on  earth  !  it  therefore 
sets  out  again  afresh,  taking  its  stand  on  earth.  Well  might  we 
in  the  former  have  essayed :  "  I  would  go  up  to  Thee  in  faith  ! " 
— the  attempt  could  not  be  in  vain  and  without  profit :  but  its 
best  effect  was  to  strengthen  and  excite  us  still  more  urgently 
to  proceed — M  Come  down  to  me  on  earth  in  love  ! "  This  is 
the  central  turning-point  of  transition  between  the  two  halves  of 
this  prayer ;  the  fourth  petition  in  the  heart  of  it  indicates  that 
transition. 

How  runs  it  ?  Give  us  this  day  what  we  need,  the  bread 
which  pertains  to  our  being  and  life !  Bread  as  such  ?  Poor 
man  in  the  flesh  upon  earth  thinks  immediately  of  the  wants  of 
his  bodily  life,  the  supply  of  wdiich  it  is  not  in  him  to  create  ;  he 
may  think  of  it,  for  the  gracious  dictator  of  our  prayer  designs 
not  to  prevent  this  petition,  nay  rather  puts  it  in  his  mouth.  Yet 
is  it,  according  to  man's  fallen  nature,  the  first  genuine  prayer, 
with  which  we  all  commence,  whereas  the  prayer  for  God's  glory 
should  be  the  first.  With  a  profound  reference  to  our  earthly 
condition  and  our  earthly  need,  does  the  second  portion  of  the 
prayer  commence :  and  sets  out  afresh,  by  teaching  us,  as  the 
first  elevation  of  man's  head  toward  heaven,  the  table-prayer,  as 
Claudius  incomparably  lays  it  down  :  "  Man  is  not  a  cow  or  a 
horse,  but  he  is  among  cows  and  horses,  and  must  eat  with  them  : 
therefore  when  he  is  fed,  he  rightly  lifts  up  his  head  above  them, 
conscious  that  he  is  thus  fed  and  in  order  that  he  may  never 
forget  that  he  is."  Are  ye  not,  in  your  heavenly  Father's  sight, 
much  better  than  they  ?  They  who  would  altogether  take  away 
the  earthly  meaning  of  the  fourth  petition,  scarcely  know  what 
they  say  :  is  it  not  necessary  that  they  should  thus  pray,  and  can 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  235 

we  suppose  the  Lord  not  to  have  included  so  necessary  a  petition 
in  His  all-comprehending  prayer?  In  this  sense  the  simple 
words  have  a  large  and  profound  meaning.  It  is  immediately 
evident  that  "bread"  here  means  what  man  absolutely  needs,  ex- 
cluding the  slightest  superfluity,  and  as  opposed  to  all  "  not  being 
content:"  including,  however,  according  to  its  proverbial  use, 
food  and  shelter, in  addition  to  nourishment.  (1  Tim.  vi.  8).  Eitl- 
ovaios,  fari  rrj  ovai'a  rjfiwv  avrdpfcws,  apfxotpv  is  not  the  daily  bread 
(Chrysost.  e^rj^iepoi)  which  is  already  included  in  arj/xepov,  whence 
it  is  in  St  Luke  to  icaff  fjfiepav.  We  may  not  care  for  the  mor- 
row, and  never  pray  into  the  future  !  Still  less,  therefore,  is  it 
to-morrow's  bread,  apro<;  rrj?  liriovcrri^  rjfAepas — in  Gosp.  of  the 
Hebrews  -tflO*1  But  it  is  just  a  translation  of  vppf  £rh  as  it  runs 
in  Prov.  xxx.  8,2  only  that  here  in  the  Gr.  einovcnos  the  idea  of 
need  is  somewhat  more  prominent  than  that  of  appropriate,  pro- 
portioned, and  sufficient.  Both,  indeed,  concur  in  one,  according 
to  the  parallel  cited  by  Lange  out  of  the  Gemara  :  "  To  every  man 
what  he  needs  for  life,  and  to  every  body  as  much  as  is  needful 
for  it."  We  are  also,  in  addition  to  this,  reminded  by  a^epov, 
KaB*  fj/jLepav,  of  the  uncertainty  of  our  earthly  life,  that  we  might 
with  every  to-day  reach  the  term  of  our  course,  and  know  no 
morrow :  and  thus  there  is  already  reference  to  a  need  that  goes 
beyond  this  earthly  life.  But  that  we  need  our  food  for  every 
to-day,  the  eiriovaios  boldly  acknowledges.  The  Father  gives  it 
without  prayer,  even  to  the  evil,  and  adds  to  it  much  more 
besides  :  but  His  own  children  may  not  only  thus  receive 
it,  they  bring  with  them  the  prayer  to  which  they  are  bound 
as  the  expression  of  their  thankfulness,  as  acknowledgment  of 
their  obligation.  They  also  should  remember  that  God  may  at 
any  moment  withdraw  what  He  hath  given,  and  consequently 
their  "  give  "  includes — continue  to  us  and  preserve  !  Thus  poor 
and  rich  are  alike  petitioners  before  God's  gate,  all  the  care  of 
poverty,  and  all  the  security  of  possession  alike  dissolved  in  this 
daily  asking  and  receiving.  Finally,  the  "  our  "  in  this  more  out- 
ward meaning,  gives  rise  to  two  very  important  thoughts.  It  points 

1  Comp.  upon  this  Delitzsch  in  the  luther.  Zeitschrift  1850,    3,  p. 
469. 

2  Which  Meier  too  (die  ursprungliche  Form  des  Dekalogs.  p.  42) 
has  this  time  rightly  seized. 


236 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 


to  necessary  labour,  the  true  way  of  asking  and  receiving  accord- 
ing to  God's  original  appointment  for  man  in  Gen.  iii.  19, 
independently  of  which  we  eat  not  our  own  bread  (2  Thess.  iii. 
12 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  11—12)  but  another's.1  Similarly,  it  points  to 
the  obligatory  communication  and  fellowship,  since  as  we  in  "our" 
and  "  us"  pray  with  and  for  one  another,  so  we  may  not  hold  any 
thing  that  we  receive  exclusively  and  covetously  for  ourselves 
alone.  (Isa.  lviii.  7,  break  thy  bread  to  the  hungry— comp.  1 
Sam.  xxv.  11).  Thus  not  as  in  that  old  hymn-book:  "gib 
Regen  und  gib  Sonnenschein,  fur  Greiz  und  Schleiz  und  Loben- 
stein ;  und  wollen  andre  audi  was  ha'n,  so  mo>en  sie's  dir  selber 
sa'n !" 

But  with  all  this  it  is  only  admitted,  that  earthly  bread  is 
included  in  this  petition  :  and  by  no  means,  that  the  children 
of  the  Father  are  not  to  think  of  more  than  this  in  the  word  of 
Jesus.  ^  A  petition  only  for  earthly  bread,  we  insist,  would  stand 
alone,  interrupting  the  course  of  the  whole  prayer  for  spiritual 
gifts  ;  and  would  neither  have  connexion  with  the  preceding, 
nor  be  a  fit  transition  to  the  following,  petitions.  What  the  Lord 
says  in  Matt.  vi.  33,  must  be  the  key  to  the  exposition  here :  it 
is  in  the  sense  of  that  saying  that  He  commands  us  to  pray  for 
bread.  As  certainly  as  the  weak  beginners  begin  with  the  earthly 
bread,  a  prayer  which  is  granted  to  us  all ;  so  certainly  must  the 
petition  have  a  wider  meaning  for  such  as  no  longer,  at  least  in 
many  an  "  Our  Father,"  care  for  or  ask  for  earthly  bread,  because 
they  know  that  it  already  falls  to  their  portion.  Or  are  there 
none  who  thus  petition,  and  who  find  out  what  further  the  Lord 
intends,  their  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness  interpreting 
the  word :— Give  us  the  bread  of  Thy  strength,  the  gift  of  Thy 
grace,  which  we  need  that  we  may  live  in  Thee  and  to  Thee! 
To  them  indeed  the  distinction  between  the  one  and  the  other 
vanishes,  and  this  may  indicate  the  truest  and  most  consistent 
use  of  this  petition  :  they  care  only  to  say,  Give  us  Thy  gifts,  O 
Father,  that  we  may  possess  and  enjoy  them,  fill  thou  all  our 
human  need,  whether  of  body  or  of  soul !  But  as  much  as  the 
soul  is  more  than  the  body,  we  should  learn  to  give  the  pre- 

1  Man  lifts  his  imploring,  empty  hands  to  heaven,  and  God  laYs  work 
upon  it— thus  hast  thou  thy  bread  I  ' 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  237 

eminence  to  the  spiritual  in  our  thought  and  in  our  prayer.1 
Thus  are  we  taught  by  the  sacred  three  of  the  following  petitions, 
strictly  united  as  they  are  by  and :  they  assuredly  are  designed 
to  give  us  a  more  detailed  explication,  and  individual  exhibition 
of  the  general  Give  us  which  preceded. 

This  and,  which  from  this  petition  forwards,  unlike  the  first 
three,  forms  a  link  between  each  (in  the  concluding  one  passing 
into  the  still  stricter  conjunction  of  but),  thus  appears  to  have  in 
the  first  instance  a  twofold  sense  of  connexion,  and  that  whether 
the  one  or  the  other  meaning  of  bread  is  assumed.  If  thy 
thoughts  rested  simply  in  the  idea  of  bodily  necessity,  this  And 
comes  immediately  to  excite  the  acknowledgment  which  is  need- 
ful in  order  to  the  humility  of  that  prayer : — But  we  are  alto- 
gether unworthy  of  what  we  ask,  we  have  not  deserved  to  receive, 
but  must  expect  it  only  from  thy  mercy.  Thus  the  prayer  placed 
in  thy  lips  constrains  thee,  immediately  after  thou  hast  paid  thy 
bodily  need  its  tribute,  to  bring  to  God  thy  soul's  need  likewise : 
the  continuous  "  and  "  becomes  a  self-recollecting  "  also,"  pene- 
trating forcibly  the  heart  and  conscience.  But  of  what  avail — 
shouldst  thou  say  in  thine  heart — is  the  food  which  perisheth,  if 
Thou  didst  not  in  addition  and  more  especially  heal  the  hurt  of 
my  soul,  in  order  to  life  and  refreshment  of  my  inner  man  ?  But 
if  thou  hast,  on  the  other  hand,  as  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  lifted  up 
thy  prayer,  according  to  His  instruction  and  exhortation  else- 
where, for  the  "  bread  which  cometh  down  from  heaven,"  then 
is  the  And  which  follows  a  mere  transition  to  the  more  express 
acknowledgment  and  specification  of  that  which  thou  meanest, 
and  requirest,  and  pray  est  for,  and  receivest  by  that  prayer  for 
the  bread  of  the  soul. 

The  forgiveness  of  sins  is  and  must  ever  be  the  first  nourish- 
ment and  refreshment,  the  first  gifts  of  God's  grace  even  to  His 
children.  To  them  indeed  the  whole  prayer  is  properly  given, 
for  only  they  can  truly  say  "  Our  Father."  The  first  cry  and 
supplication  of  a  returning  prodigal  son,  does  not  so  appertain  to 
the  Lord's  Prayer  as  to  find  its  place  first  of  all  in  this  fifth 
petition.    That  has  been  uttered  before  and  independently  of  it : — 

1  We  cannot  understand  how,  as  Alford  thinks,  this  higher,  mysti- 
cal meaning  of  apros  is  excluded  by  the  addition  of  ^Sv,  for  it  is  just 
the  inner  man,  who  prays  for  himself,  even  in  the  case  of  bodily  need. 


238  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

I  am  not  worthy  to  call  thee  Father !     The  confidence  of  an 
enjoyed  reconciliation  is  presupposed  in  the  invocation,  and  the 
three  first  petitions  which  are  developed  from  it.      He  whose 
conscience  is  first  aroused  to  repent  of  and  turn  from  his  sins  and 
misdeeds  by  the  fifth  petition  (though  it  may,  indeed,  condescend 
to  the  exertion  of  this  influence),  has  at  least  uttered  all  that  pre- 
cedes without  sincerity  and  truth.     This  itself  has  added  to  his 
sin,  and  it  would  have  been  better  for  him  to  have  begun  with 
"  forgive  me"  before  and  in  the  first  "  Our  Father,"  in  order  that 
he  might  truly  be  included  in  the  "Our."     Hence  the  Lord  does 
not  say  here:  our  sin  and  iniquity  or  our  transgressions  (irapav- 
Tufzara,  as  afterwards  in  ver.  14),  but  he  uses  the  much  milder 
expression  o^X^ara.     We  may  indeed  strictly  say  that  his 
first  forgiveness  every  man  must  supplicate  alone,  for  himself  (my 
sin,  my  sins !) ;  he  may  not  include  his  own  absolution  in  the 
wide  and  general  "  Our,"  and  should  not  cast  in  his  sin  at  once 
with  the  petition  which  the  congregation  of  God's  children  here 
present.     This  refers  rather  to  a  daily-recurring  need  like  the 
fourth  petition,  and  all  that  daily  repentance  for  daily  forgive- 
ness which  is  needful  even  for  the  children  of  God.     Here  then 
the  prayer  comes  close  home  to  that  which  is  our  own,  that  evil 
in  us,  which  the  Father  alone  can  take  from  us,  while  He  imparts 
to  us  His  own  good:  for  sin  is  essentially  our  own,  and  must  be 
considered  as  our  guilt,  before  we  can  speak  of  a  further  healing. 
Under  this  ofciXfaara  is  included  all  that  over  which  the  saints 
have  yet  to  mourn,  down  to  the  minutest  shortcoming  and  inter- 
mission in  doing  good  and  the  practice  of  mercy,  down  to  the  most 
secret  defect  of  unholiness  or  imperfection  in  good  works.     It 
teaches  us  to  ask  forgiveness  even  for  our  «  secret  faults,"  and  for 
that  very  reason,  because  they  are  secret  to  ourselves.     And  if  we 
should  imagine  that  the  overlooking  of  such  infirmity  in  us  is 
necessarily  to  be  supposed  and  taken  for  granted,  this  petition 
strikes  down  all  such  rising  thoughtlessness,  presumption,  and 
pnde  at  once,  by  teaching  us  that  the  remains  of  sin  in  us  require 
the  same  forgiveness  through  grace  that  we  received  at  first. 
Hence  the  Lord,  when   in  Lu.  xi.,  He  repeated  the  prayer, 
solemnly  explained  His  meaning  by  substituting  ^apria^,  and  it 
would  be  well  for  us  sometimes  to  impress  it  upon  our  memory 
by  changing  the  term  :  Forgive  us  our  sins ! 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  239 

And  now,  in  the  very  heart  of  this  prayer  for  that  mercy  on 
which  we  all  daily  live,  and  that  acquittal  which  we  all  daily 
need,  stands  the  single  vow,  which  the  Lord  has  inserted  in  direct 
contrast  to  all  the  vain  and  precipitate  conditional-prayer  of 
man's  invention.  It  is  only  in  the  spirit  of  gross  and  presump- 
tuous misunderstanding  and  perversion  that  a  nameless  author 
(die  Evangelien,  ihr  Geist  und  ihre  Verfasser,  Leipz.  Wigand) 
maintains  that  no  subtlety  can  explain  away  the  Pharisaic  self- 
righteousness  from  this  appendage  to  the  prayer.  For  it  is  not 
any  thing  that  we  bring  with  a  view  to  merit  forgiveness  when 
we  say  we  forgive,  but  our  purpose,  and  that  we  are  now  willing 
to  forgive.  While  in  all  the  petitions  such  vows  lie  con- 
cealed— we  would  fain  have  it  so,  we  will  let  Thy  name  be  hal- 
lowed in  us,  we  will  do  Thy  will  in  thy  kingdom — there  is 
here,  though  only  here,  an  openly  expressed — We  will !  That 
d<f>L6fjL€v  is  in  this  place,  first  of  all,  such  a  vow,  viz.,  to  render 
the  mercy  we  receive  to  others,  and  to  do  to  others  as  God  to  us, 
is  quite  evident ;  for  who  ever  forgave  his  brother  from  his  heart, 
who  had  not  previously  learnt  by  receiving  it,  what  forgiveness 
is  ?  But  the  promise  further,  even  while  we  are  praying,  becomes 
a  present  fulfilment,  in  the  joyous  avowal :  yea,  we  do  forgive. 
Whoever  brings  his  sins  before  the  mercy-seat  of  God  in  genuine 
contrition,  consents  by  that  very  act  to  the  death  of  all  his 
revenge  and  all  his  wrath,  and  is  already  reconciled  to  every  one, 
who  might  be  termed  his  debtor.  Here  is  the  root  of  the  Law's 
fulfilment  in  us  through  the  power  of  Divine  grace  entering  our 
souls  ;  this  love,  thus  forgiving,  can  do  no  evil  to  a  brother  which 
he  would  have  to  forgive.  This  is  so  entirely  and  essentially 
necessary  in  itself,  that  it  required  no  express  statement  or  reso- 
lution to  be  uttered,  no  legal — I  will  because  I  should,  I  will  not 
what  I  should  not.  As  the  first  invocation  put  away  all  idolatry 
and  image-worship,  so  is  all  murder  and  anger,  adultery,  stealing, 
slandering,  and  whatever  other  evil  to  our  neighbour  there  may 
be,  put  away  from  the  heart  and  will  of  him,  who  prays  the  fifth 
petition,  and  abides  in  it. 

But  that  abiding  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  thus,  finally, 
the  added  sentence  assumes  the  character  of  a  warning  condition : 
If  ye  forgive  not,  neither  will  your  Father  in  heaven  forgive ! 
Here  lies  the  emphasis  of — As  we  forgive.      In  this  all  living 


240  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

dogmatic  theology,  which  has  faith  in  order  to  justification 
through  grace  as  its  vital  heart,  and  all  living  moral  theology 
which  knows  only  of  love,  are  joined  together  and  harmonised  in 
that  one  word  which  the  heart  utters  to  the  Father  in  secret,  a 
word  so  simple  that  the  weakest  may  understand  it,  yet  at  the 
same  time  a  word  of  inexhaustible  meaning,  the  applications  of 
which  know  no  end.  Who  has  sufficiently  admired  the  wisdom 
of  the  Lord's  love  in  the  placing  of  this  petition  ?  A  little  child, 
who  has  just  learned  to  distinguish  between  good  and  evil,  and 
to  feel  sin  in  the  conscience,  may  apprehend  it :  again,  the  con- 
gregation of  the  saints,  having  sin  and  discord  within  it,  needs 
only  to  urge  the  fifth  petition  in  all  the  fulness  of  its  meaning, 
peace  is  re-established,  and  the  sin  put  away.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  who  forgives  not  his  brother,  testifies  against  himself 
that  his  *  as "  must  be  turned  against  himself  into  a  frightful 
imprecation — Forgive  me  also  not !  Dares  man,  then,  pray  to 
God  :  Forgive  me  my  sin,  but  this  man  or  that,  mine  enemy, 
forgive  not !  If  we  say :  Forgive  us — we  have  already  included 
all  for  whom  God's  mercy  waits,  and  have  therefore  prayed  for 
our  enemies,  as  the  Lord  requires.  And  should  we  refuse  that 
love  to  those,  whom  we  acknowledge  to  be  prepared  with  our- 
selves to  receive  the  common  mercy  of  God  as  His  enemies  and 
debtors  ?  It  is  only,  however,  in  condescension  to  our  estate, 
that  they  are  regarded  as  our  debtors.  Sin  is  not  committed 
against  us,  but  against  God  alone,  with  whom  forgiveness  is ; 
and  he  who  duly  remembers  this,  will  only  say  to  his  enemy  in 
accommodation  for  the  sake  of  his  importunity :  /  forgive  thee — 
but  must  also  at  the  same  time  say,  in  effect,  with  Joseph  :  Am  I 
in  God's  stead  I  (Gen.  1. 19).  Finally,  if  thy  heart  be  thus  rightly 
affected,  and  yet  thou  art  troubled  with  weakness  of  faith,  doubt- 
ing whether  God  will  forgive  thee  this  thing  or  that,  then  does 
the  fifth  petition  give  thee  strong  consolation ;  assuring  thee  that 
there  is  forgiveness  with  Him  in  heaven,  even  as  there  is  with 
thee  on  earth,  and  that  God's  heart  is  not  harder  than  thine  own, 
which,  indeed,  His  grace  only  hath  made  so  soft.  (1  Jno.  iv. 
7,  16). 

Have  we  now  reached  the  end  of  our  petition  ?  We  might 
have  put  this  question  at  each  of  them,  for  every  one  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  includes  all  the  rest  in  itself.      We  should,  indeed, 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  241 

have  reached  the  close  now,  after  having  received  mercy  from  the 
Father,  and  rendered  it  again  in  love  to  our  brethren,  were  it  not 
that  sin,  as  it  is  guilt,  so  also  it  is  corruption  in  ourselves  and  in 
the  world.  What  lies  in  the  past  we  have  put  away,  and  may 
forget  it,  even  as  God  no  more  remembers  it ;  and  so  even  for 
the  future,  we  have  pledged  ourselves  to  a  continuance  in  tho 
life  of  love,  wherein  no  sin  shall  more  find  place.  But,  however 
sincere  the  heart  that  has  done  this,  there  remains  the  sin  still, 
harassing  us  from  within  and  without,  so  that  we  may  yet  again 
fall  into  a  state  of  guilt  before  God,  and  trespass  again  against 
that  neighbour  with  whom  we  had  confirmed  our  peace  before 
the  mercy-seat.  We  extend  our  thoughts  towards  what  awaits 
us  in  the  future,  and  that  same  sincere  heart  is  constrained  to 
acknowledge  that  God's  grace  alone  can  protect,  preserve,  and 
sanctity  us.  The  evil  world  in  which  we  live  is  full  of  tempta- 
tion— the  tempter  is  its  prince — and  in  ourselves  there  is  yet  the 
evil  concupiscence,  the  treacherous  infirmity,  the  fleshly  suscep- 
tibility :  should  we  not  fear  the  world,  the  devil  and  ourselves, 
should  we  not  betake  ourselves  to  urgent  prayer  for  help  and 
salvation  ?  The  more  fully  we  experience,  day  by  day,  that 
we  yet  need  the  fifth  petition,  the  more  fully  do  we  press  for- 
ward, in  watching  and  prayer,  into  the  realization  of  the  meaning 
of  the  sixth. 

But  how  does  the  Lord  ascribe  temptation  to  the  Father,  who 
tempteth  no  man  to  evil  %  Partly,  because  all  things  which  may 
befall  us  are  under  His  dominion  and  permission,  and  then  because 
He  would  have  the  uncontested  right  to  permit  our  falling,  to  sub- 
ject us  to  tests  which  we  could  not  sustain,  and  trials  in  which  we 
could  not  stand.  This  right  we  humbly  concede  to  His  justice,  but 
we  know,  that  while  we  ask  according  to  His  command  and  pro- 
mise, His  mercy,  the  same  which  forgave  our  sin,  will  not  leave  us 
to  our  corruption,  to  contract  fresh  guilt.  Although  He  sees  fit  to 
prove,  to  discipline,  and  confirm  His  children  through  conflict  with 
sin,  so  that  we,  as  His  children,  may  not  altogether  pray  against 
and  deprecate  temptation  ;  yet  may  we  say  in  humble  confidence 
and  encouragement — Mr)  elo-evey/cns,  lead  us  not  so  deeply  into  temp- 
tation, that  we  must  succumb  to  it,  not  beyond  what  we  are  able, 
that  noway  shall  be  made  for  our  escape  (1  Cor.  x.  13).  (Comp.  ha 
fir]  elcrekdrjTe,  Matt.  xxvi.  41).     And  in  our  thus  praying  are  we 

1G 


242  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

secured.     This  prayer  suppresses  all  that  presumption  and  pride 
which  threatens  us,  and  which  would  say  with  Job :  when  he 
hath  tried  me,  I  shall  come  forth  as  gold  (ch.  xxiii.  10) — but  also 
removes  all  despondency  lest  confidence  and  strength  should  fail : 
the  Lord  knoweth  how  to  deliver  the  godly  out  of  temptation  I 
(2  Pet.  ii.  9).     Further  exposition  of  this  comprehensive  and 
significant  petition,  would  lead  us  away  from  our  object  (which 
is  here  only  to  exhibit  the  connexion  and  train  of  thought), 
into  all  the  depths  of  the  Christian  doctrine  concerning  sanctifi- 
cation  and  its  appointed  means.     We  make  only  a  few  further 
remarks  which  are  obvious,  and  immediately  derived  from  this 
petition.     He  who  thus  prays,  yields  himself  not  up  to  temp- 
tation, but,  when  it  comes,  uses  the  armour  which  God  provides ; 
he  who  thus  prays  for  himself  and  for  others,  desists  from  all 
condemnatory  judgment  of  others'  sin,  since  he  in  himself  only 
too  well  knows,  that  the  Searcher  of  Hearts  alone  can  estimate 
the  might  of  temptation. 

Thus  has  the  sixth  petition  at  length  led  us,  in  language 
increasing  in  plainness  and  significance,  to  the  root  of  all  our 
misery  and  corruption,  the  eradication  of  which  alone  will  make 
us  perfectly  sound,  and  holy  and  happy  :  for  the  most  internal, 
persistent  temptation,  without  which  no  temptation  from  without 
could  do  us  harm,  is  the  lusting  of  the  flesh  against  the  spirit. 
Now  at  last  does  the  Lord  comprise  in  one  finished  concluding 
petition,  which  is  itself  the  sum  of  all  prayer,  our  sin  and  the 
whole  world's,  with  all  its  connexion  and  consequences :  one  great 
word  embraces  all — to  irovnpov — and  from  it  we  are  taught 
to  pray  to  the  Father  for  full  salvation  and  deliverance.1  The 
dXka,  which  closely  connects  this  petition  with  the  preceding 
(lead  us  not  into,  but  entirely  out  of),  teaches  us,  indeed,  so 
much  as  this,  that  the  real  evil  which  is  first  of  all  referred  to, 
is  that  sin  which  is  still  present  in  temptation  :  but  it  does  not 
by  any  means  forbid  us  to  extend  our  view  further.  The 
Reformed  divines,  in  reckoning  six  petitions,  not  only  break  the 
sacred  number  seven  which  should  certainly  be  held  fast,  and 
the  yet  more  express  arrangement  of  the  prayer,  as  we  saw  above, 
in  relation  to  the  Ten  Commandments  ;  but  they  further  intro- 

1  Our  request  to  be  preserved  from  temptation  rises  into  the  longing 
for  full  redemption,  as  Laufs  well  expresses  it. 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  243 

duce  an  unacceptable  tautology  in  making  the  two  sentences  into 
one.  When,  further,  they  understand  rbv  irovrjpov  in  the  Masc. 
as  the  evil  one,  I  trace  the  same  lack  of  liturgical  feeling  and 
perception  which  attaches  so  much  in  other  respects  to  their 
church.  This  is  the  liturgy  of  all  liturgies,  and  here  it  reaches 
its  sublime  close,  which  through  the  deep  lowliness  of  the  believ- 
ing— Deliver  us  !  immediately  passes  on  to  the  heavenly  doxology 
— Thine  is  the  kingdom !  And  just  at  this  point  must  the  con- 
queror confer  that  honour  upon  the  vanquished  enemy,  to  name 
him  with  his  threatening  power?  Are  the  believing  children  of 
the  Father,  already  redeemed,  for  ever  to  be  subjected  to  the 
contumely,  at  the  end  of  every  private  and  common  prayer,  of 
mentioning  him  1  Let  him  believe  this  who  can ;  our  inmost 
sense  of  holy  propriety  recoils  from  it.  The  Kedeemer  has  left 
His  own  name  unmentioned,  though  Himself  the  ground,  and 
medium,  and  end  of  every  prayer ;  and  can  He  be  thought  to 
have  expressly  mentioned  Satan  ?  We  may  and  we  must, 
indeed,  have  thought,  as  at  first  of  the  Devil's  kingdom  and  will, 
so  now  of  the  tempter  and  original  of  evil :  but  none  of  this  was 
uttered  in  word.  I  would  suggest  to  such  interpreters : — Try 
the  experiment,  close  your  prayer  at  any  time,  let  it  be  in  the 
most  joyful  festival  of  the  Divine  service  and  at  the  sacrament, 
by  uttering  in  plain  words  the  cry  of  distress — Deliver  us  from 
the  Devil !  and  would  you  not  instantly  feel  how  harshly  that 
sounds.  Further,  there  is  nothing  personal  in  the  whole  of  the 
second  part  of  the  prayer,  the  irovrjpov  must  correspond  with  the 
apTo?,  odeiXrjjjbaTa,  7recpaapb6<i :  and  should  we  be  disposed  to 
understand  thus  also  top  irovqpov  in  Jno.  xvii.  15,  against  the 
accompanying  etc  (other  than  2  Thess.  iii.  3),  and  the  internal 
connexion  of  the  discourse  in  that  place  ?  We  rather  look  there 
for  the  true  explanation  of  the  last  petition,  as  also  yet  more 
definitely  in  2  Tim.  iv.  17,  18,  where,  according  to  our  convic- 
tion, the  apostle,  just  after  he  had  mentioned  the  raging  lion, 
passes  on  to  the  all-embracing  airo  iravTb<;  epyou  irovrjpov—  and 
(as  the  pvaerat  shows)  quotes  actually  and  expressly  the  last 
petition  of  the  Lord's  prayer  with  the  Doxology  and  the  Amen 
pertaining  to  it.1 

1  Lange  has  recently,  very  cheerfully  and  disinterestedly,  admitted 
the  interpretation  of  to  novrjpop  which  we  have  espoused. 


244  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

What  is  then  the  evil  which  we  finally  name  ?  We  can  only 
apprehend  it  in  the  same  way  as  ffljj  and  ddvaro?  elsewhere  in 

V  T 

the  Scripture  are  understood :  it  is  sin  itself  and  all  its  conse- 
quences, from  the  first  pang  that  it  inflicts,  through  all  the  neces- 
sities which  it  creates  as  long  as  it  remains,  to  the  damnation 
where  it  rests  for  ever — no  less  than  the  whole  of  this  combined. 
Thus  it  is  the  fit  conclusion  and  sum  of  all  petitions,  and  the 
deliverance  which  is  asked  for  is  a  full  redemption  into  the 
heavenly  kingdom,  crw^eiv  eh  rrjv  ffaaiXeiav  rrjv  eirovpaviov.  It 
tells  us  that  only  by  the  taking  away  of  all  sin  can  this  evil  be 
taken  away  (as  the  position  of  the  prayer  after  all  the  others  also 
indicates)  ;  it  points  us  most  impressively,  when  the  aXkd  is 
rightly  understood,  to  the  fundamental  evil  of  all,  bids  us  think 
of  that,  and  to  ask  no  other  deliverance  than  the  being  delivered 
from  it.  But  does  there  not  follow  from  that  deliverance  from 
all  guilt,  all  need,  all  care,  all  strife,  yea  from  every  kind  of  pain 
and  suffering  ?  And  could  an  all-comprehending  prayer,  which 
gives  a  place  to  every  petition  of  human  infirmity,  exclude  that  ? 
Make  us  happy !  save  us  I  Take  all  need  from  us,  and  every 
plague  !  This  is  a  prayer  equally  permitted  and  equally  indis- 
pensable to  God's  children  upon  earth,  as  that  for  daily  bread. 
The  natural  selfishness  and  blindness  of  men  lead  them  to  begin 
with  this  prayer,  without  reflecting  how  and  in  what  way  it  can 
alone  be  answered  :  in  His  wisdom  the  Lord  has,  therefore,  placed 
it  at  the  close.  And  as  He  in  the  weakness  of  our  flesh  used  this 
prayer  for  the  taking  away  of  His  bitter  cup,  so  will  He  give 
words  to  His  disciples  which  shall  express  their  weakness,  their 
sighs,  and  their  sorrows.  But  when  a  member  of  the  Reformed 
Church  cries  to  his  Father  in  any  lesser,  though  violent,  trouble 
Take  it  away  !  and  finally  in  the  agony  of  death — Put  an  end  to 
my  pain  !  where  does  He  find  such  perfectly  justifiable  prayer  in 
his  Our-Father? 

Moreover,  we  Lutherans  know  as  God's  children  the  prayer 
which  preceded  :  Thy  will  be  done  !  We  know  full  well,  that 
happiness  and  rest  before  the  time  without  the  tcatcia  of  every 
day  (ch.  vi.  34)  might  be  an  evil,  which  the  Father  wrould  not 
and  will  not  give  us,  even  though  in  our  ignorance  we  should 
ask  it :  that  good  days  may  well  be  more  full  of  temptation  than 
evil  ones,  and  we  have  prayed  against  all  temptation.      We  do 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  245 

not  therefore  say :  Father,  be  no  Father  to  us,  chastise  us  not 
for  our  profit,  that  we  may  be  partakers  of  thy  holiness !  (Heb. 
xii.  10).  We  know  that  external,  temporal,  salutary  evil  both  is 
and  brings  deliverance  from  evil  properly  so  called,  eternal  evil : 
and  we  are  able  to  give  such  a  meaning  as  this  to  the  petition — 
Strike  hard  that  we  may  be  saved,  give  us  the  cup  of  our  healing 
which  we  must  drink  to  the  dregs  !  But  this  does  not  prevent  us 
from  rejoicing  in  the  prospect  of  deliverance  from  all  need,  leaving 
it  to  our  heavenly  Father's  righteous  will  with  perfect  confidence  : 
in  our  infirmity  we  may  with  His  permission  offer  it  with  our 
thought  fixed  especially,  at  some  seasons,  upon  our  sufferings ;  we 
may  boldly  give  expression  in  these  words  of  our  prayer  to  that 
never-absent  prayer  of  the  heart  of  all,  which  cries  for  help,  and 
longs  for  perfect  rest  and  peace  within  and  without  the  soul. 

Thus  have  we  in  the  seven  petitions — and  not  beginning  with 
the  seventh — prayed  ourselves  gradually  up  from  the  depths  of 
our  ruin  and  misery.  We  ascended  at  once  to  the  Father  in 
heaven ;  we  further  called  upon  His  name,  before  we  spoke  of  our 
own  sin  and  earthly  need,  for  the  coming  of  His  kingdom  an<\. 
the  accomplishment  of  His  will ;  then  first  came  we  down  to  earth 
again,  and  drew  down  by  our  supplications  the  gifts  of  the 
Father's  mercy — forgiveness,  strength,  and  deliverance.  If  the 
last  petition  had  been  placed  first,  the  tone  of  lamentation — from 
evil  I  would  have  predominated :  but  because  it  is  the  last,  the 
joyful  emphasis  falls  rather  upon  the  equally  confident  and  humble 
— deliver  us  !  as  if  we  should  say  :  yea,  thou  wilt  deliver  us  !  or : 
deliver  Thou  us  in  the  right  time,  according  to  thine  own  counsel : 
other  deliverance  than  that  we  desire  not.  We  acknowledge  that 
evil  remains,  and  that  we  feel  it  to  be  evil,  (woe  to  the  man,  who 
is  so  well  with  the  world  and  the  flesh  that  he  can  deride  Luther's 
"  Jammerthal,"  the  valley  of  woe,  and  dispense  with  the  longing 
look  towards  heaven!) — we  acknowledge  also  that  we  neither 
would  nor  could  deliver  ourselves — but  we  rest  upon  the  prayer 
which  the  Redeemer  Himself  has  given  us,  and  are  already  saved 
in  hope. 

And  now,  can  it  be  that  the  ilianksgiving  and  ascription  which  sets 
the  crown  upon  all  prayer,  is  not  genuine,  that  is,  that  it  was  not 
given  by  the  Lord  as  He  gave  the  petitions !  Euthyrnius  so  early 
was  of  this  view !    But  if  there  is  anywhere  an  internal  criticism 


246  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

which  may  maintain  its  prerogative  over  the  external  testimonies 
of  the  manuscripts  which  we  have  directly  received  and  historical 
monuments,  it  is  in  this  place,  as  similarly  in  1  Jno.  v.  7.  All  the 
orthodox,  who,  submitting  to  the  apparent  results  of  all  external 
criticism,  concede  that  the  Lord  did  not  Himself  append  this 
conclusion,  yet  give  it  place  in  their  exposition  as  if  it  belonged 
there,  find  it  most  excellently  appropriate,  and  involuntarily  con- 
fess how  aptly  and  profoundly  it  connects  itself  with  the  petitions 
of  the  prayer.  For  ourselves  we  rest  calmly  in  hope,  that  one 
day,  when  all  that  is  lost  is  found  again,  and  the  patchwork  of 
history  is  a  completed  whole,  it  will  be  made  clear  how  it  has  come 
to  pass  that  this  doxology  early  fell  away,  and  was  omitted  from 
the  manuscripts  and  the  fathers,  which  now  certainly  confound 
us.  Then  will  the  verbal  correctness  of  the  Peschito  be  con- 
firmed, and  the  abbreviation  in  the  Const.  Apost.  be  seen  to  be 
manifestly  an  abbreviation  of  the  words  given  by  the  Lord,  just 
as  St  Paul,  according  to  2  Tim.  iv.  18,  received  them,  and  yet 
does  not  quite  exactly  reproduce  them.  In  St  Luke  yet  more  is 
wanting,  and  probably  not  by  St  Luke's  fault ;  it  is  at  least  quite 
as  conceivable  that  similar  causes  have  been  at  work  in  the  case 
of  St  Matthew's  gospel,  as  it  must  be  in  every  view  inconceivable 
that  the  Lord  actually  closed  with — deliver  us  from  evil !  "  Such 
a  conclusion  comes  naturally  to  the  praying  heart  f1  the  church 
has  ever  possessed  it,  and  will  never  more  let  it  go ;  this  is  to  us 
an  irrefragable  argument  that  the  Lord  has  given  it  to  every 
heart  and  to  the  whole  church.  If  we  were  disposed  to  go  so 
far  as  to  say  that  the  Lord  had  to  that  end  subsequently  given  it 
by  His  Spirit  to  the  church— yet  must  we  pause  doubtfully 
before  we  hazard  such  a  view.  For  apart  from  the  question, 
Why  should  the  Lord  have  left  this  as  an  afterthought  of  His 
Spirit,  we  cannot  bring  our  minds  to  think  that  He  could  have 
given  a  form  of  prayer  without  at  least  an  Amen.  (We  have 
previously  discovered  the  Amen  of  the  prayer  to  have  aptly 
reckoned  in  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.)  But  the  true  Amen, 
according  to  the  custom  of  all  the  Jewish  prayers,  which  found 
their  originals  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  carries 
with  it  invariably  an  expressed  ascription  of  praise :  similarly, 

1  Harms,  das  Vaterunser  in  Predigten. 


MATTHEW  VI.  9 — 13.  247 

according  to  the  New  Testament  canon,  Phil.  iv.  6,  no  prayer  is 
complete  with  prayer  alone,  without  giving  of  thanks.  This  may 
be  an  answer  to  Bengel,  who  does  not  think  the  thanksgiving 
appropriate  to  the  period  at  which  the  Lord  gave  the  prayer. 
His  prayer  would  have  indeed  had  its  introduction  without  it,  but 
not  its  fit  issue  and  outgoing ;  it  would  not  have  been,  strictly 
speaking,  a  complete  prayer,  and  the  joyful  concluding  petition,  if 
it  did  not  issue  in  such  an  Amen,  would  lose  its  joyousness  again, 
and  would  become  an  unanswered,  resultless  cry.  Use  the  Lord's 
prayer  thus  for  a  quarter  of  a  year,  evil  being  its  last  word,  it  will 
become  intolerable  to  thee,  and  its  conclusion  will  victoriously  force 
itself  upon  thee.  Yet  once  more,  if  such  internal  criticism  may 
not  maintain  its  prerogative,  where  is  its  place  and  where  are  its 
rights  f  It  may  be  matter  for  consideration,  whether  it  be  only 
an  illusion,  that  with  the  Doxology  the  Lord's  prayer  includes  ten 
words ;  that  with  it  the  Us  and  the  Our  flows  back  again  into 
Thine,  as  first  Thine  flowed  from  Our ;  that  only  with  it  the  whole 
rounds  itself  off  and  finds  its  true  close.  It  maybe  asked,  whether 
David's  prayer  (1  Chron.  xxx.  11, 12)  was  not  here  by  the  Lord 
taken  up,  and  for  ever  sanctified  ? 

This  conclusion  manifestly  unites  the  two  tables  of  the  prayer, 
but  once  more  presenting  the  sacred  Three-number,  which  could 
not  be  varied  from.  The  kingdom  embraces  the  first  table  by 
that  one  word  which  occurs  in  the  middle  of  it :  the  power 
signifies  the  transition  which  we  found  in  the  gift  of  bread ;  the 
glory  or  honour  is  the  end  and  goal  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  peti- 
tions of  the  second  table,  the  So^a  or  glory  of  God  shining  from 
his  redeemed  and  sanctified  creatures.  When  all  is  finally  ful- 
filled, evil,  temptation,  and  guilt  done  away,  all  desires  gratified, 
the  will  done,  the  kingdom  come,  the  name  hallowed — then  will 
there  remain  on  earth  as  in  heaven  nought  but  everlasting  praise. 
With  this  he  who  prays  returns  back  to  the  first  invocation,  which 
included  the  Amen  of  all  petition  for  faith,  as  in  the  preparatory 
trusting  confidence  which  said  :  Art  thou  then  our  Father !  before 
the  particular  petition  broke  forth  :  Be  so  to  us,  show  Thyself  to 
us  as  our  Father  !  Now  again,  and  with  the  fullest  confidence 
of  strengthened  faith,  it  is  more  openly  spoken  :  Yea,  verily,  thou 
art  our  Father !  "  By  this  little  word  for,  we  set,  as  it  were,  our 
foot  upon  one  step  of  the  throne,  upon  which  He  sits,  reminding 


248  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Him  of  His  matter,  for  it  is  His,  and  not  ours  alone  !"  Thine  is, 
and  can  and  will  be  in  us,  too,  the  kingdom,  the  power,  and  the 
glory — will  be  in  us,  if  we  in  harmony,  acknowledgment,  and 
obedience  give  it  to  thee,  and  this  we  have  done  in  this  our 
prayer.  So,  although  we  yet  see  it  not  (Heb.  ii.  8),  faith  cries 
in  defiance  of  all  evil  that  yet  remains,  of  all  wicked  devices  and 
contradictory  will :  Thine  is  the  kingdom  even  now,  as  it  will  be 
for  ever !  Thus  does  the  Amen  of  prayer,  every  time  it  is  uttered, 
anticipate  the  great  universal  Amen  of  all  creation. 

After  all  that  we  have  hitherto  discovered,  there  remains  much 
more.  The  seven  petitions,  besides  the  full  meaning  of  each 
separately,  indicate,  at  the  same  time,  the  progress  of  human  life 
in  individual  man,  and  the  history  of  mankind  as  a  whole.  The 
child  cries  out  to  his  Father,  and  learns  His  name,  that  it  may  be 
sanctified  in  him ;  the  kingdom  begins  to  come  in  him,  the  will 
begins  to  be  revealed  to  him  in  instruction  and  discipline,  that  it 
may  be  done ;  then  grows  up  the  adult  into  life,  to  eat  his  own 
bread,  who  should  not  forget,  in  praying  for  it,  his  spiritual 
necessities, — rather  should  all  the  more  fully  discern  the  gift  of 
God  which  is  infinitely  necessary ;  then  follows,  commonly,  first 
in  the  second  half  of  life,  the  thorough  seeking  for  forgiveness, 
the  warfare  of  temptation  ;  finally  in  old  age  the  longing,  ever- 
increasing  till  death,  for  deliverance  from  all  evil,  which  is  the 
closing  petition  of  the  dying  man  that  merges  into  the  Doxology 
of  Heaven.  In  the  history  of  mankind  at  large  began  similarly 
the  calling  upon  God's  name  (Gen.  iv.  26) ;  then  came  the  king- 
dom in  the  beginnings  of  its  preparation,  the  will  was  revealed 
in  the  law.  In  the  midst  of  the  years  the  Lord  revived  His 
work  (Hab.  iii.  2)  when  He  who  once  spoke  from  Sinai  came  in 
the  glory  of  His  grace,  and  descended  in  Christ  as  the  living 
bread  of  heaven  for  the  hungering  world.  Then  came  the 
preaching  of  the  word  of  reconciliation  in  all  the  world,  then  the 
hour  of  the  great  temptation  upon  all  the  world  (Rev.  iii.  10), 
specially  upon  the  Church  of  the  saints ;  finally,  in  the  end  of 
the  days  will  be  the  universal,  closing  deliverance,  when  suffering 
and  pain  and  lamentation  shall  cease,  all  shall  have  become  the 
kingdom  of  our  God  and  the  dominion  of  His  Christ,  and  the 
glory  of  the  glorifying  Spirit  shall  shine  from  the  redeemed.1 
1  Compare  v.  Meyer's  Blatter  fiir  hohere  Weisheit  v.  388. 


MATTHEW  VI.  9—-13.  249 

Such  views  may  not  be  despised,  for  the  wisdom  of  God  exhibits 
strange  phases  in  the  word.  We  should  be  disposed,  further, 
to  investigate  to  what  extent  the  fundamental  principles  of  all 
Divine  doctrine,  especially  of  New  Testament  preaching,  may  be 
developed  from  the  simple  ideas  of  the  Lord's  prayer.  This 
would  be  better  apprehended,  if  we  could  realize  the  conception 
of  a  people  to  whom  nothing  but  this  prayer  had  been  at  first 
given.  Let  us  be  permitted  yet  once  more,  and  in  conclusion,  to 
parallel  the  seven  petitions  with  the  seven  benedictions.  The  name 
of  the  Father  is  hallowed  when  the  poor  and  wretched  receive  as 
little  children  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  a  gift  of  prevenient 
grace.  The  kingdom  of  the  Son,  as  such,  is  made  now  fully 
known  to  them,  when  they  as  mourners  find  comfort.  The 
Divine  will  is  done  already  through  the  Holy  Spirit,  when  the 
meek  know  themselves  by  the  will  of  God  to  be  the  heirs  of  the 
earth.  The  bread  is  given  for  the  supply  of  all  who  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness.  The  trespasses  are  forgiven  to  those 
who  forgive,  for  the  merciful  receive  mercy.  Temptation  is 
overcome  by  all  those,  who  have  no  other  will  than  to  see  God's 
face,  as  pure  in  heart.  Evil,  finally,  is  done  away,  when  the 
children  of  peace,  as  children  of  God  made  manifest,  dwell  for 
ever  in  eternal  peace  with  Him  in  glory. 

Vers.  14,  15.  The  Lord  recurs  again  now  to  the  subject  of 
the  fifth  petition,  because,  as  we  have  already  said,  the  prescribed 
prayer  leads  through  it  to  the  establishment  and  fulfilment  of 
the  Law.  Will  theologians  never  come  to  read  in  simplicity,  and 
perceive  here  a  key  to  the  whole  of  it  ?  The  centre  of  the  Lord's 
prayer  regarded  in  itself  is  the  fourth  petition,  as  we  have  seen  : 
but  it  is  in  the  fifth  that  that  fundamental  truth,  which  is  its 
root  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  finds  first  its  full  expression. 
That  which  already  in  ch.  v.  7,  23 — 26,  44 — 48,  became  more 
and  more  clearly  prominent,  and  afterwards  in  ch.  vii.  1,  2,  is 
repeated  as  the  head  of  a  new  section,  stands  here,  as  it  were,  in 
the  very  middle  of  the  whole  discourse,  piercing  into  and  laying 
hold  of  the  central  heart  and  living  source  of  all  true  love,  dis- 
closing to  us  that  point  of  union  in  which  "  to  love  as  God  loves" 
is  seen  to  be  as  certainly  given  to  us  by  His  grace  as  it  is 
demanded  of  us  by  His  holy  righteousness.  This  saying,  which 
is  so  perfectly  easy  in  its  literal  meaning,  is  at  the  same  time  so 


250  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

important  and  so  inexhaustibly  to  be  learned  anew,  that  our 
Lord  in  Mark  xi.  25,  26,  when  He  is  speaking  of  the  gift  of 
faith,  inserts  it  again  in  similar  words.  But  it  is  also  so  deeply 
engraven  on  the  conscience  of  man,  that  the  son  of  Sirach,  for 
instance  (Wisd.  xxviii.  1 — 5),  could  expressly  say  the  same  thing.1 
Forgiving  on  our  part  is  so  absolutely  an  indispensable  condition 
of  God's  forgiveness,  that  it  must  not  be  viewed  as  the  mere  fruit 
which  results  from  it,  but  rather  as  indicating  the  necessary 
internal  disposition  and  feeling  of  our  heart  at  the  moment  in 
which  we  actually  seek  and  find  His  mercy.  God  forgives  us 
when  we,  receiving  His  mercy,  are  at  the  same  moment  disposed 
and  in  the  frame  to  forgive  others.  Although  He,  on  the  one 
hand,  knows  before  the  thoughts  of  the  insincere,  and  the  stiff- 
neckedness  of  those  who  will  afterwards  fall  from  His  grace 
(Deut.  xxxi.  21,  27,  29),  yet,  on  the  other,  He  says  in  His  pre- 
venting and  anticipating  faithfulness — surely  they  are  my  people, 
children  who  will  not  lie  !  (Isa.  lxiii.  8).  He  entrusts,  as  it 
were,  the  gift  of  His  love  even  to  those  who  will  not  retain  it,  in 
order  that  He  may  justify  His  own  goodness  against  the  unthank- 
ful and  the  evil.  From  those,  indeed,  who  afterwards  forgive 
not  as  they  have  been  forgiven,  that  which  they  received  shall 
be  again  taken  away; — as  the  parable  of  Matt,  xviii.  23 — 35 
once  more  inculcates  at  large. 

Vers.  16 — 18.  This  has  been  as  a  whole  already  explained 
and  shown  in  the  light  of  its  general  connexion ;  it  only  re- 
mains now  to  refer  somewhat  more  particularly  to  the  details. 
The  Lord  by  no  means  rejects  Fasting  in  itself,  the  humbling 
of  the  soul  (tfjr£  Fftlfy  -kev.  xv^  29,  xxiii.  27 ;  Num.  xxix.  7, 
xxx.  14)  by  taming  and  reducing  the  body,  as  an  aid  to  repent- 
ance and  prayer ;  any  more  than  He  rejects  almsgiving  as  the 
demonstration  of  love,  or  uttered  words  for  the  exercise  and 
realization  of  the  inner  spirit  of  prayer.  Although  in  ch.  ix.  14, 
15,  He  opposed  a  new  and  free  manner  of  fasting  for  His  disciples, 
to  the  fasting  oft  not  only  of  the  hypocrites,  but  also  of  the  well- 
meaning  disciples  of  John  ;  yet  did  He  Himself  fast  forty  days 

1  Yet,  indeed,  when  we  look  more  closely,  not  without  one  of  those 
errors  in  the  expression  which  betray  the  apocryphal  : — as  if  we 
forgive  first  and  then  should  pray. 


MATTHEW  VI.  16—18.  251 

at  the  beginning,  as  certainly  many  times  afterwards,  and  recom- 
mend prayer  and  fasting  for  such  emergencies  as  required  tho- 
rough earnestness  for  the  overcoming  of  evil  spirits  (ch.  xvii.  21), 
just  as  the  Apostle  in  1  Cor.  vii.  5  presupposes  as  well  known, 
and  confirms,  its  Christian  exercise.  The  early  church  laid  much 
stress  upon  fasting,  but  should  have  left  it  to  the  freedom  of  every 
individual  without  any  ecclesiastical  ordinance  :  we  Protestants, 
alas,  have  slighted  it  altogether  too  much,  and  have  scarcely 
more  than  the  name  of  our  fast-days  remaining.  The  prudence 
of  freedom  is  necessary,  however ;  hence  comes  forward  the  warn- 
ing again :  Not  like  the  hypocrites  !  See  it  already  in  the  word 
of  prophecy  (Isa.  lviii.  5).  Pharisaism  had  here  also  perverted 
all  into  a  specious  external  work,1  forbidding  among  the  rest  any 
greetings  during  the  time  of  a  fast.  With  such  things  in  His 
view  the  Lord  here  paints  the  hypocrites  from  life,  and  sketches 
their  whole  character  by  one  vigorous  trait : — They  would  appear 
unto  men  o-Kv0pco7rolj  and  therefore  disfigure  their  faces  !  Such 
as  this  in  our  day  is  the  pietist  sour  look,  downcast  head,  and 
penance-wrinkled  face,  which,  while  they  mar  the  shining  of 
the  true  light  of  piety  before  men,  also  betray  too  much  of  the 
Pharisee  remaining  in  those  who  make  such  exhibition.  The 
Lord  unsparingly  condemns  all  affectation  in  its  minutest  form, 
and  counsels  His  disciples,  in  order  that  they  more  securely 
avoid  this  sad  danger,  to  adopt  as  defence  against  it,  where 
they  have  only  to  do  with  themselves  in  the  sight  of  their 
Father  in  secret,  a  certain  directly  opposite  dissimulation  of  face. 
This,  however,  is  no  hypocrisy,  but  the  simplest  truth ;  purer, 
indeed,  in  its  principle  of  love  than  its  faint  type  in  the  social 
life  of  the  children  of  the  world,  the  courtly  and  gracious 
external  demeanour  covering  a  different  disposition  within. 
The  children  of  God  should  ever  through  faith  rejoice  in  their 
God ;  and  it  should  be  their  systematic  habitus  to  exhibit  this 
pleasant  aspect  to  men.  Feelest  thou  within  thyself  a  neces- 
sity and  constraint  to  afflict  thy  flesh  by  mortification  and  absti- 
nence of  any  kind,  do  it  if  possible  without  any  interruption 
of  thine  external  cheerfulness.  Yea,  rather  than  detract  in 
the  slightest  degree  from  the  reality  and  the  efficacy  of  thy 

1  See  Buxtorfii  Synagoga  Judaica,  cap.  xxx. 


252  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

secret  humiliation  before  God,  by  any  such  external  evidence  of 
it  as  only  too  easily  glides  into  ostentation  ;  thou  shouldst  with 
more  care  than  ordinarily  anoint  thine  head  and  wash  thy  face.1 
Before  trusted  brethren  thou  mayest,  even  as  before  God  Him 
self,  exhibit  what  thou  art  secretly  aiming  at ;  but  men,  as  they 
are  found  in  general,  understand  it  not,  and  would  only  mar  thy 
fasting  by  their  censure  or  their  praise. — Finally,  let  it  be  well 
noted,  that  this  rule,  in  its  present  connexion,  is  only  laid  down 
for  an  actual,  bodily  fasting,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word ; 
such  as  a  man  himself,  though  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit, 
imposes  upon  his  own  flesh.  Quite  otherwise  is  it,  when  God 
appoints  to  us  a  day  of  fasting,  for  the  weeping  of  the  soul  (Ps. 
lxix.  11  Hebr.),  when  the  bridegroom's  presence  is  withdrawn  : 
then  fast  we  in  the  deepest  sense  of  the  word  (Matt.  ix.  15),  and 
it  is  obvious  of  itself,  that  the  stranger  in  our  company  must  per- 
ceive that  we  are  oKvOpwirol.  (Lu.  xxiv.  17.  Gr.).  In  this  there 
lies  no  danger  of  hypocritical  seeming  before  men.  But  if  thou 
hast  already  oft  experienced,  that  by  it  He  who  was  taken  from 
thee  is  restored  again,  and  if  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  then  hold  such 
weeping  of  thy  soul  also,  through  the  power  of  faith,  in  secret 
places  (Jer.  xiii.  17),  and  let  not  thy  countenance  cease  to  be 
outwardly  anointed,  or  thy  mouth  to  utter  peace  and  love  through 
the  whole  of  that  conflict  which  thou  shouldst  gradually  learn  to 
regard  as  joy.  Thus  shalt  thou  find  consolation  in  thy  secret 
mourning  before  God,  and  experience  the  fulfilment,  even  in  this 
respect,  of  the  beautiful  and  pregnant  words  of  the  hymn : — "  A 
stage  of  blessedness  it  is — the  secret  place  !" 

"And  thy  Father,  who  seeth  in  secret,  shall  reward  thee  openly !" 
This  the  Lord  utters  three  times,  vers.  4,  6,  18,  and  designedly 
indicates  in  this  third  instance  the  similar  application  of  His 
discourse  concerning  the  three  works  of  righteousness,  the  uni- 
formity of  which  the  interposed  prayer  only  seemed  to  break. 
This  He  does  before  He  begins,  by  a  striking  interruption  of  the 
external  connexion,  a  new  line  of  remark  which,  however,  is 
internally  in  strict  harmony  with  it. 


1  The  Essenes  never  anointed  themselves,  which  may  be  mentioned 
in  contradiction  of  the  old  folly  that  would  make  Jesus  an  Essene. 


MATTHEW  VI.  18 — 19.  253 

Our  former  general  arrangement  of  the  whole  has  already 
disclosed  to  us  this  internal  transition  from  ver.  18  to  ver.  19. 
The  opposition  between  Christ's  disciples  and  the  Pharisees,  is 
closed  with  that  most  absolute  contrast  between  the  hypocrite 
who  mortifies  himself  before  men  and  the  child  of  God  who 
humbles  his  soul  in  secret — the  seeming  devotee  and  the  ear- 
nestly devout.  There  now  follows  (what  had  been  prepared  for 
in  the  preceding,  and  was  a  strict  development  of  it)  the  second 
great  contrast : — not  like  the  heathen  !  The  better  kind  of  Pharisee 
(or  rather  the  Israelite,  inasmuch  as  Pharisaism  took  its  rise  in 
the  true  Israelite  position),  did,  indeed,  seek  at  first  to  estab- 
lish, like  Saul,  a  righteousness  before  God  derived  from  obedience 
to  the  Law :  in  this  there  was  earnestness  and  sincerity,  and  so 
far  this  Old  Testament  preparation  led  the  sincere  and  upright 
to  the  new  covenant  of  grace,  even  as  his  almsgiving,  fasting, 
and  prayers  prepared  the  proselyte  Cornelius  for  the  reception  of 
forgiveness  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  Pharisaism  proper,  as  it 
was  further  developed  in  the  evil  hearts  of  men,  performed  its 
works  of  righteousness  only  to  be  seen  of  men,  and  not  at  all  in  the 
sight  of  God:  thus  the  Pharisee  has  inwardly  become  like  the 
heathen,  while  abhorring  him  in  his  pride  (Rom.  ii.  22)  ;  through 
dependance  on  earthly  good  and  attachment  to  earthly  pleasure, 
an  idolater  as  well  as  he.  It  will  be  borne  in  mind,  how  often  in 
the  Gospels  the  covetousness  of  the  Pharisees  is  made  prominent ; 
and  this  will  help  us  to  understand  why  it  is  that  with  which  our 
Lord  begins,  when  He  is  about  to  exhibit  His  own  new  Israel  as 
in  contrast  with  the  heathen.  It  is  not  merely  the  heathen  so 
called  among  men,  who  are  to  form  the  second  link  in  this  present 
discourse,  but  also,  as  is  now  sufficiently  plain,  the  heathen  in 
Israel  (Ps.  ix.  5,  15,  17,  x.  16). 

The  discourse  now  passes  more  directly  to  the  internal  dis- 
position of  mind,  which  is  at  last  shown  to  be  the  region  of  sepa- 
ration and  distinction.  There  is  now  no  more  distribution  of 
special  commandments  and  good  works,  classified  according  to 
their  principles.  Yet  it  proceeds  in  a  threefold  order,  though  in 
a  different  manner.  This  is  seen  in  the  three  leading  ideas  : — 
Distinguish  clearly  between  perishable  treasures  and  possessions 
upon  earth,  and  the  incorruptible  treasure  of  heaven!  ver.  19 — 20. 
Seek  this  alone,  walk  with  thine  eyes  singly  fixed  upon  the  truetrea- 


254  THE  GOFPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

sure!  vers.  21 — 23.    Thus  surrender  thyself  up  to  God's  undivided 
service  and  trust,  seeking  first  His  kingdom,  without  care  for  your 
earthly  need!   This  has  the  most  extended  treatment,  vers.  24 — 34. 
Herein  there  is  exhibited  an  inverted  reference  to  the  three  funda- 
mental ground-tones  of  the  whole  Sermon.      The  first  immedi- 
ately casts  a  warning  glance  forward  to  the  test  at  the  end,  where 
all  shall  be  put  to  shame  who  have  not  put  their  trust  in  the 
living  God,  and  all  heathens,  or  earthly-minded  men  (these  are 
in  their  deepest  principle  one  and  the  same)  shall  perish.      The 
second  demands  and  urges,  a  sincere  progress  towards  the  goal. 
The  third  speaks  in  language  of  promise  and  encouragement, 
presents   to   faith  the   internal    principle   and   commencement 
of  a  life  not  heathen,  and  thus  most  plainly  indicates  who  are  the 
true  people  of  God,  who  the  true  heirs  of  the  promised  kingdom. 
But  this  whole  section  carries  on  and  developes  the  principle 
which  we  have  seen  in  the  beginning.      For  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  that  a  firm  foundation  should  be  first  of  all  laid,  in  the 
right  understanding  of  the  Law  according  to  its  internal  spirit 
and  true  meaning ;  in  the  full  perception  that  nought  would 
avail  but  the  strict  practice  of  righteousness  before  God  in  secret. 
(Ps.  li.  8).     Upon  this  foundation  is  now  built  the  devotion  of  the 
heart  to  Godalone,  and  then  have  we  further  (for  the  development 
of  the  principle  makes  the  principle  itself  more  plain,  and  at  the 
close  the  rigorous  warning  becomes  strongest)  the  most  urgent 
dissuasive  from  the  attempt  to  join  another  service  with  His  ;  the 
turning  away  of  the  heart,  and  the  turning  away  of  the  eye 
from  all  that  appertains  to  earth,  in  order  to  our  living  for  the 
heavenly  kingdom. 

Yers.  19,  20.  A  strong  contrast  is  here  seized  and  exhibited 
in  the  two  words  :  earth  and  heaven  !  The  Lord  is  standing  in 
the  midst  of  Israel  according  to  the  flesh,  and  his  glance, 
which  penetrates  through  the  type  into  its  reality  and  hidden 
truth,  discloses  to  us  another  and  a  sure  distinction:  they  who 
live  for  the  earthly  and  the  perishable,  they  are  the  heathen ; 
they  who  live  in  faith  with  reference  to  the  Future,  heavenly 
and  eternal,  are  the  children  of  the  Father,  the  subjects  and  the 
heirs  of  the  kingdom.  In  this  deep  generality,  fully  set  forth  at 
the  close  in  vers.  32,  33,  we  have  the  commencement  of  a  new 
discourse,  which  unfolds  the  germ,  and  includes  all  the  princi- 


MATTHEW  VI.  l9 — 20.  255 

pies  of  the  Apostolical  sayings  in  Col.  iii.  1 — 4.  It  was  to  His 
hearers  of  that  time  a  clear  testimony  to  the  character  and  nature 
of  the  Messiah's  kingdom,  as  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  spiritual, 
hidden,  and  looking  for  a  future  manifestation  :  the  kingdom 
which,  then  only  perfected  when  the  seven  petitions  are  fully 
fulfilled,  begins  in  the  heart  with  the  first  look  towards  heaven, 
and  cry  to  the  Father.  Now  it  is  before  the  Father  in  secret, 
then  will  the  Reward  be  open.  The  emphatic  expression  of  this 
general  view  is  to  be  rightly  sought  in  the  plain  words  which,  for 
every  man's  conviction,  distinguish  between  the  earthly  and  the 
heavenly  mind,  describing  him  as  laying  up  for  himself  treasures, 
possessions,  goods,  and  seeking  his  enjoyments  and  happiness 
either  here  or  there.  In  heaven :  that  is,  by  contrast,  as  the  place 
and  region  where  the  true,  eternal  riches,  the  deposit  against  the 
day  of  revelation,  are  laid  up,  but  also  as  the  place  and  the 
region,  in  which  the  heart  that  lays  up  this  treasure  already  lives 
in  heavenly  aims  and  conversation  :  for  where  your  treasure  is, 
there  will  your  heart  be  also.  The  better  and  enduring  sub- 
stance in  heaven,  we  already  have  in  our  own  possession  and  in 
our  own  hands.     (Heb.  x.  34). 

Perishableness  is  the  quality  of  every  thing  earthly,  hence, 
as  Bengel  critically  saw,  the  little  word  ottov  has  a  distinctive 
emphasis  as  upon  the  earth,  where  nothing  either  is  or  can  be  other 
than  corruptible.  "  Wer  Erde  such't,  find't  Erden  last,  und  geht 
auf  Wind  und  Staub  zu  Gast."  He  who  heaps  up  silver  as  the 
dust,  and  prepares  raiment  as  the  clay  (Job  xxvii.  16)  shall  find 
out,  that  all  the  earthly  and  transitory  possessions  of  mortal  man 
pass  away  like  they  themselves  who  dwell  in  clay,  whose  founda- 
tion is  in  the  dust,  which  are  crushed  before  the  moth.  (Job  iv. 
19).  The  getting  of  treasures  by  a  lying  tongue  is  a  vanity  tossed 
to  and  fro  of  them  that  seek  death.  (Prov.  xxi.  6).  The  pro- 
verbial and  popularly  used  expressions,  moth  and  rust  and  thieves, 
men  have  been  disposed  to  refer  to  the  three  main  kinds  of  layed 
up  goods  in  the  ancient  world — clothing,  gold,  corn.  They  have 
been  referred,  also,  respectively  (as  by  Braune)  to  that  which  is 
hostile  in  the  inanimate  world,  in  the  animal  kingdom,  and  among 
men :  for  which,  however,  a  transposition  would  be  necessary.  It  is 
only  in  the  former  reference  that  any  truth  lies ; — the  moth  which 
consumes  garments  is  among  the  Scriptural  figures.     (See  Job 


25$  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

xiii.  28  ;  Isa.  1.  9,  li.  6,  8 ;  Jas.  v.  2).  But,  as  it  regards  the  next, 
the  question  rises,  what  j3p£crL<;  is  distinctively  and  to  what  it 
appertains.  But  since  gold  and  silver  receive  no  specific  injury 
from  rust,  it  has  been  supposed  that  the  thieves  (which  Bcopva- 
aovcri,  dig  through  houses  [Job  xxiv.  16],  breaking  through  walls) 
are  the  enemies  of  the  treasured  gold,  and  consequently  that  /3p&- 
ai<s  must  be  referred  to  the  granary  and  full  barns  (Lu.  xii.  17), 
being  the  ^^  of  Mai.  iii.  11,  where  the  LXX.  have  fipooais, 
weevil  or  some  other  enemy  of  the  corn.  St  James,  however, 
ch.  v.  2,  3,  evidently  quoting  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (as  we 
saw  above  also,  on  ch.  v.  34),  attributes  the  moth  to  the  garments, 
but  the  rust  /o?  to  the  gold  and  the  silver,  having  previously  used 
the  general  expression — 6  7r\ovro<;  aeo-rjire.  This  gives  us  the 
right  clue,  and  teaches  us  that  we  must  not  lay  so  much  stress  upon 
the  threefold  distinction  of  worldly  goods  (save  that  the  breaking 
through  may  be  especially  referred  to  the  underground  anro- 
6r)ica<;  of  ver.  26)  as  upon  the  general  idea  of  perishableness  which 
they  together  convey.  Bpcbaw  is  thus  simply  the  consuming  away, 
corruption,  mildew,  rotting  of  any  kind  which  takes  its  rise  from 
within  the  nature  of  this  world's  good,  as  0-77?  on  the  other  hand 
comes  from  without.  Then  rises  before  us  the  deeper  meaning — 
all  earthly  good  is  subjected  to  corruption.  It  is  essentially 
perishable,  since  either  the  moth  comes  upon  it  as  upon  a  gar- 
ment, (echoing  those  well  known  Old  Testament  passages),  or  it 
finds  within  itself  the  element  of  another  kind  of  blight.  And 
what  worm  and  rust  consuming  from  within  or  without  may 
spare  for  a  while,  is  still  insecure  in  the  possession,  not  guaran- 
teed against  the  thieves,  who  know  how  to  break  through  the 
firmest  defences  !  Thus  St  James  appropriately  laid  down  his 
aeaniTe  first :  then  introduces  the  Lord's  words,  which  he  funda- 
mentally explains,  while  saying  in  the  style  of  oxymoron  and  in 
apparent  contradiction  with  the  reality  of  things,  that  gold  and 
silver  are  cankered  and  rusted,  by  showing  that  this  rust  signifies 
in  a  wide  sense  that  corruption  of  everything  earthly  and  earthen, 
which  like  afire  shall  eat  the  flesh  of  the  rich  men  themselves. 
If  we  thus  expound  it,  not  overlooking  the  connexion  of  the  figure 
with  the  reality,  yet  giving  its  letter  a  spiritual  interpretation,  we 
may  extend  its  range  of  application  further,  and  think  of  honour 
and  human  glory  (whereof  the  discourse  had  been  speaking)  as 


MATTHEW  VI.  21.  257 

having  its  moth,  and  rust  and  thieves.  All  this  is  obliquely- 
aimed  at,  although  the  first  glance,  which  gives  character  to  the 
expressions,  turns  towards  the  Mammon  which  is  afterwards 
especially  named,  and  therefore  points  to  earthly  treasures  in  the 
narrower  sense.  And  how  impressive,  in  this  view,  is  the  con- 
trast which  is  now  first  instituted  between  all  these  and  the  im- 
perishable, and  secure  treasures  of  heaven,  which  are  beyond  the 
reach  of  corruption  and  the  thief!  (1  Pet.  1 — 4;  Lu.  xii.  33)  : 
fiaXdvTia  fjurj  irakaiov^va,  drjaavpov  aveicKennov.  That  first, 
again,  we  have  treasures  in  the  plural,  is  simply  a  transition  to 
the  next  sentence  in  which  it  is  significantly  said,  your  treasure 
— for  in  earthly  good  there  is  multiplicity,  and  variety,  the 
heavenly  possession  alone  and  especially  is  a  unity,  a  great  whole. 
(Matt.  xix.  21). 

Ver.  21.  What  is  then,  thus  considered,  treasure  in  heaven  ? 
The  future  reward  from  the  Father,  for  this  is  the  whole  of  vers. 
1 — 18  collected  and  condensed  into  one  ;  thus  also  it  is  praise, 
honour,  and  glory  in  God's  presence,  in  opposition  to  all  that  vain 
show  before  man,  in  which  the  hypocrites  found  their  reward.  That 
giving  which  was  commanded  (ver.  2 — 4)  is  itself  the  true  laying 
up  I  So  spake,  in  old  time,  Sirach  and  Tobias  concerning  the  fruits 
of  righteousness  and  good  works.  (Sir.  xxix.  14 ;  Tob.  iv.  10).  We 
may,  moreover,  regard  this  verse  under  two  aspects :  are  your 
treasures  upon  earth,  then  will  your  heart  also  rest  upon  the 
earth.  This  lies,  however,  more  in  the  transition  from  the  last 
sentence  than  in  this  passage  itself,  which  dignifies  only  the 
heavenly  reward  and  the  heavenly  good,  with  the  title  of  trea- 
sure, properly  so  called.  (Lu.  xvi.  12,  to  vjierepov,  the  true  and 
only  property,  in  distinction  from  which  all  other  passes  away  as 
another's).  Alas  for  those,  who  become  thieves  against  them- 
selves, to  rob  themselves  of  their  own  eternal  and  enduring  sub- 
stance !  Do  not  ye  so,  O  men  !  is  the  Lord's  warning  entreaty 
here.  Have  ye  truly  begun  to  apprehend  what  and  where  your 
true  treasure  is,  then  never  take  away  your  eyes  and  your  hearts 
from  it  again,  to  turn  them  upon  that  which  is  nought !  "Earav 
following  eariv  here,  has  the  force  of  a  contrast,  and  contains 
requirement  and  promise  at  once  in  itself,  similarly  as  eaeaOe  in 
ch.  v.  48.  Your  treasure  is,  safely  laid  up,  perfectly  ready  for 
you,  in  heaven  :  let  then  your  heart  ever  more  and  more  perfectly 

17 


258  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  undividedly  be  fixed  upon  it  and  absorbed  with  it  there  ! 
(See  the  continuation  Lu.  xi.  35).  Has  the  kingdom  of  the 
eternal  inheritance  of  grace  come  to  you  poor,  then  let  your  heart, 
your  whole  heart,  rest  upon  it  and  upon  nothing  else  with  it ! 
That  great  word  heart  (which  in  ch.  v.  8, 28  was  regarded  as  the 
seat  of  holiness  or  unholiness  before  God)  comes  before  us  now 
in  all  the  fulness  and  depth  of  its  scriptural  meaning.1  In  the 
heart  dwells  the  individual  guiding  principle  of  a  man's  life  ;  his 
perception,  feeling,  and  will  in  their  indivisible  unity  ;  the  heart 
determines  how,  for  what,  and  for  whom  a  man  is  living.  Deter- 
mine and  devote  your  heart  towards  the  treasure,  the  inheritance, 
the  reward  of  heaven  !  This  most  impressive  requirement,  which 
in  the  former  part  of  the  sentence  (o  6r}aavpo<;  v^wv)  brings  with 
it  its  own  foundation  of  promise,  is  in  the  two  following  verses 
more  fully  established  in  its  principles ;  in  positive  encourage- 
ment and  promise  ver.  22,  but  then  ver.  23,  in  warning  contrast, 
which  forms  a  transition  to  the  subject  which  follows. 

Vers.  22 y  23.  In  the  heart  is  the  life  of  the  whole  body,  Prov. 
iv.  23.  But  the  mediating  instrument  between  the  central 
principle  and  all-regulating  direction  of  life  in  the  heart,  and  the 
outward  life  of  the  body,  is  the  eye,  as  it  immediately  follows  in 
Prov.  iv.  25,  26  :— compare,  besides,  Prov.  xxiii.  26.  The  body 
lives  and  moves  according  to  the  guidance  of  the  eye,  by  its  light 
as  a  lamp ;  even  as  the  eye  sees  according  to  the  desire  and 
impulse  of  the  heart.  When  Eve  beheld  the  tree,  that  it  was  a 
pleasant  tree,  the  lust  after  it  had  already  commenced  in  her 
heart,  and  as  the  result  of  that,  her  eye  had  become  a  traitor. 
Hence  there  might  have  been  interposed  between  our  Lord's 
former  saying  and  this,  the  thought— and  where  your  heart  is, 
there  does  your  eye  turn  also.  This  is  as  true  with  regard  to  the 
beginning  of  every  sin,  as  it  is  that  in  its  progress,  the  heart,  in 
return,  follows  the  eye  (Job  xxxi.  7) :  the  one  is  tested  and 
known  by  the  other.  But  such  an  intervening  thought  the  Lord 
could  scarcely  here  have  more  circumstantially  expressed :  the 
natural  process  of  His  discourse  led  him,  in  order  to  rivet  the 
awakened  attention,  and  to  excite  preparation  for  His  heart-pene- 

1  Which   Beck  lately  in   his   biblischen    Seelenlehre    has  plainly 
assumed. 


MATTHEW  VI.  22,  23.  259 

trating  word,  rather  to  present  striking  and  vivid  figures  to  the 
mind.  First  came  the  very  simple  saying  concerning  the  treasures 
in  earth  and  in  heaven,  the  meaning  of  which  would  be  most 
obviously  apprehended :  then  followed  the  equally  simple  and 
deeply  convincing  injunction  :  if  your  treasure  is  in  heaven,  then 
let  your  heart  be  there  also !  (which  is  grounded  upon  the  prin- 
ciple taken  for  granted,  and  assented  to  in  every  man's  breast : 
that  the  heart  hangs  upon  that  which  it  reputes  its  good  and 
happiness).  And  now  follows  the  unconnected  and  emphatic : 
The  light  of  the  body  is  the  eye.  This  indeed  is  obviously  true 
in  external  things,  but  the  immediate  application  which  the  Lord 
makes  of  this  to  the  inner  man  (he  spake  indeed  from  the  heart  !)y 
involves  in  it  profound  mystery,  which  does  not  instantly  yield  up 
its  fulness  of  meaning.  Luther  has  used  "  lichf  for  Xv^vo?,  but 
that  does  not  help  the  matter,  since  the  Lord  presently  after  inter- 
changes this  with  <£a>? :  that  translation  does  no  more  than  carry 
out  the  same  interweaving  of  the  figure  and  its  meaning  which 
pervades  the  whole  discourse. 

The  light  of  the  world  and  of  each  body  in  it,  is,  indeed,  pro- 
perly speaking,  the  sun  and  its  effulgence :  but,  this  shining 
becomes  the  light  of  any  individual  body,  by  and  in  which  it  may 
live  and  move,  only  through  the  medium  of  the  eye,  formed  for 
the  reception  of  the  sun's  light.  This  is  its  light-organ,  not  so 
much  here  for  the  purpose  of  beaming  forth  light  from  within  (ch. 
v.  14 — 16),  as  for  that  of  receiving  the  light  first  from  above  and 
around,  in  order  that  by  it  the  body  may  be  enlightened.  Of 
what  avail  is  the  sun  to  the  blind  man,  the  light  of  day  to  him 
who  shut  his  eyes  ?  Every  thing,  then,  depends  on  the  eye,  when 
we  speak  of  light.  Even  in  the  bodily  eye  there  lies  much  mystery, 
as  natural  philosophers  know  full  well,  to  whose  researches  light 
is  a  wonder  and  an  enigma  on  the  confines  of  the  material  and  the 
spiritual  world  ;  and  so  also  the  eye  which  corresponds  to  it  in  the 
body  of  the  living  man,  the  most  perfect  mystery  of  the  soul's 
influence  on  the  mechanical  organism.1  In  the  eye  also  there  is 
an  actual  inner  light  which  corresponds  to  the  outer:  hence  its  not 

Hence  recently  Hanne  (Vorhofe  zum  Glauben  u.  s.  w.)  points  his 
rigorously  convincing  application  of  the  principle  of  life'm  organism, 
to  the  formation  of  the  eye  in  the  foetus. 


260  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

fully  explained  glimmering  through  the  material  fabric.  It  is,  at 
the  same  time,  the  outshining  manifestation  of  the  soul  in  the 
body ;  we  read  in  the  eye  what  no  word  utters,  the  hypocrite  can 
only  in  the  least  degree,  yea,  not  at  all  disguise  his  look ;  a  right 
confronting  glance  looks  through  him.  Hence  is  not  this  the 
natural  image  of  the  manner  in  which  the  inner  man  is  reflected  in 
the  outer  ?  The  heathens  termed  the  understanding  the  vote,  the 
light  in  men,1  as  also  Solomon  more  correctly  and  truly  says  :  the 
spirit  of  man  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord,  searching  all  the  secret 
chambers  of  the  inner  man.  (Prov.  xx.  27).  In  this  general  sense 
the  expression  of  Jesus  here  may  well  admit  of  an  application : 
if  thy  understanding  receives  rightly  the  truth  of  God,  it  will 
enlighten  thee ;  if  thy  understanding  is  unsound,  how  foolish 
and  ignorant  will  thy  whole  being  be  !  Yet  we  should  much 
mistake  in  making  this  our  Lord's  meaning  in  its  present  con- 
nexion :  He  is  speaking,  indeed,  of  the  mediating  instrument 
between  the  heart  and  the  body,  or  the  most  internal,  funda- 
mental direction  of  the  being  and  the  walk,  the  life  and  the  deed. 
Thus  the  eye  of  the  inner  man  is  more  correctly  that  which  deter- 
mines the  main  scope  of  the  whole  section  (vers.  19 — 34),  the 
practical  understanding,  so  to  speak,  which  regulates  the  whole 
conduct,  the  fundamental  design  which  is  kept  in  view  in  the 
most  proper  sense  of  the  word,  what  a  man  seeks  (vers.  32,  33). 
The  body,  inasmuch  as  with  hands  and  feet,  and  other  members 
it  stretches  forth,  moves,  acts  and  exhibits  all  the  energy  of  life, 
is  consequently  the  further  figurative  expression  for  the  whole 
action  of  the  man.  (Just  as  according  to  missionary  reports, 
the  same  word  in  the  dialect  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders,  signifies 
both  body  and  action).  As  thou  lookest  and  towards  what  object, 
so  will  be  the  act  and  movement  of  thy  body. 

But  the  Lord,  further,  with  profound  discrimination  does  not 
say — if  thine  eye  be  open  or  shut :  for  this  is  a  point  which  has 
nothing  to  do  here  with  the  inner  man,  and  the  Lord,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  entirely  blends  together  the  figure  and  its  meaning 
in  this  discourse.  The  eye  may  indeed  be  already,  or  may  be 
still  more,  opened  in  many  senses,  but  here  it  is  not  clttXovs,  that 

1  Aristotle  :  a>s  otyis  iv  6(p6a\pcp,  vovs  iv  yjrvxu-  Galen  :  &o"ircp  6cp6a\p6s 
rw  acopaTi,  toiovtos  iv  ^tvxf]  vovs-  Plulo  :  onep  yap  vovs  iv  faxy  tovt  6<b6ak- 
fios  ev  o-wp,aTi'     See  in  Grrotius. 


MATTHEW  VI.  22,  23.  261 

is,  not  sincere,  not  true,  sound,  not  rightly  measuring  or  seeing, 
what  is  in  the  light  visible  to  it.  Seeing  is  sound,  if  both  eyes 
(which  is  also  itself  a  physical  wonder  and  mystery)  see  together, 
precisely  as  it  is,  the  one  object  at  once  which  is  before  them  : 
hence  we  say,  the  eye — although  we  have  two  eyes.  The  first 
note  of  unsoundness  in  the  eye  is  the  seeing  double,  or  looking 
athwart  (ver.  24),  and  that  leads  to  blindness.  "  If  we  see  in 
singleness,  the  soul  is  light  :  if  we  double  see,  we  lose  our  sight." 
Ah  !  well  is  it  said — "  Sacred  simplicity,  wondrous  grace  !  Not 
soon  is  this  perfected  in  us.  Alas,  much  is  required  to  this,  and 
long,  long  do  we  sometimes  wait  before  this  is  reached  !"  Ver.  22 
contains  a  description  of  the  goal  towards  which  we  must  struggle, 
and  not  merely  a  condition  and  requirement  insisted  on  at  the 
outset.  In  a  certain  sense  and  measure,  indeed,  must  our  eye 
singly,  from  the  very  beginning,  be  fixed  upon  God,  His  king- 
dom, and  His  righteousness,  upon  the  treasures  in  heaven,  but  is 
it  not  consummate  holiness  when  this  is  perfectly  realized,  and 
there  is  no  oblique  or  other  regard  1  Yea,  by  such  simplicity  of 
the  eye  shall  the  whole  body  be  (jxoretvbv,  that  is,  not  merely 
enlightened,  in  the  true  light  rightly  living  and  moving,  (Jno.  xi. 
9),  but  in  its  inner  meaning  :  illuminated,  glorified,  all  its  actions 
sanctified  in  the  light  of  God's  truth  (which  is  very  emphatically 
expressed  in  a  supplementary  manner  by  St  Luke  xi.  36). 
Hence,  finally,  the  otherwise  dark  mass  of  the  body  shall  in  this 
glorification  become  all  eye.  Thus  again  the  earat  is  here  as  in 
ver.  21.  And  on  the  other  hand  :  if  thine  eye  sees  altogether 
falsely,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  darkness.  The  Lord  sets 
the  extremes  in  contrast,  as  they  are  consummated  in  perfection, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  in  entire  TroypasaLS  rrj?  /capSia?  (Eph.  iv. 
18  ;  Rom.  i.  21)  on  the  other;  in  order  that  He  may  exhort  us 
urgently  to  seek  the  one,  and  warn  us  against  the  other:  in  order 
to  point  out  to  us  the  way,  in  which  our  eye  should  ever  be 
becoming  more  and  more  single. 

He  once  more  speaks  of  the  eye  as  the  light  of  the  body,  in 
order  to  indicate  the  peculiar  significance  of  the  image  in  regard 
to  man's  nature  generally  : — the  light  that  is  in  thee,  that  which 
should  be  thy  light,  indeed  in  some  degree  ever  is  so,  that  is,  in 
the  ordinary,  general  condition  of  mankind,  before  it  has  become 
totally  darkened.     This  is  not  said  to  the  new-bom  child  of  God 


262  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

from  the  beginning  of  his  stateof  grace  (Acts  xxvi.  18),  but  actually 
in  a  certain  sense  to  the  natural  man.  For  u  the  natural  light 
extends  just  so  far  as  to  reveal  the  natural  darkness."  Even  the 
unconverted  has  some  degree  of  sincere  respect  to  everlasting 
good,  and  regard  for  that  which  avails  before  God  :  just  as  the 
converted  man  retains  for  long  some  degree  of  unsoundness  and 
obliquity  in  his  eye.  But  if  thine  eye  is  entirely  (this  must  be 
our  Lord's  meaning)  irovrjpo^  the  light  in  thee  become  utter 
darkness,  then  indeed  is  the  whole  body  dark,  as  much  so  as  if 
thou  never  hadst  an  eye,  as  if  it  were  wholly  shut ;  yea,  rather 
worse  than  that,  in  case  thou  thinkest  that  thou  seest,  and 
reckonest  thy  darkness  for  light !  Then  wilt  thou  by  all  means 
and  always  err,  and  go  astray,  confounding  far  and  near,  good 
and  evil,  life  and  death,  and  thus  grope  thy  way  into  the  abyss  ! 
Once  more  we  have  a  mournful  oxymoron  :  the  light  become 
darkness,  just  as  in  ch.  v.  13  the  salt  becomes  saltless,  to  which 
saying  this  seems  as  it  were  a  supplement.  This  is  the  condi- 
tion of  Heathenism  at  the  worst,  alas  also  of  many  apostates,  who 
not  advancing  in  singleness  of  internal  eye,  have  lapsed  through 
impurity  into  the  opposite  ruin.  Of  this  the  Lord  cries  in 
language  of  lamentation  and  terror :  to  cr/coro?  iroaov,  what  a 
total  darkness  of  the  whole  body,  if  its  light  becomes  darkness ! 
In  this  there  lies  yet  another  specific  thought  which  Luther's  "  die 
Finsterniss  selbst, — the  darkness  itself"  (after  the  Yulg.),  aptly 
brings  out.  To  o-koto?  with  the  article  is  opposed  to  to  (j>m  to 
iv  cot,  and  the  Lord  distinguishes  two  parts  of  human  nature, 
which  he  terms  light  (at  least  relatively  so),  and  darkness.  As 
the  body  viewed  as  a  mass  dark  in  itself,  has  yet  its  light  in  the 
eye,  just  so  is  it  with  the  corresponding  sensual  animal  life  of 
man,  which  eats  and  drinks,  receives  pleasure  and  disgust  in 
close  connexion  with  the  lower  creation,  &c.  This  dark  domain 
of  the  life  of  man  sunk  into  gross  matter,  into  the  flesh,  may 
itself,  through  the  seeking  after  righteousness,  through  spiritual 
aims,  become  spiritualized,  illumined,  sanctified.  But  if  this 
light  is  darkness,  how  great  must  then  the  entire  darkness  of 
the  sensual  life  become !  Compare  such  passages  as  2  Pet.  ii. 
12  ;  Jude  10,  19. 

It  remains  that  we  endeavour  to  lay  hold  of  the  point  of  con- 
nexion and  transition  between  this  word  of  warning  against 


MATTHEW  VI.  22,  23.  26?> 

total  darkness,  and  what  follows  in  ver.  24.  We  find  it  in  a 
partial  application  of  the  rigorous  word  which  we  have  just  read, 
and  it  is  expressed  in  Luther's  translation  "  ein  Schalk,"  which, 
however,  softens  the  full  and  proper  meaning  of  7rovrjp6s.  We 
cannot  regard  the  Lord  as  having  designed  in  His  rigid  contrast 
vers.  22 — 23,  to  teach,  contrary  to  all  experience,  that  by  an 
unconditional  alternative  man  must  live  altogether  in  light  or 
altogether  in  darkness,  that  the  eye  must  be  either  quite  sound 
or  quite  evil.  It  is  His  design  rather  to  excite  men  by  that  con- 
trast to  the  earnest  striving  after  the  one,  and  diligent  defence 
against  the  other.  He  proceeds,  indeed,  to  lay  down  another 
equally  definite  and  rigid  alternative,  and  testifies :  No  man  can 
serve  two  masters.  But  literally  true  as  this  must  ever  be  for 
every  individual  moment  of  our  internal  disposition  of  mind,  and 
of  the  action  which  flows  from  it  and  by  it  is  estimated,  as  well 
as  for  the  final  distinction  in  the  judgment ;  yet  we  also  know 
full  well  that  we  all  are  too  long  tainted  with  this  double-service 
and  doubleness  of  aim.  Thus  the  expression  in  ver.  23,  standing 
in  manifest  connexion  with  ver.  24,  likewise  includes  in  itself 
such  a  mournful,  twilight  middle-state,  though  it  only  indicates 
the  frightful  end  of  such  a  state  if  it  be  continued  in,  or,  since 
that  is  impossible,  if  the  by-service  of  Mammon,  instead  of  being 
struggled  against  and  given  up,  issues  in  entire  apostacy  from 
God.  He  recommends  to  us,  in  this  manner,  the  simplicity  of 
the  inner  eye,  and  urges  us  most  impressively  to  an  even  more 
and  more  decided  decision  :  not  designing  to  condemn  and 
frighten  us  back  on  account  of  our  shortcoming,  but  graciously 
and  mercifully  to  pluck  us  out  of  a  state  of  wavering  and  halting 
between  two  sides.  Such  words  must  often  be  received,  and  are 
ever  exerting  new  influence  :  all  is  not  ended  with  the  first 
declaration  of  the  great  alternative,  though  it  must  be  uttered 
every  time  as  if  it  were  so.  That  is  the  nature  of  the  word  of 
exhortation  which  our  necessities  require. 


Give  up  yourselves  then  in  pure  and  undivided  surrender, 
with  the  devotion  and  trust  of  your  whole  heart,  to  your  Lord 
and  God,  to  your  Father  in  heaven,  who  promises  to  give  you 


2(54  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  kingdom,  and  its  righteousness,  as  the  food  and  raiment  of 
your  new  and  inner   man  !     As  He  gives,  so  also  He  exacts. 
Empty  yourselves,  He  will  fill  you!  (Ps.  lxxxi.  10,  11).     The 
fundamental  promise— I  am  the  Lord  thy  God !  bears  with  it 
as  the  fundamental  command— None  other  shalt  thou  serve ! 
Neither  can  this  be  otherwise,  whether  in  respect  to  God  or  to 
man  :— the  majesty  of  God,  which  will  not  tolerate  any  rival 
near  Him,  demands  the  whole  heart  as  its  due,  and  again  the 
need  and  the  desire  of  the  human  heart  can  only  find  satisfaction 
in  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  dependance  upon  the  highest, 
perfect,  and  only  Good.      This  section  (vers.  24—34)  which  as 
part  of  the  greater  one  beginning  with  ver.  19,  has  in  it  the 
emphatic  tone  of  requirement,  will  nevertheless,  as  we  saw  above, 
lead  us  back  to  that  of  promise,  and  set  forth  the  first  command- 
ment of  the  first  table  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  given  to  Israel 
— Thou  shalt  not !  but  based  upon  the  foundation  of  that  redeem- 
ing, condescending,  prevenient — I  am  He  !  (just  as  we  saw  in 
our  earlier  expositions  of  the  individual  commandments  of  the 
second  table).     Again  we  perceive  a  threefold  division  in  the 
discourse  which  thus  leads  back  towards  the  promise.     First  is 
the  commandment  itself  in  the  testing,  warning  expression  of  its 
exclusiveness :  but  even  here  the  "Ye  shall  not"  assumes  the 
gracious  form  of  "Ye  cannot!"      However   dexterously,  and 
with  whatever  subtilty  ye  may  act   on   the  persuasion  which 
you  may  reach,  that  God  will  tolerate  somewhat  beside  Him,  on 
which  the  heart  may  hang  and  which  the  life  may  serve,— it 
must  ever  remain  a  thing  impossible.     Idolatry,  which  pharisai- 
cal  Israel  abhorred  in  its  external  forms,  is  shown  to  be  present 
in  their  hearts.    The  service  of  Mammon,  that  is,  is  the  most  uni- 
versal note  of  true  and  proper  heathenism,  and  that  service  is 
nothing  else  than  the  devotion  to  earthly  good  and  earthly  enjoy- 
ment.1  Then  follows  a  transitional  paragraph,  which  enters  more 
into  the  spirit  and  detail  of  this,  for  the  poor  to  whom  the  Gospel  is 
now  especially  preached  :  Take  no  thought  for  life  and  the  body! 

1  "  The  fundamental  characteristic  of  heathenism  is  the  living  for  the 
present."  Tholuck  quotes  this  expression  of  that  great  heathen  in 
Christendom,  Gothe,  but  without  noting  how  beautifully  it  illustrates 
our  Lord's  sermon  at  this  place. 


MATTHEW  VI.  24.  265 

(vers.  25 — 30).  Thus  the  language  of  requirement  leads  on  to 
that  of  encouraging  promise,  which  assumes  its  full  tone  in  the 
concluding  words  (vers.  31 — 34). 

Ver.  24.  A  fundamental  declaration,  which  is  as  deeply  rooted 
in  the  context  here,  as  it  is  again  at  Lu.  xvi.  13,  where  the  Lord 
repeats  it  after  a  parable  concerning  the  children  of  the  world 
who  live  for  the  earth,  and  the  children  of  light  who  care  for  and 
live  for  the  eternal,  with  application  to  the  covetous  Pharisees. 
In  this  passage  we  have  the  basis  of  all  our  catechetical  instruc- 
tion on  the  first  commandment.  Comp.  Col.  iii.  5  (there  as 
here  it  is  after  the  general  distinction  laid  down  in  vers.  1 — 4). 
St  Matthew  has  prudently  left  jfy^jrj  or  fr^ftto  untranslated  ;  a 
word  of  obscure  derivation  in  the  later  Jewish  language,  which 
is  not  found  in  the  pure  Hebrew  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  is 
used  in  the  Targums  for  -^,  -fnitf?  fin?  y£2>  equivalent  to  riches, 
possessions,  money.  When  our  catechists  tell  our  children  that 
the  name  was  derived  from  a  Syrian  god  of  riches,  they  say  what 
is  not  historically  true  indeed,  but  would  have  an  appropriate 
sense  :  for  the  Lord  designedly  makes  the  word  the  name  of  an 
Idol,  giving  it  a  personality  in  contradistinction  to  God,  in  order 
that  His  words  to  the  hypocritical  Pharisees  might  have  this 
•force  :  Ye  are  verily  Idolaters,  ye  serve  another  besides  God, — 
will  ye  hear  his  name  ?  It  is  Mammon  !  And  as  the  truth  and 
justification  of  this  personification  there  lies  in  its  back-ground 
an  allusion  to  the  Prince  and  God  of  this  world,  the  false  god 
who  is  concealed  in  the  enticements  and  deceitfulness  of  the 
creature,  hy^hl  nas  a  similar  allusion  in  the  Old  Testament. 
The  discourse  very  strikingly  begins  with  a  simple  proverb, 
which  is  exalted  to  its  most  elevated  meaning,  that  the  wisdom 
of  the  sanctuary  may  be  illustrated  and  confirmed  by  the  wisdom 
of  the  street.  Whether  men  may  ever  be  obliged  or  be  able  to 
serve  many  masters  at  once  is  not  the  question  here.  That  proverb, 
universally  used  where  the  true  devotion  of  the  whole  service  is 
meant,  finds  here  its  highest  truth  !  (The  Chinese  even  have 
their  sayings  :  Lay  not  two  saddles  on  one  horse !  A  true  sub- 
ject serves  not  two  sovereigns  !  A  virtuous  woman  takes  not  a 
second  husband  !)  Here  that  which  is  taken  for  granted  as  an 
essential  truth,  admitted  in  the  proverbs  of  all,  is  urged  in  its 


2G6  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

highest  application  ;  viz.,  that  individual  actions  flow  from  the 
character,  from  the  inner  disposition  of  mind  of  the  entire  man, 
and  receive  from  that  their  value  as  actions.       Hence  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  an  undefined  "  freedom "  of  determination  by 
which  a  man  may  turn  now  to  the  right,  now  to  the  left,  or  could 
depend  upon  and  serve  at  one  time  this  master  and  at  another 
time  that.1      An  emphasis  of  deepest  meaning  is  in  Master  and 
serve ;  but  the  two  following  sentences  of  alternative  are  by  no 
means  tautological,  nor  is  the  distinction  between  them  properly 
speaking  to  be  sought  in  the  advancement  from  loving  to  holding 
to,  from  hating  to  despising  (which  is  only  an  explanation  of  the 
former,  by  a  deeper  disclosure  and  more  convincing  enforcement 
of  its  meaning  in  the  latter)  ;  but  in  the  alternative  itself,  which 
indicates,  by  the  transposition  of  the  two  expressions,  a  changing 
of  the  persons  served.      Either  at  any  one  time,  in  one  course  of 
conduct  and  action,  in  one  performance  of  service  to  hate  God 
and  love  Mammon,  or  at  another  time  again,  to  hold  to  God  and 
despise  Mammon.      This  gives  us,  without  affecting  the  perma- 
nent, inmost  condition  of  the  heart  generally,  a  softened  sense  of 
the  word  to  suit  the  exhortation  which  follows,  to  the  people,  the 
children  of  God :  Ye  are  not  like  the  Gentiles !     This  is  the  ex- 
hortation to  those  who  halt  between  two  opinions.       (1  Kings 
xviii.  21 ;  2  Cor.  vi.  14.)       Here  have  we  the  deep  significance 
of  1JS-*T0  in  the  first  commandment,  well  translated  by  Luther's 
— neben  mir.      For  every  thing  out  of  God  is  a  "  besides  Me" 
which  He  will  not  tolerate  in  His  presence — yet  finds  He  much  of 
that  idolatry  even  among  those  who  address  Him  with  Our  Father. 
Vers  25 — 30.  After  such  severity  the  discourse  now  turns  to 
a  most  gracious  appeal :  Act  not  thus,  for  your  God  and  Father 
is  essentially  enough  for  you,  and  will  give  you  all  you  need ! 
This  exhortation,  which  convinces  and  puts  to  shame,  stands  first 
(ver.  25).     Then  follows  the  proof  of  the  Father's  care  of  His 
children's  earthly  need,  derived  from  His  providential  care,  as 
their  Creator,  for  the  lower  animals  around  us ;  just  as  in  ch.  v. 
45  His  love  was  proved  from  His  general  benefits  in  nature. 
This  is  shown  according  to  the  order  of  the  two  leading  words — 

1  Compare  Jul  Mailer,   The   Christian  Doctrine  of   Sin   (Clark's 
Foreign  Theological  Library). 


MATTHEW  VI.  25—30.  267 

soul  and  body,  where  the  soul  in  the  body  signifies,  according  to 
the  correct  language  of  old  times,  which  did  not  give  it  two 
meanings,  the  sensitive,  earthly  life  in  the  body.1  Vers.  26, 
27  treat  of  the  life  and  its  nourishment,  (Ps.  lxxviii.  18,  ^^ 
Otfe^)*     Vers.  28,  29  of  the  body  and  its  clothing.      Whence 

t  :  — : 

we  directly  gather  the  only  true  signification  of  ver.  27,  accord- 
ing to  its  necessary  connexion,  in  opposition  to  a  false  reading 
which  has  closely  adhered  to  it. 

Thus  is  this  the  plainest  and  most  popular  part  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  just  where  it  goes  into  the  depth  of  the  heart ; 
there  is  endless  matter  of  preaching  here,  but  little  of  exposition. 
Once  more  we  hear  the  lawgiver's  emphatic — /  say  unto  you  I  of 
former  sections,  which  seems,  as  it  were,  to  have  its  faint  echo  in 
ver.  29.  It  is  not  found  again,  not  even  at  ch.  vii.  12,  where  the 
exposition  of  the  law  is  closed  in  one  final  sentence,  still  less  at 
ch.  vii.  7,  where  the  decisive  concluding  promise  is  given — it  is 
reserved  in  this  discourse  to  mark  the  requirements  of  His  laws 
as  He  teaches  them.  I  say  unto  you — that  is,  to  the  disciples  of 
the  Lord,  the  children  of  the  Father,  with  all,  who  by  His 
instruction,  would  become  so.  Nourishment,  Tpocfrrj  (all  that  is 
included  in  eating  and  drinking  together),  and  raiment — the  two 
main  necessities  for  the  life  and  the  body,  see  Gen.  xxviii.  20. 
(So  that  it  almost  seems  a  redundancy,  if  the  Apostle,  1  Tim.  vi. 
8,  includes  in  His  a-KeirdaixaTa,  covering,  the  shelter  of  a  dwelling, 
as  well  as  the  defence  of  raiment).  Any  one  who  is  disposed  to 
look  for  its  inner  meaning,  may  understand  without  exposition 
what  the  thought  is,  which  is  forbidden :  inasmuch  as  it  divides 
and  distracts  the  soul  (as  fxepnivav  etymologically  shows),  while 
thought  and  prevision  without  care  are  not  forbidden.  The 
best  interpretation  of  it  is  found  at  Lu.  xii.  29 :  firj  fierewpi- 
£ec7#e,  let  not  yourselves  be  restless,  driven,  wavering  hither  and 
thither.  There  it  is  the  antithesis  to  the  soul's  rest,  here  the 
contrast  is  with  the  soul's  unity  of  aim,  for  only  in  unity  is  rest.3 

1  That  is,  according  to  the  natural  language  of  the  sensualist,  which 
the  Lord  adopts  ;  as  if  the  soul  were  not  much  more  besides,  as  if  to 
care  for  the  soul  must  not  necessarily  lead  to  the  caring  for  the  higher 
life,  the  far)  -^vxrjs. 

2  The  common  interpretation,  which  Luther  also  adopts,  is  false :  viz., 
that  proud  exaltation,  presumption  is  intended,  as  2  Mace.  v.  17.    The 


26S  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Just  as  evident  and  convincing  is  the  sense  of  the  two  question- 
positions  :  Will  He  who  gave  life  and  the  body  as  the  greater 
gift,  keep  back  the  food  and  clothing  which  those  gifts  need  ? 

The  birds  of  heaven,  the  flowers  of  the  field — how  simple,  how 
beautiful  this  contemplation  of  nature,  as  Adam  before  the  Fall 
beheld  it  in  Paradise  !  A  single  eve  thus  beholds  the  creature 
as  bearing  evidence  of  its  God ;  the  evil  eye,  on  the  contrary, 
perverts  all  it  sees  to  its  own  lust.  Bird  and  flower  agree 
together  harmoniously,  though  they  are  distributed  between 
heaven  and  earth.  The  birds  of  the  heaven,  Q*t2$71  Rftfo  °ften 
referred  to  as  such  from  Gen.  i.  30  downwards,  unsubjected  and 
free  (like  the  flowers  of  the  field)  for  whom  no  man  generally 
cares,  in  their  pure  life  and  song  have  more  affinity  with  heaven 
than  the  flowers,  point  more  directly  than  they,  above.  Sowing, 
reaping,  gathering  into  barns  :  the  three  main  points  of  husbandry, 
which  is  to  man  in  a  state  of  nature  the  immediately  appointed 
labour  (Ps.  civ.  23,  pnSgy  as  also  Neh.  x.  38,  1  Chron.  xxvii.  26). 
The  fowl  of  the  air  are  not  like  you :  in  which  words,  to  avert  all 
misunderstanding  and  perversion,  labour  for  man  is  manifestly 
enough  confirmed  as  his  lot.  Your— not  the  father  of  the  fowl : 
which  forms  a  transition  to  the  question  which  follows — Are  not 
ye,  even  as  men,  as  the  lords  and  labourers  of  the  earth,  especi- 
ally as  children  of  the  Father,  much  better  than  they  1  Toil  then 
according  to  your  human  dignity,  be  not  however,  contrary  to 
that  dignity,  subject  to  care,  but  know,  that  without  the  gift  of 
God  all  that  you  can  do  is  in  vain.  Of  what  avail  would  food 
be  without  the  life  !  Do  ye  suppose  that  man  lives  of  bread,  if 
he  have  enough  of  it,  and  that  he  will  live  longer  for  the  fore- 
thought that  he  takes  I  As  God  gave  you  life  at  the  beginning, 
must  not  He  also,  in  whose  hands  your  breath  is,  preserve  it  to 
you  by  His  care  %  Is  it  in  your  power,  with  all  your  forethought, 
to  live  any  moment  longer  than  God  wills  t  Thus  vers.  27  fits 
well  here,  and  connects  itself  with  vers.  26  concerning  the 
nourishment  of  the  life ;  vers.  28,  29  proceeding  with  the  clothing 
of  the  body.     This  decides  the  meaning  ofrj\t,Kia,  which  certainly 

idea  of  restless  tossing  is  not  only  found  in  W isd.  xxvi.  9,  iv  /xerccopto-- 
pols  ScpOaX /xoii/,  but  also  among  profane  authors,  e.g.  Thuc.  lib.  2.  /iere- 
topos  rjv  fj  eXkas,  Greece  was  in  troubled  state. 


MATTHEW  VI.  25—30.  269 

here  means  length  of  life,  as  in  Jno.  ix.  21,  23  ;  Heb.  xi.  11  ;* 
not  the  body's  stature,  as  only  in  Lu.  xix.  3.  (For  at  Lu.  ii. 
52  ;  Eph.  iv.  13,  stature  and  life  are  comprised  in  one).  The 
Lutheran  translation  introduces  something  altogether  inappro- 
priate, and  even  monstrous  into  the  plain,  well-arranged  discourse 
of  our  Lord  :  so  that  one  is  tempted  to  ask  in  reply  to  it — Who- 
ever took  thought  about  such  a  thing  as  that,  to  add  a  cubit  to 
his  stature  ?  To  change  the  colour  of  the  hair  (ch.  v.  36),  or  to 
think  of  growing  an  inch,  would  be  another  matter.  The  stature 
of  the  body  is  altogether  unsuitable  to  the  meaning  in  Lu.  xii.,  for 
in  the  supplementary  explanation  the  addition  wished  to  the  ffkiicia 
is  termed  iXd^icrrov,  though  to  add  a  cubit  is  so  monstrous,  in 
the  proportions  of  human  stature,  that  it  is  a  very  rare  thing 
for  a  fool  to  lift  his  wish  so  high.  The  Lord  must  be  supposed 
to  signify  some  common  matter  of  care  to  the  children  of  men, 
and  what  is  more  frequent  than  the  vain  wish  of  the  dying  to 
protract  their  lives,  at  least  a  little  longer.  It  is  thought  that 
life  should  have  come  after  cubit  ?  our  answer  is,  that  it  is  omit- 
ted just  as  distance  in  Jno.  xxi.  8,  and  in  this  most  natural  image 
vrrjxyv  ha  stands  as  if  we  should  say — a  few  paces,  a  span 
longer, — and  as  in  Ps.  xxxix.  6,  a  handbreadth.2 

And  now  first,  as  the  newly  commencing  and  indicates,  the 
discourse  turns  to  the  body,  to  which  the  ingenious  structure 
and  growth  of  the  flowers  correspond,  and  to  which  the  clothing 
belongs.  Kara/jidOeTe  this  second  time  is  stronger  than  ififiXi- 
yfrare,  look  attentively,  study  diligently !  No  species  of  fowl  was 
mentioned  (as  at  Lu.  xii.  the  ravens,  and  Matt.  x.  the  sparrows), 
but  now  the  emphasis  is  more  specific — the  lilies,  which  name, 


1  Theophylact  in  his  time  on  Lu.  xii.  has  rightly :  far}?  pirpa  irapa 
fiovS  6ea>,  kcu  ovk.  clvtos  tls  cxaoros  iavra  opiarrjs  rrjs  £c»»7?.  Many  exege- 
ticai  writers  have  always  been  of  the  same  mind,  and  among  our  more 
recent  practical  expositors,  von  Gerlach,  Richter,  Braune,  whom  Alford 
has  not  reckoned.  Lange  is  disposed  to  mediate  between  the  two  opi- 
nions by  ingeniously  uniting  them  both  into  one  :  f)\iKia  neither  age 
simply,  nor  stature  simply,  but  M  the  full  unfolding  of  every  individual 
in  every  respect  according  to  its  capacity — the  mature  manifestation  of 
itself  in  general."  We  much  doubt  if  this  popular  gnomic  saying  will 
admit  of  so  deep  a  meaning. 

2  In  Stob&us  (xcviii.  13)  from  Mimnermus :  nrjx^ov  «n  xpovov  :  in 
Alcceus  (Athen.  x.  7)  :  ddnTvXos  apcpa. 


270  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

proverbial  already  in  the  Old  Testament,  embraced  many  kinds 
of  white  and  coloured  flowers,  and  was  specially  connected  with 
the  Imperial  crown.  Lilies  of  the  field,  not  of  the  garden,  grow- 
ing of  themselves,  innumerable  as  the  birds  of  heaven,  like  the 
grate  (to  which  they  belong,  ver.  30),  little  regarded,  blooming 
but  a  brief  space,  presently  withered  away  and  burned.  For 
that  reason  overlook  them  not !  See  how  they  grow  up  without 
your  aid  to  their  slender  height !  They  toil  not !  Agriculture 
was  referred  to  before,  as  the  fundamental  toil  of  men,  now  a 
glance  is  cast  upon  that  further  toil  of  man  in  art,  which  pro- 
vides for  itself  out  of  the  material  of  nature.1  Further,  there 
lies  in  the  words  toiling  and  spinning  a  reference  to  men  and 
women  respectively2 :  icoiriav  is  rather  every  kind  of  energy  put 
forth  in  acquisition,  and  vrjOeiv  naturally  has  a  specific  reference 
to  clothing.  The  lilies  have  leaves  and  texture  so  finely  spun, 
as  no  human  cunning  can  counterfeit,  and  yet  they  spun  it  not 
in  human  fashion,  but  are  clothed  therewith  by  God.  In  the 
growing  spoken  of  previously,  there  is  hinted  a  question  concern- 
ing the  body  corresponding  to  that  in  ver.  27  concerning  the 
age :  who  among  you  can  by  any  care  or  effort  of  personal  will 
grow  a  fingerbreadth  higher  !  Not  the  slightest  stalk  can  man 
raise  up! — But  this  is  passed  over  unsaid,  in  order  that  the 
words  may  go  on  to  rebuke  the  vanity  of  man,  who  makes  out  of 
his  clothing,  which  is,  properly  speaking,  the  mere  modest  covering 
of  his  nakedness,  matter  of  personal  ostentation.  Solomon' 's  glory 
was  in  the  Israelite  proverbial  language  the  ideal  of  magnificence 
in  apparel ;  but  why  is  this  not  like  the  beauty  of  the  lilies  I  The 
Lord  leads  us  by  the  last  Xiyco  v/uv  to  a  profound  thought  which 
we  must  not  fail  to  discern  in  it :  the  flowers  grow  directly  with 
their  essentially  connate,  not  merely  put  on  and  invested  clothing 
(7T€pi€/3d\eTO  is  in  slight  contrast  with  ajjufaevvvcriv)  ;  this  is  the 
beauty  of  nature  and  innocence,  which  in  the  slightest  object 
shows  more  beautiful  than  the  most  magnificent  array,  which 

1  By  spinning  men  supply  what  the  field  may  not  give — as  Hamann 
writes  his  pithy  application  to  his  friend  Herder  about  his  winter- study  : 
would  he  but  take  in  the  summer,  and  repair  by  spinning  what  he  may 
not  have  been  able  to  get  by  sowing  and  reaping. 

2  With  far  greater  propriety  may  vers.  26,  27  be  attributed  to  the 
men,  who  till  the  field  for  the  sustenance  of  the  household ;  and 
vers.  28,  29  to  the  women,  who  particularly  provide  for  the  clothing. 


MATTHEW  VI.  25 — 30.  271 

must  be  fastened  on  !  "  The  lily  belongs  to  the  paradise  of  God, 
Solomon's  glory  to  the  hothouse  of  art "  (Kleuker).  Oh  !  that 
men  would  upderstand  what  is  signified  in  this  !  Oh  that  they 
would  learn  from  the  flowers,  the  beauty  of  growing  silently,  by 
the  internal  law  of  their  nature  operating  through  God's  gifts 
and  power,  up  into  a  full  preparation  for  that  blooming  in  future 
glory,  which  is  set  before  us  as  the  goal  of  our  glorification. 

When  man  is  once  more  elevated  by  the  words  7roX\w  fiSX- 
\ov  above  the  grass  and  flowers  of  the  field,  which  to-day  are  and 
to-morrow  are  cast  withered  into  the  oven,  we  discern  in  this  a 
sublime  appeal  to  faith,  inasmuch  as,  to  all  appearance,  man's  sensi- 
tive, earthly  life  is  just  on  a  level  with  the  withering  grass.  The 
Lord  literally  refers  to  Ps.  xc.  6.  And  here  He  makes  the  tran- 
sition to  the  full  assurance  and  promise  of  eternal  life  in  the  king- 
dom of  God,  by  that  henceforward  oft-recurring,  and  graciously 
admonitory — Oye  of  little  faith  !  pOT^  \&0  or  STSDN  was  a^so 
an  expression  of  the  Rabbies,1  but  what  power  and  significance 
it  assumes  in  the  mouth  of  our  Lord,  requiring  only  Faith  and 
yet  again  Faith,  great  Faith,  large  and  wide  as  the  grace  and 
goodness  of  God  Himself  !  Here  this  once  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  does  the  Lord  touch  lightly  that  great  word,  and  that  in 
the  right  place  and  with  deep  earnestness. 

The  end  leads  us  back  to  the  beginning,  in  order  to  embody  in 
most  clear  and  simple  expression  the  whole  of  what  has  been 
meant  from  ver.  24,  nay  from  ver.  19.  The  commandment  is 
once  more  repeated,  but  now  most  plainly  :  Seek  ye  obediently, 
undistractedly  and  trustfully  the  kingdom  of  God  !  Trustful  for 
what  ?  The  general,  and  inviting  promise  is  given  of  the  supply 
of  all  earthly  need,  as  being  necessarily  included  in  and  added 
to  the  promise  of  the  free  gift  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  con- 
trast with  the  Heathen  or  Gentiles,  which  has  been  contained 
in  this  whole  part  of  the  discourse,  is  now  fully  expressed  :  but 
we  find  it  at  the  conclusion,  not  as  in  the  contrast  with  the  Phari- 
sees (ch.  v.  20),  where  their  description  came  first.  For  the 
Pharisees,  so  terming  themselves,  were  visibly  before  his  hearers ; 
but  the  internal  heathenism  of  the  heart  must  first  be  detected 

1  E.g.  Rabbi  Elieser  the  great :  He  who  has  a  morsel  of  bread  in  his 
basket,  and  asks — what  shall  I  eat  to-morrow  ?  is  one  of  the  men  of 
little  faith. 


[WVBRSITY] 


272  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  disclosed.  Here  again,  as  always,  we  have  three  positions. 
The  first  reiterating  at  the  conclusion  :  Therefore  take  no  thought, 
for  thus  do  the  Gentiles  !  The  second  :  For  ye  are  God's  chil- 
dren, His  people,  the  chosen  heirs  of  His  kingdom  !  The  third, 
once  more  :  Take  therefore  no  thought !  Yet  with  a  weighty 
qualifying  reference,  appended  to  the  promise,  to  the  indispen- 
sable and  wholesome  necessities  of  everyday  life  even  in  the  case 
of  the  children  of  God. 

Vers.  81 — 32.  The  ovv  is  not  simply  such  a  therefore  as  we 
had  in  ver.  25,  Bia  tovto,  but  it  is  a  very  emphatic  deduction. 
Else  this  is  a  repetition  of  ver.  25,  with  a  strengthening  addition 
of  saying  to  taking  thought  ;x  and  this  is  connected  with  the  saying 
— for  after  all  those  things  do  the  Gentiles  seek ;  which  has  a 
very  comprehensive  reference.  For  it  means  first,  that  in  God's 
presence  there  is  such  a  distinction  :  Ye  are  not  as  the  Gentiles  ! 
Then,  with  reproachful  test,  reversing  the  words — Who  seek 
after  these  things  are  Gentiles :  Therefore,  should  ye  not  be  like 
them  !  Will  ye  then  retain  heathenism  in  your  hearts  1  Finally, 
it  is  a  gracious  exhortation,  which  becomes  a  permission  :  Leave 
all  such  care  to  the  Gentiles,  who  have  no  Father  in  heaven,  who 
know  not,  that  they  have  a  Father !  For  your  heavenly  Father 
knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things  :  an  intenser  repeti- 
tion of  what  had  been  preparatorily  uttered  in  ver.  8,  following 
ver.  7.  The  stress  of  emphasis  falls  upon  the  knoweth  :  ye  have 
a  living  God,  who  knoweth  !  But  in  addition  to  His  knowing, 
His  willingness  is  already  secured  in  the  name  of  Father;  so 
that  we  may  say  that  every  single  word  in  the  whole  sentence 
utters  a  ground  of  assurance  and  strong  consolation. 

Yer.  33.  This  is  the  middle  one  of  the  three  great  fundamental 
laws  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  first  ch.  v.  48  pointed 
up  to  the  Father  of  love  in  heaven.  This  second  bears  witness  to, 
and  assures  us  of  the  descent  of  heaven  to  earth  in  that  kingdom, 
which  is  already  come,  and  is  open  to  violent  entrance.  But  it 
adjoins  the  condition  of  seeking  in  order  to  the  laying  hold  of  the 

1  The  Lord  forbids  two  things  :  Taking  thought — and  then  saying, 
giving  open  utterance  to  the  same ;  because  the  taking  thought  weighs 
down  and  dispirits  the  heart  of  one  only,  but  the  saying  infects  others 
also  with  despondency.  {Zeller,  Monatsblatt.)  Or  is  saying  here  only 
a  Hebraism  for  thinking  t 


MATTHEW  VI.  33.  273 

treasure  held  forth  (Phil.  iii.  13, 14),  namely,  through  the  righte- 
ousness of  God  which  alone  avails  in  His  kingdom,  the  actual 
having  and  performing  of  which  remains  ever  the  straight  gate  of 
entrance  to  it.  This  paves  the  way  for  the  third  great  law,  (ch. 
vii.  12).  •  Let  us  observe  and  weigh  well  the  retrospective  view, 
comprehensive  and  concentrated,  which  is  taken  from  this  vantage 
point  of  the  discourse !  The  kingdom  and  righteousness  together 
remind  us  of  the  petitions,  ver.  10.  The  kingdom  of  God  em- 
braces the  entire  introductory  ch.  v.  3 — 20,  where  at  first  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  came  down  to  the  poor  and  remained  at  last 
only  righteousness.  God's  righteousness — comprehends  all  from 
ch.  v.  21  to  ch.  vi.  18,  with  especial  reference  to  ch.  v.  48  and 
ch.  vi.  1.  For  ch.  v.  48  closed  the  first  part  (not  like  the  Phari- 
sees) by  way  of  anticipation  just  at  the  point  where  the  induction 
of  the  commandments  ceased  ;  and  found  in  the  following  chapter 
only  its  further  development :  before  the  Father  in  secret ! 

It  has  been  made  matter  of  wonder  that  the  Lord  only  says 
"first"  and  not  "alone" — exclusively.  He  says,  indeed,  elsewhere 
— One  thing  is  needful ;  and  in  its  profoundest  principle  this  irpui- 
tov  is  also  a  jjlovov.  But  here  we  discern  a  certain  softening  of 
His  gracious  utterance  at  the  outset ;  experience  will  bring  out  its 
rigorous  strictness  afterwards.  Only  begin  to  seek  the  kingdom 
of  God  first ;  and  ever  let  it  be  first !  If  thou  hast  ever  thought 
in  thy  heart  that  when  thou  art  fully  furnished  with  this,  every 
thing  else  will  be  superadded,  it  will  become  evident  to  thee  in 
due  course  that  thou  canst  never  be  thus  fully  furnished.  This  one 
great  concern  will  so  fill  up  the  heart,  that  no  room  will  be  left 
for  aught  else.  The  righteousness  of  God  is  to  be  understood 
here  strictly  according  to  its  subsequent  Pauline  use,  as  indicating 
both  that  which  He  requires  and  which  alone  avails  before  Him ; 
and  also  that  which  He  imparts,  since  He  Himself  feeds  us  with 
the  establishment  of  His  will  in  us,  as  with  the  true  bread.  (Ver. 
11 ;  Rom.  xiv.  17).1  In  St  Luke's  repetition  of  the  discourse 
(ch.  xii.),  the  express  promise  is  connected  therewith :  fear  not, 

1  Thus  much,  at  least,  as  Boos  remarks,  is  already  clear,  that  mail 
must  not  make  for  himself  a  righteousness,  but  by  hunger  and  thirst 
seek  it :  and  that  such  a  righteousness  as  will  cause  him  to  be  reputed, 
not  only  by  the  council-chamber  of  his  city,  but  by  his  God,  a  righteous 
man. 

18 


274  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

little  flock ;  for  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you 
the  kingdom — with  the  righteousness  which  appertains  thereto. 
Which  promise  is  here  included  in  the  sense,  and  probably, 
as  St  Matthew  does  not  record  absolutely  every  particular, 
might  have  been  uttered  by  our  Lord  on  this  first  occasion  also. 
Is  not  this  heavenly  feeding  more  than  the  earthly,  even  as  much 
so  as  the  true,  eternal  life  of  the  soul  is  more  than  that  of  sense  ? 
Is  not  this  clothing  of  the  inner  man  more  than  the  covering 
of  the  mere  body  1  Consequently,  farther,  in  the  highest  appli- 
cation of  the  former  conclusion  :  Will  he  who  gives  you  the 
eternal  good,  suffer  you  to  lack  that  which  is  temporal  ?  Faith 
answers  this — irpoorTeOrja-eraL.1  It  is  only  the  wantonly  presump- 
tuous who,  in  mockery  of  God,  would  reap  without  sowing ;  and 
seeking  first  the  perishable  riches  of  earth,  fondly  imagines  that 
the  eternal  good  will  be  added  to  him  over  and  above. 

Yer.  34.  This  closes  once  more  with  the  original  word  (ver. 
25).  All  undue  care  goes  over  the  immediate  present  into  the 
future  :  but  we  can  only  be  said  to  be  assured  of  this  day  (ver. 
11)  in  this  uncertain  life,  and  for  to-morrow  have  so  little  to  care, 
that  it  is  not  included  in  our  prayers.  That  applies  even  to  the 
spiritual  life ;  be  only  every  day  faithful,  obedient,  and  righteous, 
no  more  is  wanting  !  How  much  more  for  the  earthly  life,  as  the 
daily  manna  in  the  wilderness  daily  sent  foreshowed.  You  might 
lose  the  very  last  day  of  your  time  of  grace,  taking  anxious 
thought  about  a  morrow  that  is  not  to  be  yours.  If  the  morrow 
comes,  it  will  provide  for  its  own.  Are  we  to  understand  that 
God,  who  sends  the  day  and  all  that  it  bears  with  it,  arranges 
all  things  rightly  and  forgets  not  one  of  its  necessities  I  This  is 
in  part  the  meaning,  but  the  words  go  further  and  are  still 
stronger :  let  the  morrow  care !  Further,  does  not  the  Lord 
refer  to  a  care  of  every  day  as  it  passes,  and  with  the  same  ex- 
pression (fjL6pifivrj<T€i,)  which  has  hitherto  denoted  the  forbidden 

1  What  Braune  advances  is  superficially  correct,  but  goes  not  to  the 
depth :  "  How  is  that  ?  Quite  naturally.  For  they  who  seek  the 
kingdom  and  the  righteousness  of  God,  are  not  careless,  thriftless,  idle, 
spendthrift  people,  &c.  "  Certainly,  but  the  meaning  goes  far  beyond 
that  labour,  and  thrift,  and  economy  which  save  God's  people  from 
want.  An  apocryphal  saying  of  our  Lord  extracts  its  meaning  more 
fully  :  Ahelre  ra  fieyaka,  Kai  ra  piKpa  vpiu  7rpo<TTe6r]<reTai}  nai  alreiTe  to 
eirovpdvia,  Kai  ra  iiriyew  irpoa-TeOrjacra  vpiv. 


MATTHEW  VI.  34.  275 

anxiety  t  Assuredly,  and  that  forms  the  transition  to  the  final 
saying,  containing  allusion  to  that  necessity  of  human  life  which, 
for  sin's  sake,  even  the  heirs  of  the  kingdom  will  not  shake  off 
till  the  days  have  reached  their  end.  The  word  is  thrown  out, 
as  it  were,  enigmatically,  as  we  here  find  it ;  probably  the  Lord 
added  some  further  elucidation  and  development  of  it.  We  catch 
its  meaning  in  all  its  depth,  with  the  progress  of  the  inner  life. 
Ka/cia  is  in  general  just  what  to  Trovrjpov  is  in  the  seventh  peti- 
tion, and  serves  for  its  interpretation :  the  evil  and  the  trials  of 
life  upon  earth,  the  ills  and  infirmities  of  the  body  in  the  flesh, 
all  troubles  external  and  from  within.  So  that  this  evil  must  be 
taken  into  the  account  with  the  daily  bread  of  the  body  and  the 
soul,  and  is  equally  with  that  your  need,  better  known  as  such  to 
your  heavenly  Father  than  to  you,  and  may  in  no  case  be  put 
away  by  taking  thought  !  Be  not  so  foolish  as  to  double  and 
multiply  your  plague  and  disquietude :  every  day's  evil  is  enough 
for  itself,  will  you  add  to  it  that  of  to-morrow,  and  the  third  day, 
and  yet  further  ?  But  the  more  fully  we  learn  to  cast  away  that 
fiepc/xvav  for  earthly  things  which  is  conceded  to  the  weakness  of 
to-day,  and  give  up  all  disquietude  about  all  that  pertains  to  eat- 
ing and  drinking  and  clothing,  health  and  sickness,  and  all  things 
bodily  and  of  earth — so  much  the  more  does  it  become  impressed 
upon  us  that  there  is  a  deeper,  unexplored  meaning  yet  in  the 
Lord's  utterance.  That  very  seeking  God's  kingdom  and  righteous- 
ness, that  ever-new  devotion  and  sacrifice  of  the  will  to  an  entire 
obedience,  must  be  to  the  children  of  God,  while  they  live  in 
the  flesh  and  in  the  world,  the  trial  of  every  day,  the  daily  cross 
of  self-denial.  (Lu.  ix.  23).  With  this  we  are  content ;  we  would 
not  presumptuously  burden  ourselves  beyond  the  will  of  our 
Father  in  heaven,  nor  throw  off  any  of  His  load.  This  is  the  perfect 
spirit  that  should  be  aimed  at  by  all  who  are  pilgrims  to  the  king- 
dom, till  they  finally  enter  it.     (Acts  xiv.  22). 


Ch.  vi.  19  showed  an  apparent  break  in  the  discourse  without 
any  expressed  connexion,  and  this  is  much  more  the  case  with  the 
beginning  of  the  seventh  chapter.  It  appears,  indeed,  as  if  down 
to  the  fourteenth  verse,  it  was  composed  of  successive,  uncon- 
nected, fragments  ;  and  hence  many,  who  are  incapable  of  trac- 


276  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ing  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  and  of  supplying  what  is  left  to  be 
understood,  are  rash  enough  to  say  that  all  connexion  is  here 
entirely  lostj  and  that  the  Evangelist  has  undoubtedly  only  strung 
together  the  sayings  of  various  times.  Yet  as  the  connexion  has 
not  hitherto  eluded  us,  we  shall  find  it  still  even  to  the  end.  Let 
our  preliminary  view  be  brought  to  mind,  which  laid  it  down  that 
after  the  two  contrasts — not  like  the  Pharisees  !  not  like  the 
Heathen  !  were  exhibited,  there  followed  a  third,  viz.,  not  like 
those  of  my  disciples,  and  those  of  God's  children,  impure  and 
imperfect,  who  instead  of  carrying  on  in  their  own  inner  life  the 
pursuit  of  God's  kingdom  and  righteousness,  and  regulating  their 
outer  life  in  accordance  with  that  pursuit,  fall  back  into  that 
Pharisaism  again,  the  roots  of  which  were  not  eradicated,  and 
thus  either  unrighteously  judge  or  improperly  proselyte  others  ! 
Is  not  this  the  last  and  most  stiff-necked  Pharisee  remaining  yet 
in  the  Christian  man  !  Yet,  let  it  be  observed  whether  the  state- 
ment (vers.  1 — G)  concerning  censoriousness  and  desecration  of 
that  which  is  holy,  does  not  perfectly  adapt  itself  to  the  natural 
progress  according  to  which  the  delineation  of  the  perfect  right- 
eousness of  a  disciple  of  Christ  is  now  to  be  completed.  Are 
they  not  half-disciples  (we  know  not  how  better  to  term  them) 
who  act  thus  in  a  manner  against  which  the  Lord  warns,  and 
who  thus  are  in  danger  of  relapsing  into  mere  hypocrites,  mere 
Pharisee- Christians  t  And  does  not  the  law  of  Christ  for  His 
own  people  rise  into  its  most  rigorous  and  restricting  expression, 
in  these  warnings  which  follow,  in  harmony  with  the  internal 
progression  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  its  dealing  with  the 
needs  of  man's  life  I 

We  must  look  closer  that  our  observation  may  be  both  deve- 
loped and  confirmed.  The  goal  of  discipleship  which,  as  we 
advance  towards  it,  rises  ever  higher  before  us,  is  after  all  that 
has  been  said,  no  other  than  the  perfect  righteousness  of  pure  and 
unselfish  love,  as  it  will  be  announced  in  ver.  12.  This  goal  of 
pure  love  is  now  indicated  by  means  of  two  warning  opposites  : 
it  is  love  as  humble  as  it  is  wise  (vers.  1 — 6).  These  together 
form  the  first  part  of  the  section.  And  as  to  the  way,  or  rather 
the  ever-repeated  beginning,  by  which  this  goal  is  to  be  reached 
— what  is  it,  as  we  have  already  seen,  but  prayer  to  God  for  His 
grace  to  that  end  ?     This  is,  therefore,  rightly  the  second  part 


MATTHEW  VII.  277 

(vers.  7 — 11).  And  what  may  and  must  be  the  third  (for  every- 
where we  find  triplicity)  but  the  condensed  compendium  of  the 
whole  great  middle  portion  of  the  Sermon,  containing  all  that  is 
made  obligatory  for  fulfilling  the  law,  as  we  find  it  in  the  last 
all-comprehensive  requirement :  therefore  walk  in  this  way  to  reach 
that  goal!  which  is  the  actual  and  literal  meaning  of  vers.  12 — 
14.  Let  this  be  pondered  well,  and  it  will  be  found  that  it  is 
not  an  imposition  of  ours  upon  the  text,  but  an  exposition  of  it.1 
That  the  Lord's  requirements  should  now  be  indicated  by 
warning  contrasts  we  have  more  and  more  prepared  for  since  ver. 
19,  and  indeed  it  naturally  corresponds  with  the  character  of  the 
close  as  containing  the  rigorous  exclusion  of  all  the  impure  and 
imperfect.  Thus  through  the  opposite  error  that  pure  love  is 
discriminated  first,  in  virtue  of  which  every  disciple  of  Christ  is 
according  to  his  capacity  to  become  a  peacemaker,  a  witness  of 
the  truth  and  ambassador  of  the  kingdom  (ch.  v.  9,  13).  This 
is  first  exhibited  as  an  altogether  humble  love  for  the  salvation  of 
others,  after  and  in  connexion  with  a  thorough  judgment  of  self. 
We  should  assuredly  judge,  but  only  for  others'  benefit,  from  a 
principle  of  love,  not  in  the  spirit  of  condemnation,  and  never 
forgetting  ourselves  in  the  same  regard.  Whether  we  can  do 
this  in  general  is  first  of  all  and  most  rigorously  to  be  tested  and 
proved  within  the  circle  of  discipleship :  hence  the  mirror  is  here 
held  up  for  the  relation  of  brothers  to  one  another  in  a  more 
restricted  sense.  First,  the  fundamental  principle  itself,  ex- 
pressed almost  as  an  absolute  prohibition,  yet  with  some  slight 
recognition  of  the  opposite  and  not  excluded  duty  of  the  dis- 
ciples : — judge  not !  (ver.  1.)  Then  follows  the  ground  and  con- 
firmation of  this  warning,  which  at  the  same  time  encourages  us 
to  mete  with  the  right  measure,  that  of  mercy  (ch.  v.  7),  and 
thus  to  the  judgment  of  charity,  which  tends  to  amendment,  like 
that  of  God's  mercy.  Ver.  2.  This  prohibition  or  command  is 
yet  more  clearly  placed  upon  its  true  foundation,  in  the  intui- 

1  That  holds  good  for  New  Testament  criticism  also,  which  the  de- 
parted Drechsler  so  keenly  and  clearly  laid  down  against  "  unscientific 
treatment :" — the  great  problem  is  to  perceive  the  object  of  what  is 
transmitted  and  testified  !  But  here  the  authenticity  and  unity  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  the  before-attested  object  which  we  have  to 
discern. 


278  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

tively  convincing  explanation  of  ver.  3 — 5,  which  presses  home 
with  Thou  instead  of  Ye.  Here  again  we  have  warning  first, 
then  requirement.  The  warning  (against  judging  without  humble 
charity)  puts  two  keen  questions :  Is  not  the  principle  of  such 
censoriousness,  that  thou  forgettest  to  judge  thyself?  ver.  3. 
Comes  not  hence  the  utterance  of  it,  thy  proud  and  presumptuous 
saying  : — Let  me  pull  out  I  ver.  4.  (May  we  not  then  point  out 
and  correct  a  brother's  fault  f  Certainly,  but  only  after  and 
with  a  searching  judgment  of  ourselves !  Thus  there  now 
follows :)  the  requirement  of  a  true  exercise  of  our  brotherly 
obligation,  the  pulling  out  the  mote  (Jno.  xiii.  14)  not  merely  the 
seeing  it ;  with  the  necessary  title  to  do  so  added  :  first  judge 
thyself—  after  that  with  wisdom — look  well,  how  thou  pullest  it 
out!  ver.  5.  Here  we  may  narrowly  observe  the  transition 
which  is  interwoven  in  these  words,  to  the  following  remarks 
concerning  the  wisdom  of  charity. 

The  Lord's  discourse  suddenly  turns  from  the  most  internal 
principle  of  the  sincerely  seeking,  faithfully  devoted  heart,  the 
clear  and  single  eye,  to  the  external  deportment;  and,  inasmuch 
as  we  have  only  to  do  with  God  or  with  men,  to  our  deportment 
when  we  are  constrained  to  see  around  in  our  fellow-men  and 
our  own  brethren,  imperfection  and  sinfulness.  Did  the  Lord 
orally  interpose,  at  such  points  of  transition,  any  words  of  con- 
nexion? we  have  a  right  to  presume  generally,  and  a  com- 
parison with  St  Luke,  whose  report  of  so  important  a  discourse 
the  Spirit  could  never  have  left  open  to  falsification,  drives  us  to 
the  conclusion,  that  our  Lord  uttered  more  than  is  recorded 
here.  But  it  may  very  well  be  doubted  whether  any  additional 
words  would  take  the  form  of  our  modern  way  of  discoursing, 
which  takes  care  to  show  the  process  of  the  thought,  and  aims  to 
lay  it  bare  in  its  internal  arrangement.  This  is  opposed  to 
Orientalism  generally,  and  to  the  genius  of  the  Hebrew  in  parti- 
cular, which,  as  it  exhibits  but  little  conjunction  of  individual 
sentences,  so  also  it  has  but  little  expressed  logical  connexion  of 
its  discourses  as  a  whole.  It  is  opposed,  also,  to  the  necessary, 
and  more  highly  natural  character  of  prophetical  utterance,  that 
language  of  the  Spirit,  as  it  meets  us  everywhere  in  the  Old 
Testament,  even  where  the  discourses  were  written  by  the  Pro- 
phets themselves.      This  manner  of  speaking,  indeed,  as  it  came 


MATTHEW  vn.  279 

down  from  Solomon's  original  use  of  it,  to  the  Rabbinical  style 
of  teaching  and  laying  down  their  sayings  as  the  Lord  found  it, 
is  essentially  the  natural  and  universally  human  method.  The 
thoughts  of  the  teacher  who  speaks  from  the  fulness  of  his  heart, 
when  art  (or  artifice)  has  not  yet  learned  to  adjust  them  to  the 
limitations  of  words,  flow  forth  livingly  in  their  own  simplicity, 
and  are  bound  by  no  obligation  to  give  a  strict  account  of  their 
sequence  and  order.  And,  finally,  such  discourse  is  more  likely 
to  be  understood  by  the  right  kind  of  hearer,  for  it  makes  a 
rigorous  claim  on  his  attention,  it  excites  his  own  thought  and 
keeps  it  on  the  stretch.  As  a  book  exacts  something  from  its 
reader,  and  leaves  something  for  him  to  supply,  so  also  does  a 
discourse  require  something  from  the  hearer.  Our  Lord's  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  presents  in  this  respect  a  reproving  example 
to  our  occidental  and  modern  style  of  sermons. 


In  consistency  with  this  our  Lord  at  ch.  vi.  19  assuredly 
did  not  say :  "  The  Pharisees,  as  it  has  been  shewn,  are  in  their 
hearts  before  God  no  better  than  Gentiles  :  therefore  I  say  unto 
you  further — Live  ye  not  after  the  manner  of  heathens  an 
earthly  life,  but  deposit  it  before  all  things  in  your  hearts,  as  a 
fundamental  principle,  and  in  order  that  your  righteousness  may 
exceed  theirs,  that  ye  must  depend  upon  God  supremely,  accord- 
ing to  the  first  commandment,  and  seek  only  the  treasure  and 
reward  of  His  kingdom."  We  feel  how  untrue  and  human  such 
explanations  and  deductions  would  be  in  our  Lord's  lips.  Con- 
sequently He  does  not  say  here  :  u  And  if  ye  are  now  decided 
and  entirely  devoted,  determined  for  yourselves  to  seek  first  the 
kingdom,  of  God  and  His  righteousness ;  see  to  it  that  ye  do 
not  blunt  the  keen  edge  of  your  self-judgment  and  self-renuncia- 
tion, and  finally  altogether  lose  it,  by  hasty  and  unholy,  that  is 
uncharitable  judgment  of  those  without  you,  by  censure  and 
correction  of  others,  seeing  that  not  only  in  the  world  but  among 
your  own  brethren,  sin  and  shortcoming  enough  will  obtrude 
itself  upon  your  notice  and  be  your  temptation.  The  more 
clearly  you  see  this,  the  more  earnestly  guard  yourselves  against 
sacrificing  your  charity  :  for  if  ye  would  be  my  perfect  disciples, 
then  must  your  righteousness,  as  perfect  love,  be  ever  humble  in 


280  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

bearing  and  forgiving,  wise  and  thoughtful  to  heal  and  take 
away  the  sin  that  it  sees."  That  we  rightly  seize  the  connexion 
in  this  place,  we  are  additionally  assured  by  an  explanatory  say- 
ing of  our  Lord  recorded  in  St  Luke  (ch.  vi.  40)  similar  to  this 
but  more  detailed.  But  we  may  be  assured  that  the  Lord  did 
thus  unconnectedly  set  out  with  sudden  appeal — Judge  not !  just 
as  St  Matthew  has  abruptly  recorded  it.  He  spoke  indeed  not 
for  His  disciples  and  that  people,  then  on  the  mountain,  but  for 
the  church  of  all  ages,  which  should  afterwards  investigate  His 
words.  But  even  a  hearer  of  that  time,  who  should  recall  to 
mind  those  words,  which  from  their  proverbial  form  would  cling 
tenaciously  to  the  memory,  would  well  understand  how  they  were 
intended. 

Vers.  1 — 2.  This  is  the  evil-eye  of  the  natural  man,  that  he 
ever  prefers  to  apply  the  rule  of  right  of  which  he  is  perfectly 
conscious,  to  that  which  is  without  rather  than  to  that  which  is 
within,  himself;  that  he  seeks  out  and  bemoans  the  sins  of  his 
neighbour  instead  of  thinking  upon  his  own  ;  and  thus  losing  his 
charity  towards  his  brother,  loses  also  his  humility  and  sincerity 
before  God.  Every  one  knows,  and  vindicates  for  himself,  what 
men  should  do  to  him :  and  so  far  this  beginning  is  internally 
connected  with  the  concluding  word  at  ver.  12.  Further,  to 
judge  others  and  not  ourselves,  is  the  spirit  of  Pharisaism  as 
developed  from  this  natural  principle  of  evil,  the  spirit  of  that 
misapprehension  and  misuse  of  God's  law  which  the  Lord  had 
before  disclosed,  and  against  which  His  whole  discourse,  even  in 
the  second  and  third  contrasts  which  only  more  fully  removed 
the  mask  from  what  was  the  Pharisee  still,  had  from  the  begin- 
ning been  directed.1  Eead  Eom.  ii.  1  —  3,  17 — 23.  The 
Pharisee,  himself  at  heart  a  heathen,  would  yet  condemn  all  the 
world  :  himself  no  better  than  a  publican  would  yet  uncharitably 
censure  and  cast  from  him  the  poor  people  around  him.  And 
this  Pharisaism  pursues  the  disciple  of  Christ,  adheres  to  him 
long,  even  as  worldly  care  and  the  worship  of  Mammon  do. 

1  Generally  speaking,  as  Braune  says,  the  judging  others  is  the 
foul  stain  of  social  life  1  Hence  the  otherwise  innocent  expression 
"  jeraanden  bereden"  has  come  to  mean  "  to  speak  ill  of  him."  For  the 
falseness  of  all  men  (Rom.  iii.  4)  reveals  itself,  at  the  same  time  being 
uncharitableness,  in  their  intercourse  with  one  another. 


MATTHEW  VII.    1,  2.  281 

Therefore : — would  ye  be  perfect,  then  put  this  utterly  away ! 
The  very  perception  and  experience  which  the  new  man  has  of 
the  evils  of  his  old  heart  brings  with  it  a  revived  temptation 
and  tendency  to  such  an  evil :  hence  censorious  judging,  as  the 
usual  transition-weakness  of  the  new  converted,  breaks  out  now 
though  it  may  not  have  been  manifested  before. 

In  vers.  1,  2,  then,  as  a  maxim  expressed  in  general  terms, 
the  object  of  this  censorious  judgment  is  the  whole  evil  world 
without  us,  from  whom  we  feel  ourselves  to  be  separated  as  the 
children  of  the  kingdom  :  but  in  ver.  3  there  is  a  manifest  restric- 
tion of  the  reference  to  our  brethren  in  a  narrower  sense  (to  whom 
in  ver.  6  those  who  are  without  stand  opposed).  For  otherwise 
we  should  not  hear  of  motes  in  the  eye,  but  of  a  more  entire 
blindness  and  wickedness. 

That  the  Lord  in  this  prohibition  of  judging  refers  to  a  disposi- 
tion and  posture  of  the  heart,  and  not  the  utterance  of  it  as  such 
(as  already  in  ch.  v.  22),  is  obvious  of  itself,  especially  since — He 
has  (in  ch.  vi.)  penetrated  so  deeply  into  the  heart's  sentiments. 
For  we  are,  as  the  witnesses  and  ambassadors  of  His  kingdom, 
to  preach  His  truth,  which  condemns  the  sin  of  the  world, — His 
Gospel,  according  to  which  unbelievers  stand  condemned  before 
God.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  testify  as  His  humble  ministers  the 
Lord's  word  in  Mar.  xvi.  16,  and  altogether  another  thing  to  say 
presumptuously,  yea  even  to  think  in  our  hearts : — This  or  that 
man  is  condemned,  or  to  address  to  him  the  direct  appeal — Thou 
art  condemned !  This  is  ever  forbidden  to  us  on  the  simple 
ground  that  we  can  never  say,  as  searchers  of  the  heart :  Thou 
believest  not,  thou  wilt  never  believe,  though  the  love  of  God 
by  us  or  by  others  may  continue  to  strive  with  thee.  Sin  itself 
we  should  term  such,  when  we  perceive  it  and  where  it  concerns, 
as  well  for  our  own  sake  as  for  the  sake  of  others  :  for  the  Lord 
also  requires  of  us,  that  we  judge  righteous  judgment  (Jno.  vii. 
24),  and  the  Apostle  says :  He  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all 
things  (1  Cor.  ii.  15).  But  this  avaicpiveiv  is  very  different  from 
that  fcara/cpLveLV,  which  belongs  only  to  God  (Rom.  xiv.  4). 
We,  who  are  sinners  and  expect  ourselves  the  judgment  of  God, 
may  not  judge  before  the  time,  until  the  Lord  come,  who  will 
bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness  in  us  and  all  the 
world  (1  Cor.  iv.  5).     Let  us  only  be  ourselves  doers  of  the  law, 


282  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 


the  lawgiver  Himself  will  be  the  judge,  according  to  His  own 

supreme  authority  and  righteous  distribution  (Jas.  iv.  11,  12), 

(which  is  again  an  inwardly  and  spiritually  apprehended  general 

citation  from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount).      What  is  then  in 

itself,  as  the  prohibition  stands  in  its  literal  severity,  the  judging 

which  is  forbidden?     The  Lord  presupposes  the  cognizance  in 

our  own  minds  of  the  sin  which  is  to  be  condemned,  but  it  is  His 

will  that  in  all  the  judgments  which  we  pass  upon  it,  we  should 

not  condemn  the  individual  for  the  individual's  sake  and  as  such, 

that  is,  that  we  should  not  regard  and  deal  with  our  fellowmen 

and  brethren  independently  of  the  forgiving  love  of  God,  which  is 

free  for  them  as  well  as  for  ourselves,  as  long  as*  that  goal  is  not 

reached  when  He  will  say—Depart  from  me!  (ver.  23).     Beware 

of  men,^  beware  of  false  prophets,  yea,  of  dogs  and  swine  (ver.  6)  : 

that  is  judgment  severe  enough,  and  yet  it  involves  no  judgment 

unto  condemnation,  out  of  our  own  assumed  authority,  no  rejection 

on  our  part,  as  if  we  already  were  assessors  with  Him  upon  His 

judgment  seat,  and  the  final  separation  were  already  come.  This 

sense  of  His  words  our  Lord  himself  has  more  fully  explained 

in  Lu.  vi.,  since  there  He  adds  as  an  epexegesis— ^  Karahu- 

/^fere1— and  then  lays  down  the  opposite— forgive  rather  (airo- 

Xvere)  and  give,  that  is,  out  of  the  treasure  of  grace  which  is  in 

yourselves  :  and  St  Luke  in  his  epitome  wisely  puts  this  in  close 

connexion  with  the  preceding— be  ye  therefore  merciful,  as  your 

Father  also  is  merciful !      For  does  not  the  Lord  here  actually 

point  back,  though  according  to  St  Matthew  He  had  said  much 

else  in  the  interval,  to  ch.  vi.  14, 15  and  ch.  v.  42—48  ?     Is  it  not 

His  purpose  to  teach  just  here  in  all  its  fulness  that  perfection  of 

pure  love  which  He  had  there  enjoined  upon  His  disciples? 

Tliat  ye  be  not  judged!  as  in  ch.  vi.  15.  The  fundamental 
principle  of  this  is  here  presupposed  :— as  ye  have  not  been 
judged,  as  ye  have  been  forgiven,  and  as  ye  are  ever  being  for- 
given. But  in  addition  to  this  there  is  the  threatening  of  the 
withdrawal  of  the  mercy  which  had  been  received,  as  had  been 

x  Not,  indeed,  as  a  climax,  according  to  Alford's  still  more  subtle  dis- 
tinction, who  concludes  that  icpivtw  in  St  Matthew  is  by  no  means  fully 
equivalent  (according  to  generally-received  opinion)  to  KaraKpiuecv,  but 
that  it  is  forbidden,  in  general,  to  form  authoritative  judgments  of 
others.  J     ° 


MATTHEW  VII.  3 — 5.  283 

already  gently  intimated  at  ch.  v.  7,  in  the  opposite  case.  (Jas. 
ii.  13).  Consequently  the  requital  here  referred  to  signifies  of 
course  requital  from  God ;  although  its  type  and  beginning,  the 
measuring  again  on  the  part  of  many  is  by  no  means  excluded,  nay, 
rather,  is  used  for  the  sake  of  founding  upon  it  a  convincing  warn- 
ing. That  sinful  man  should  requite  upon  his  fellow  man  the 
evil  that  he  has  done  to  him,  is  in  itself  sin  (ch.  v.  38,  39) ;  and 
yet  this  right  of  retaliation  thus  wickedly  arrogated,  is  but  the 
utterance  and  reflexion  of  that  eternally  valid  principle  of  justice 
which  the  Lord  God  has  given  to  those  who  are  judges  in  His 
name,  and  which  He  Himself  observes.  So  that  he  who  un- 
righteously judges  another  in  his  own  name  must,  when  he  is 
thus  judged  in  return,  reflect  in  his  conscience  : — this  injustice  of 
man  is  only  my  due  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  one  day  He  who  has 
the  right  to  do  so,  will  thus  deal  with  me !  The  maxim  which 
the  Lord  lays  down  in  ver.  2,  is  &  fundamental  law,  so  universally 
recognized,  so  fully  exhibited  in  the  perverted  estate  of  the  world, 
so  well  known  in  man's  natural  conscience,  that  all  the  heathen 
express  it  in  the  same  way,  that  it  is  found  variously  laid  down  in 
the  Old  Testament,  and  that  even  the  Jewish  Talmud,  in  other 
respects  the  very  perfection  of  perversion,  has  retained  it  as  an 
indelible  proverb.1  But  when  our  Lord  takes  it  up,  and  says :  iv  & 
KplfiarL,  iv  g5  fjuerpo),  rightly  translated  in  the  German — with 
Welcherlei,  what  kind  of  judgment  and  measure — He  gives  us, 
in  transition,  to  understand  that  we  should  indeed  judge  with 
right  judgment,  and  measure  again  with  the  righteous  measure 
of  truth  in  the  spirit  of  love.  For  the  Kptvere  which  is  admitted 
in  ver.  2,  has  manifestly  another  and  a  wider  meaning  than  that 
which  is  forbidden  in  ver.  1.  Forgive,  and  ye  shall  be  forgiven : 
give,  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you. 

Vers.  3 — 5.  This  more  specific  figure  of  the  mote  and  beam 
the  Lord  found  also  ready  prepared,  as  we  see  it  in  the  Talmud  in 
the  form  of  a  Eabbinical  *})tffy  He  whose  Word  of  truth 
gathered  to  itself  all  the  anticipatory,  preparatory  truth  in  the 
world  and  especially  among  Israel — He,  who  in  all  things  came  not 
to  destroy  but  to  fulfil,  disdains  not,  in  His  holy  love  and  wisdom, 

i  Countless  times  we  have,  Jj  piflU  HI  TTO  UTtW  mD3 

or  the  like. 


284 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 


to  speak  sometimes  as  a  Rabbi  what  other  rabbies  had  spoken.  He 
after  their  fashion  constructs  His  own  parables  and  figures— new, 
intelligible  to  the  people,  and  takingfast  hold  of  their  minds.  This 
He  could  always  have  done,  but  he  rather  condescends  sometimes 
to  use  their  unsavory  similitudes  of  beams  in  the  eye,  and  camels 
through  the  needle,  in  order  that  His  word  may  enter  their  minds, 
and  direct  the  fools  to  the  yet  extant  remains  of  their  own  wis- 
dom.    How  does  the  great  Teacher  put  to  shame  us  the  under- 
teachers,  who  must  fain  speak  in  original,  and  elegant  and  cha- 
racteristic words  of  our  own  I— Yet  the  old  becomes  new  in  the 
lips  of  our  Lord,  and  the  extant  words  of  man   are  replenished 
with  a  higher  spirit.      Thus  here  the  beholding  a  brother's  eye 
derives  a  profound  meaning  from  its  reference  to  what  had  been 
said  concerning  the  eye  in  ch.  vl  22,  23.    An  entirely  single  eye 
has  no  mote,  no  beam  in  it;  in  the  eye  are  to  be  sought  the 
peculiar  faults  both  of  the  judged  and  of  the  judging  brother. 
The  Lord  reproves  such  beholding  another  as' is  proved  to  be 
wicked  and  severe,  by  the  very  fact  that  it  does  not  see  what 
should  first  have  been  seen,  personal  evil  in  self.      (See  Lu.  vi.) 
BXiiretv  and  /caravoetv  are  used  together  with  their  distinction. 
One  sees  without  himself  the  mote  in  the  brother's  eys,  but  marks 
not  the  beam  in  himself,  which  lies  nearer  to  him,  and  is  even  to 
be  felt.     (Karavoelv  is  to  be  cognizant  of,  to  observe  accurately, 
rightly  to  take  account  of).     A  keen  and  critical  eye  for  the 
veriest  mote,  the  slightest  trifle,  in  the  brother's  eye,  where  (which 
the  Lord  leaves  unmentioned)  there  may  be  no  mote  present : 
but  the  same  eye  so  keen  in  looking  without  itself,  is  obtuse  and 
insensible  for  self-scrutiny  !      The  gnat  is  strained  at,  the  camel 
swallowed.    Is  it  not  so  ?    7s  it  not  made,  manifest  that  it  is  so  too 
often  among  brethren  ?      This  is  the  meaning  of  the  convicting 
or,  by  which  the  discourse  passes  from  the  principle  to  its  exhi- 
bition ;  comp..  the  subsequent  ver.  9.     If  it  were  not  so,  how 
couldst,  how  wouldst  thou,  whom  I  now  signify,  and  with  whom  it 
is  thus,  proudly  and  imperiously  and  dictatorially  say  :  Stand,  and 
let  me  pull  out  the  mote  out  of  thine  eye  |  I  will  do  it,  and  I  can, 
I  demand  that  thou  submit  obediently  to  me  !      Why  else  is  the 
appearance  and  language  of  such  assumption  ?     Luther  has  well 
resolved  epeh  by dilrfen, forinLu.vi.it  stands :  ttcS?  hvvaaai  Xeyeiv. 
Yea,  the  beholding  was  already  a  blameable,  unjustifiable  thing ; 


MATTHEW  VII.  3 — 5.  285 

thou  shouldst  first  have  cast  thine  eye  inwards,  and  beheldwh&tthou 
in  thy  blindness  hast  overlooked,  the  beam  is  in  thine  own  eye  ! 
The  definite  article  is  used  in  each  case  in  connexion  with  mote 
and  beam  :  the  existence  of  the  mote  is  not  denied — but  what  is 
the  beam  t  Just  that  thou  now  so  actest ;  thine  incompetent, 
hasty,  uncharitable,  assuming  judgment  is  this  beam.  Let  this 
be  well  noted  in  opposition  to  that  superficial  exposition  which 
supposes  that  in  order  to  lie  under  the  sentence  of  this  saying, 
one  must  have  a  great  failing  in  himself,  and  know  himself  to 
be  guilty,  in  a  higher  degree,  of  the  sin  which  he  condemns. 
Rather  the  supposing  that  I  am  in  this  matter  better  than  thou, 
and  therefore  may  bear  myself  reprovingly  towards  you — is  just 
what  is  here  termed  a  beam.  The  figure  goes  enormously 
beyond  actuality,  but  the  Lord  retains  it,  for  it  suits  excellently 
well  the  idea  of  proportion  which  He  designs  to  give.1  In  Lu. 
vi.  39,  blindness  is  spoken  of,  and  certainly  a  beam  in  the  eye 
makes  blind.  But  if  the  blind  man  will  yet  lead  others,  and 
will  keenly  think  to  search  out  motes,  then  is  he  more  than 
blind.  (Jno.  ix.  41.)  Hence,  thou  hypocrite  !  This  is  cast  into 
the  face  of  the  disciples,  much  more  severely  than  in  ch.  vi., 
where  it  only  stood — be  ye  not  as  the  hypocrites  !  The  disciple 
of  Christ,  as  far  as  he  is  in  this  sad  state,  again  becomes 
a  true  Pharisee.  The  irpurrov  in  part  reminds  us  of  that  great 
Trpoorov  in  ch.  vi.  33.  First  become  thyself  righteous  before  God, 
stand  thyself  sincere  and  lowly  before  the  judgment-seat  of  God. 
(Sir.  xviii.  19  ;  Gal.  vi.  3,  4.)  Art  thou  so  well  able  to  pull  out 
little  motes,  use  thy  skill  upon  thine  own  greater  ones  !  But  it 
may  be  said,  in  what  sense  can  our  Lord  ascribe  to  us  the  puri- 

1  Braune : "  Mote  and  beam,  are  of  one  matter  and  of  one  kind ;  the 
one  is  not  a  precious  metal :  the  only  distinction  lies  in  the  greatness." 
That  is,  not  that  the  censor  has  the  same  fault  greater  in  himself,  but, 
first  of  all,  he  has  only  such  acuteness  in  detecting  the  failing  of 
another,  because  he  knows  it  well  from  the  monition  and  sting  of  his 
own  conscience,  and  then  again,  it  becomes  in  him  a  greater  fault,  a 
beam,  inasmuch  as  he  "  would  appease  his  own  conscience  by  censorious 
judgment,  and  repel  the  Word  of  God,  which  comes  to  his  own  heart, 
as  the  cold  rock  gives  back  the  echo."  Alford  further  observes  upon 
men's  false  estimate  who  would  discover  in  others  beams  only,  in 
themselves  only  motes  !  Daub,  again,  differently  :  "  The  perception  of 
a  mote  is  rendered  more  acute  by  the  feeling  of  a  beam."  (Judas. 
Isch.  ii.  349). 


286  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

fying  our  own  eye  ?  We  answer,  that  he  is  not  here  speaking 
to  the  merely  natural  man,  but  to  His  disciple,  who,  as  such, 
has  the  requisite  grace,  though  he  will  not  use  and  seek  its 
increase.  It  is  no  other  than  if  He  should  say  :  Let  me  pull  out, 
first,  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye ! 

Kal  rore-^-and  then  comes  the  time  to  discharge  the  brotherly 
duty  of  rebuke  for  amendment.  That  duty  is  imposed  by  love, 
but  that  it  may  be  effected  by  charity,  with  spiritual  authority,  but 
in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  that  he  who  has  been  overtaken  in  a 
fault,  may  truly  be  restored.  (Gal.  vi.  1).  Now  comes  out  first 
the  deep  and  hidden  significance  of  the  figure  that  has  been 
used.  As  the  beam  in  the  eye  is  found  in  the  internal  sight  and 
direction  of  the  heart,  not  in  this  or  the  other  manifest  vice ;  so 
also  we  should  there  seek  out  and  find  the  motes  and  beams  of 
our  brethren.  Seneca  (de  vit.  beat.  c.  27)  addresses  the  censori- 
ous thus :  papulas  observatis  alienas,  obsiti  ulceribus.  This  is 
directed  to  the  outward  appearance,  though  well  intended :  but 
the  disciple  of  Christ  must  not,  in  his  neighbour's  case,  and  espe- 
cially in  his  brother's,  look  at  the  external  countenance,  mien, 
and  appearance,  at  the  movement  of  hand  or  foot,  and  applying 
the  standard  of  his  own  deportment,  pass  judgment  upon  his 
brother  for  differing  from  himself— dictatorially  saying  :  this  man 
acts  thus,  and  consequently  his  heart  must  be  evil,  acts  differently 
from  me,  he  must  be  wrong;  for  the  outward  appearance  deceives, 
and  there  is  much  variety  of  manner,  and  there  is  much  variety 
of  circumstance,  to  be  considered  in  judging  of  the  actions  of  men. 
Look  with  a  single  eye  into  thy  brother's  eye,  that  is  in  a  brotherly 
spirit,  and  if  thou  canst  not  but  see  a  mote  there,  help  him  from 
it !  Here  is  our  Lord's  commandment  (Matt,  xviii.  15)  out  of 
the  Law  of  Moses  (Lev.  xix.  17),  placed  in  its  true  light.  Tore 
— all  before  this  is  also  before  the  time,  before  the  Lord's  coming 
in  judgment  to  thyself.  But  Tore  hiaPXe^e^,  not  properly 
speaking,  as  a  command  (according  to  Luther  s  translation),  but 
as  a  permission,  as  is  sufficiently  obvious ;  a  permission,  however, 
further  accompanied  by  promise;  so  wilt  thou,  with  purified  eye, 
see  clearly  and  rightly  how  the  matter  is.  {Aid  is  intensitive,  but 
not  in  the  sense  of  an  artificial  carrying  out  of  the  figure,  such  as 
BengeVs :  transspicies,  trabe  e  medio  sublatd).  But  see  what  ? 
Merely  the  mote  1     But  the  true  discernment  and  wisdom  lie  not 


MATTHEW  VII.  3 — 5.  287 

in  that,  though  many  seem  to  think  so,  and  consequently  lay 
more  stress  upon  the  saying — Let  me  pull  out !  than  upon  the 
actual  pulling  out  itself.  And  yet  this  latter  is  the  main  con- 
cern !  Luther's  interpretation,  seizing  the  spirit  in  the  letter  has 
it :  look,  how  thou  pullest  it  out !  For  the  etcfiaXeiv,  the  thing 
successfully,  tenderly,  and  prudently  accomplished,  is  now  the 
real  accusative  to  the  SiafiXkireiv,  as  previously  to  /capfos  was 
simply  to  the  (3\eireLv.  He  who  lives  by  the  grace  of  God  in 
the  continual  exercise  of  self-judgment,  he  who  has  retired  from 
the  footstool  of  mercy,  delivered  from  the  old  and  evil  beam, 
knows  well  how  tender  an  operation  such  purification  of  the  inner 
eye  is  ;  and  that  it  must  be  attempted  by  man  with  such  exquisite 
delicacy  that  the  diseased  brother,  marking  the  hand  of  God, 
may  submit  without  any  command  of  thine ;  and  that  thus  the 
evil  may  not  be  increased  by  unskilfulness  on  thy  part  and  oppo- 
sition on  his,  for  the  one,  alas,  provokes  the  other.  Begin  not  at 
once  with  that  saying,  the  surgeon  only  does  this  when  he  is 
obliged  :  help  thy  brother  rather,  if  possible,  from  his  mote  in 
such  a  manner  that  he  may  not  discern  thy  hand  and  will :  say 
to  him  afterwards  what  thou  hast  to  say,  or  not  at  all.  But  if 
without  thy  bidding  him,  he  will  not  submit,  take  good  heed,  that 
in  thy  bidding  no  little  mote  of  pride  may  glance  upon  him 
from  thine  eye,  but  the  pure  light  of  love  beaming  upon  him 
from  a  brother  humble  before  God.  Is  not  this  certainly  the 
highest  and  severest  test  of  the  spirit  of  a  disciple,  only  to  be 
demanded  within  the  narrow  circle  of  brotherly  fellowship  ?  If 
the  children  of  God  thus  acted  always  in  relation  to  <™ie  another, 
the  motes  and  beams  would  finally  be  all  for  ever  done  away. 


With  this  the  transition  is  made  to  the  other  main  property  of 
that  charity  which  would  compassionately  save  the  world  and  the 
brethren  from  their  sin  :  to  that  wisdom,  which  accompanies 
humility.  But  on  that  account  the  mirror  is  held  up  to  the  dis- 
ciples in  their  relation  to  those  who  are  without.  (Eph.  v.  15  ; 
Matt.  x.  16).  Within  the  circle  of  the  disciples  themselves 
friendly  correction  takes  place  according  to  and  in  connexion 
with  a  thorough  judgment  of  ourselves  ;  in  our  intercourse  with 
the  wicked  world,  however,  the  opposite  test  is  brought  in  as  to 


288  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

whether  we  can  also  keep  silence,  or  can  speak,  exhort  and  rebuke 
under  proper  restraints,  according  to  and  in  connexion  with  a 
true  perception  of  susceptibility  in  others  and  calling  in  ourselves. 
Then  follows,  again,  a  severe  prohibition  of  the  contrary,  ex- 
hibited in  most  mischievous  and  striking  examples. 

Ver  6.  Bengel  says  quite  correctly :  Hie  occurritur  alteri  ex- 
tremo — but  this  observation  must  be  more  strictlv  denned.  The 
Lord  here  turns  from  the  brethren,  in  exhorting  whom,  the 
more  lovingly  it  is  done  the  more  effectual  it  is,  to  the  dogs  and 
swine,  who  only  repel  the  mild  words  of  love.  These  are  to  be 
first  rebuked  and  disciplined  to  repentance,  by  those  who  are 
called  and  qualified  from  above  so  to  do :  and  the  Gospel  is  not 
to  be  directly  thrust  upon  their  acceptance.  To  do  this  by  mis- 
applied and  inappropriate  preaching  of  it  is  the  general  error  of 
the  new  converted,  inclined  as  they  are  to  a  too  easy  and  unwise 
proclamation  of  it  to  all  the  world.  It  is  by  no  means  contrary 
to  humility,  but  only  righteous  judgment,  when  we  discern  how 
evil  the  state  of  mind  of  the  wicked  is,  and  regulate  our  deport- 
ment towards  them  accordingly.  There  are  to  be  found  dogs  and 
swine  among  men  ;  this  is  the  Lord's  own  assurance  even  in  the 
midst  of  His  gracious  preaching  :  and  he  gives  us  His  injunction 
to  mark  them  and  distinguish  them,  between  the  warning  against 
censorious  judgment  and  the  encouragement  to  prayer.  Dogs  in 
the  East  are  not  esteemed  as  they  are  among  us,  they  belong 
with  swine  to  the  unclean,  and  contemned  animals  (2  Pet.  ii.  22). 
It  was  a  proverbial  way  of  speaking  among  the  Israelites  (and  is 
now  among  the  Turks),  that  those  who  are  without  are  dogs : 
and  this  is  referred  to  its  right  meaning  in  the  New  Testament, 
(Matt.  xv.  26  ;  Phil.  iii.  2  ;  and,  finally,  Kev.  xxii.  15).  Thus 
the  sense  is :  such  as  in  their  present  condition  are  unsuscep- 
tible of  good  influence,  grossly  sensual,  proudly  contradicting 
sinners.  What  then  is  meant  by  that  which  is  holy,  and  which 
is  not  to  be  given,  nay,  not  to  be  offered  to  such  people,  remaining 
in  such  a  state  1  It  is  essentially  explained  by  the  opposite : 
Give  that  which  is  holy  to  the  holy,  or  at  least  to  those  who 
acknowledge  its  holiness,  and  accept  it  as  such.  But  this  appa- 
rently abstract  expression  must  also  have  here  a  sensible  founda- 
tion, which  will  make  it  appropriate  to  the  figure :  just  as  the 
holy  flesh  of  the  offering  (Hag.  ii.  12  ;  Jer.  xi.  15),  was  not  to  be 


MATTHEW  VII.  6.  289 

cast  to  the  dogs,  and  to  them  was  to  be  thrown  that  which  was 
carrion,  or  torn  of  wild  beasts  (Ex.  xxii.  31).1  The  saying 
blends  profoundly  the  figure  and  its  signification :  hence  pearls 
are  introduced,  with  a  latent  allusion — these  are  not  acorns  for 
the  touch  of  swine.  The  holy  thing  is  God's,  and  that  it  may  not  be 
desecrated,  preserve  it  from  the  profane  !  But  it  has  become  also 
our  treasure  and  property,  hence  it  is  added  in  the  second  place, 
your  pearls,  partly  in  the  same  sense  as  ch.  xiii.  45,  46,  partly 
with  a  specific  design  in  the  plural  form.  So  act  for  the  sake  of 
God's  honour  that  the  holy  things  may  not  be  despised :  take 
care  that  your  treasure  and  the  good  that  is  in  you  be  not  evil 
spoken  of  (Eom.  xiv.  16),  for  your  own  sakes  :  exhibit  your 
special  experiences,  the  precious  things  of  your  inner  life,  before 
God,  and  not  before  such  people  as  understand  no  more  about 
them  than  swine  do  about  pearls.  This  warning  of  our  Lord 
thus  condemns  many  things  in  one  word,  with  an  advancing 
meaning  and  heightening  application.  It  forbids,  first  of  all,  the 
imprudent,  unprofitable,  yea,  injurious  preaching  of  the  Gospel, 
where  the  law  and  its  discipline  are  first  required :  it  further 
goes  on  to  condemn  all  reckless  pouring  out  of  the  secrets  of  the 
life  of  grace  before  the  world,  without  discriminating  reference  to 
time  and  place,  with  all  unseasonable  relations  of  conversion,  and 
confessions,  and  experiences,  and  colloquies  of  the  devout.  The 
latter,  however,  is  less  referred  to  since  it  is  the  practice  of  the 
hypocrites,  with  whom  the  preceding — thou  hypocrite  !  already 
connected  them.  This  vilest  mockery  of  devotion  our  Lord 
leaves  unmentioned,  just  as  before  the  seeing  of  motes  not  exist- 
ing :  He  pre-supposed,  there,  the  presence  of  the  mote,  and  here 
that  they  are  our  own  pearls  which  are  in  our  hands.2  But  He 
warns  against  that  thoughtlessness,  which  is  rebuked  by  its  con- 
sequences; the  evil  which  is  done  crying  out — Fool,  thou  shouldst 
have  thought  that  this  was  not  appropriate  here !  He  tells  us  this, 
in  His  wisdom,  to  anticipate  and  prevent  the  evil. 

1  Alford  reminds  us  of  the  primitive  Christian  use  of  the  expression 
ra  ayia  to  denote  the  elements  of  the  Eucharist. 

2  Lange's  interpretation  of  the  hypocrites,  who  thus  desecrated  the 
good  things  of  the  church  in  their"  dealing  with  them  (Hi.  85),  is  a 
more  widely  extended  application,  true  enough  in  itself.  The  Lord, 
however,  speaks  to  His  own  actual  disciples,  when  He  says  :  Ye  shall 
not  do  in  like  manner,  as  the  Pharisees  I  ye  with  your  pearls  I 

19 


290  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

A  wise  man's  heart  discerneth  both  time  and  judgment  (Eccles. 
viii.  5),  and  doth  not  instruct  a  fool,  when  his  incorrigible  folly 
refuses  instruction  (Ecclus.  xxii.  5—7  ;  Prov.  ix.  7,  8).     Many 
of  the  children  of  the  world  remain  altogether  thus  till  their  hour 
comes,  many  at  least  are  such  at  times.    Who  would  preach  the 
Gospel  to  a  drunken  man,  or  make  the  gentle  appeal  to  a  man 
raging  with  the  frenzy  of  wrath,  and  ash  him  to  be  reconciled  to 
God  ?     There  is  much  that  is  analogous  to  this,  though  in  cases 
not  equally  monstrous,   and  the  spirit  of  wisdom  must  decide 
them  as  they  occur.      The  mournful  results  show  us  that  there 
are  more  dogs  and  swine  than  we  had  supposed,  and  this  should 
teach  us  ever  the  lesson  of  prudence.    The  figure  has  been  further 
interpreted  as  if  the  swine  more  particularly  trod  thoughtlessly 
the  precious  things  under  their  feet :  the  dogs,  on  the  contrary, 
turn  again  and  rend  us.      In  this  case  the  former  would  be  the 
worse  ;  but  the  latter  would  indicate,  as  all  opposition  does,  that 
there  was  some  understanding  of  the  thing  rejected.     But  in  2 
Pet.  ii.  22,  the  dogs  are  regarded  as  unclean  inwardly,  the  swine 
rather  as  outwardly  unclean :  that  distinction  the  Lord  does  not 
make.1     In  the  concluding  sentence  He  adheres  only  to  the 
swine  and  the  pearls,  as  the  avrovs  referring  to  ^ap^aplra^ 
shows,  and  His  twofold  saying  concerning  trampling  under  foot, 
and  rending  (for  the  swine  may  be  as  ferocious  as  a  dog)  con- 
tains something  much  more  important  for  the  meaning  of  the 
whole  :— they  despise  and  destroy  both  the  precious  gift  and 
the  well-intentioned  imprudent  giver.      Ye  have  then  needlessly 
handed  over  the  holy  thing  to  prostitution,  and  exposed  your- 
selves to  mockery  and  persecution  !     Finally  in  the  ar  padres, 
which  is  certainly  not  the  mere  finish  of  the  figure,  lies  the  in- 
most point  of  the  discourse.     They  would  have  remained  at  rest, 
had  you  left  them  alone :  but  you  have  provoked  them  to  sin 
against  God  and  man,  ye  have  through  imprudence  multiplied 
offences,  whereas  they  ought  to  have  either  been  silently  tole- 
rated, or  more  wisely  attacked. 

This  word  of  our  Lord  therefore  puts,  as  it  were,  a  limiting 
restraint  upon  the  universal  zeal  of  our  charity,  which  would 

1  That  the  dogs  (according  to  Lange)  signified  the  "  untrust worthily- 
servile,    is  quite  opposed  to  the  fidelity  universally  imputed  to  them. 


MATTHEW  VII.  6.  291 

without  further  condition  be  disposed  to  let  the  sun  of  grace  and 
truth  shine  upon  all  the  evil :  so  that  it  is  also  a  limitation  of  the 
law  given  in  ch.  v.  48.  It  is  not  for  us,  indeed,  to  do  as  men, 
what  God  in  Christ  has  done.  Luther,  in  answer  to  the 
warning — Give  not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs  !  cries  out 
Atque,  0  Domine,  jam  habent !  And  Zinzendorf  thinks  that  the 
Father  in  heaven  has  Himself  given  that  which  is  holy  to  the 
dogs,  and  cast  His  pearls  before  swine,  in  surrendering  His 
beloved  Son  into  the  hands  of  sinners.  That  is  true,  but  thence 
came  the  world's  redemption,  and  the  sanctification  of  the 
Father's  name  through  the  determinate  counsel  of  the  highest 
wisdom.  Therefore  says  also  the  Lord, — who  exposed  His  own 
silent  meekness  to  the  contempt  of  the  soldiers  and  His  bitter 
cry  to  the  scorn  of  the  bands  of  the  wicked, —  Ye  shall  not  do 
thus,  for  ye  are  not  saviours  of  the  world.  But  though  in  a 
certain  sense  the  children  of  the  world  are  dogs  and  swine,  yet 
no  man  is  to  be  given  up  by  us,  and  cast  out  as  reprobate  :  and 
it  is,  indeed,  clear  that  they  who  sometimes  fall  under  the  appli- 
cation of  this  prohibition,  yet  may  have  the  holy  things  offered 
them  through  the  grace  of  God,  and  that  we  may  be  required  to 
offer  it  to  them,  we  who  are  never  directed,  in  unconditional  re- 
jection of  any  fellow  sinner,  to  retain  our  pearls  merely  for  our- 
selves. Thus  this  prohibition  touches  rather  the  time  and 
manner,  than  the  testimony  of  the  truth  itself,  which  we  are 
ever  bound  by  obligation  to  all  men  to  utter  :  the  emphasis  lies 
upon  the  inconsiderate,  indiscriminate  giving  and  casting  about 
of  these  treasures,  in  such  manner  as  itself  to  hinder  their  being 
accepted.  But  wherever  we  find  susceptibility,  our  duty  is  to 
utter  the  "  Peace  be  to  this  house  !"  (Matt.  x. ;  Lu.  x.).  And 
at  all  times  should  we  speak  God's  word,  as  sinners  are  able  to 
hear  it  (Mark  iv.  33),  yea,  our  enforced  silence  bears  in  it  a  con- 
cealed love  and  mercy,  of  which  in  due  time  they  may  become 
sensible.  That  Pharisaical  perversion  of  this  word,  which  makes 
hypocrites  keep  the  holy  things  so  entirely  holy  and  hidden,  that 
there  is  no  place  in  the  wicked  world,  as  they  term  it,  and  no 
time  found  for  offering  them  to  any,  was  at  the  utmost  distance 
from  our  Lord's  thoughts. 

Have  we  been  cast  down  by  this  paragraph  (vers.  1 — 6),  and 
driven  almost  to  the  anxious  question  :    How  shall  we  poor 


292  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Christians  attain  to  such  perfect  humility  and  such  prudent  love, 
as  to  hit  the  precise  and  narrow  way  between  the  evil  judging  on 
the  right  and  the  squandering  of  blessings  on  the  left,  among  our 
fellow-disciples  and  in  the  evil  world ;  how  may  we,  without 
exalting  ourselves  over  our  brethren,  yet  put  them  right,  and 
while  not  provoking  the  dogs  and  the  swine,  yet  take  all  stum- 
bling blocks  out  of  their  way  I  The  Lord  answers  the  question 
with  His  never  failing  grace,  and  calls  upon  His  disciples  once 
more  to  pray  !  to  petition !  This  is  the  open  way  to  the  goal  of 
perfection,  unbelief  and  lethargy  in  prayer  the  one  only  secret  of 
our  unperfectness.  This  gives  a  supplementary  illustration  of  the 
sense  and  meaning  of  the  prayer  (ch.  vi.  9 — 13) ;  this  gives  the 
beginning  of  the  discourse  (ch.  v.  3 — 6)  its  full  explanation,  and 
brings  out  in  its  clearest  expression  what  was  intimated  there. 
Persevering  prayer  will  assuredly  conduct  every  one  who  has  begun 
in  sincerity,  through  this  way  of  earnestness,  to  perfect  righteous- 
ness and  wisdom.1  First,  there  is  a  general  promise,  which 
follows  in  strong  contrast  with  the  rigorous  law,  vers.  7,  8,  (and3 
indeed,  ver.  7  is  requirement  with  promise,  ver.  8  conversely  is 
promise  under  the  condition  of  the  asking  which  is  enjoined). 
Upon  this  we  have,  once  more,  just  as  vers.  3 — 5  followed  upon 
vers.  1,  2,  a  convincing  analogy,  which,  pointing  to  our  own  love 
even  while  evil,  by  the  highest  possible  elevation  of  the  argument 
forbids  us  to  doubt  the  all-perfect  Father's  willingness  to  give, 
ver.  9 — 11.  Who  among  you  repels  his  asking  child  ?  How 
much  more  will  the  Father  in  heaven  hear  prayer !  There  is 
much  that  might  be  preached  to  the  heart  from  this  word  of  our 
Lord,  so  transparently  clear  in  its  overflowing  grace  and  con- 
descension, but  there  is  little  room  for  exposition  to  the  under- 
standing. We  might,  indeed,  have  said  no  more  upon  it,  but 
that  there  is  much  misunderstanding  which  needs  to  be  rectified, 
and  the  profound  meaning  of  every  one  of  the  plainest  sayings  of 
the  eternal  word  in  this  so  entirely  human  discourse  requires  to 
be  pointed  out. 

Ver.  7,  Most  sublime  is  the  simplicity  of  this  repeated — Ask, 

1  This  is  the  profound  connexion  here,  and  it  is  the  only  one. 
A Iford  exhibits  in  a  very  strange  way :  that  we  should  not  be  terrified  as 
if  God  would  keep  back  from  us  in  our  impurity  and  unworthiness  His 
holy  things,  but  should  ask  in  full  assurance. 


MATTHEW  VII.  7.  293 

(not  like  Jas.  i.  8).  Whom  we  are  to  ask  is  self-understood — Him, 
who  knoweth  all  that  we  have  need  of  (ch.  vi.  32.  8).  The 
Father  in  heaven  is  first  mentioned  at  ver.  11.  Neither  do  we 
hear  at  once  for  what  we  are  to  ask :  that  being  obvious  in 
itself — for  the  grace  needful  for  righteousness,  for  the  good  gifts 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  (Lu.  xi.  13),  that  we  may  attain  to  this 
humble,  and  prudent  and  sincere  love.  This  great  utterance  was 
not  given  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  where  the  discourse  was  of 
earthly  need,  but  was  reserved  for  this  place.  It  is  understood, 
moreover,  that  having  now  received  it,  we  may  apply  it  in  all 
its  full  universality  (as  Mar.  xi.  24)  with  every  other  reference 
besides  that  which  it  has  especially  here :  as  for  instance,  in  the 
case  which  we  have  before  us,  when  we  pray  for  those  wicked 
men  (ver.  6),  to  whom  we  are  not  able  to  give  more  than  our 
prayer.  The  Lord  gives  a  threefold  encouragement  and  promise : 
there  is  the  one  general  strong  assurance  first,  and  in  the  sub- 
sequent seeking  and  knocking  there  is  no  heterogeneous  element 
introduced  (as  seeking  in  the  Scriptures,  &c),  for  the  similitude 
that  follows  unites  them  all  in  asking  simply.  The  three  expres- 
sions refer  less  to  three  distinct  apprehensions  of  our  general  need 
(although  that  has  its  truth1),  than  to  an  advancing,  persevering 
asking,  which  makes  it  a  labour,  to  the  process  of  the  internal 
wrestling,  comp.  Ps.  xxvii.  4,  V)^Ntt?  and  ttfp^-  The  seeking 
points  back  to  the  fyrelv  of  ch.  vi.  33,  and  reminds  us  of  that 
fundamental  promise  to  Israel :  then  shall  ye  find  me,  when  ye 
seek  me  with  all  your  hearts  (Deut.  iv.  29).  The  discourse  has 
all  its  significance  in  the  seeking,  generally,  in  the  seeking  again 
of  the  highest  good  which  was  lost  (as  Lange  says)  :  as  to  the 
opening  to  those  who  knock,  who  seeking  already  have  come  nigh, 
we  have  it  fully  disclosed  afterwards  at  ver.  14 ;  and  it  is  the 
appointed  gate  of  life,  the  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
the  strait  gate  that  is  referred  to.     Our  Lord's  teaching  knows 

1  Menken :  Ask,  what  ye  need  and  have  not :  seek,  that  which  is  lost 
and  hidden  :  knock,  ye  that  are  without.  This  last  is  scarcely  expressed 
aright,  for  so  viewed  it  should  have  been  placed  first.  Somewhat  better 
is  that  of  the  Beuggener  Monatsblatt :  He  who  has  not,  should  ask  : 
he  who  has  had,  but  has  lost  again,  should  seek ;  he  to  whom  the  way 
out  or  in  is  shut  up,  should  knock.  But  the  seeking  (ch.  vi.  33)  does 
not  signify  just  what  has  been  lost  again. 


294  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

nothing  of  that  Quietest  abandonment  and  stillness  which  finds 
rest  in  God  before  the  time,  without  asking  and  seeking,  as 
having  already  entered  and  no  more  needing  to  knock :  the 
injunction  to  ash  goes  forth  over  all  the  way  of  life,  unrelaxed 
and  unceasing  prayer  is  itself  alone  the  way  to  that  high  end. 
The  promise  stands  fast :  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you — though 
it  be  first  but  the  impulse  and  power  to  inward  seeking  !  Seek 
and  ye  shall  find — first,  it  may  be,  only  the'  strait  gate  to 
knock  at  I 

Ver.  8.  seems  to  be  a  repetition,  but  adds  much  to  the 
strength.  The  ?ra?  is  designed  to  encounter  the  specific  unbe- 
lief, by  which  men  may  except  themselves  and  their  own  present 
prayer.  It  leads  further  to  the  following  similitude,  inasmuch  as 
that  is  made  to  concern  all  men,  even  the  wicked.  Hence  in  St 
Luke  ch.  xi.,  it  is  placed  between  two  parables,  showing  how 
importunate  petition,  and  the  prayer  of  children,  avail  with  men. 
It  is  very  needful  that  men  should  be  exhorted  to  give  to  those 
who  ask  (ch.  v.  42),  they  do  not  always  do  this  :  but  in  most 
cases  the  defect  lies  rather  in  the  lack  of  persevering  urgency  in 
the  ashing.  u  Asking  wins  "  is  in  things  generally  a  proverb 
of  encouragement  to  persist  even  among  the  children  of  men. 

Vers.  9—11.  Or  is  it  not  so  I  Is  not  that  true  ?  The  same 
turn  to  the  discourse  as  in  ver.  4.  Alas,  proud  men  are  not  dis- 
posed to  ash  and  ask  much,  in  the  full  sense  of  what  we  mean  by 
asking;  but  children,  at  least,  feel  not  thus,  the  re/cva  of  ver.  11, 
they  ask.  What  man  is  there  among  you,  who  would  not  give  to 
his  son  (or  daughter)  who  asks  him  |  that  is,  if  there  be  such,  he 
is  not  to  be  called  man.  With  special  graciousness  does  the 
Lord  work  out  the  moving  similitude,  but  there  is  not  a  touch  or 
a  word,  which  is  merely  pictorial  and  without  its  spiritual  mean- 
ing. Bread  and  fish  are  taken  from  the  Galilean  manner  of  life 
(Mar.  viii.  6,  7 ;  John  xxi.  9).  The  bread  is  unconditionally 
necessary  for  their  hunger,  the  fish  is  the  additional  good  which 
the  children's  confidence  asks.  (In  St  Luke's  repetition  of  this, 
Lu.  xi.,  the  children  venture  to  go  further,  and  would  have  an 
eggy  as  it  were  for  gratification).  Will  the  father,  instead  of 
bread,  reach  out  (e7nhwaei,  give  away)  a  useless  stone,  similar  in 
appearance  but  uneatable,  or  the  serpent,  resembling  the  fish,  but 
hurtful?  (Yet  stronger  in  St  Luke  —instead  of  an  egg,  a  scorpion !) 


MATTHEW  VII.  9 — 11.  295 

What  man  would  thus  bitterly  and  unfeelingly  mock  his  asking 
children  I  Thus  ye  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  chil- 
dren :  ocBare,  equivalent  to — you  have  learned  it  from  the  instinct 
and  impulse  of  nature,  implanted  in  you  by  God ;  ye  are  able  thus 
to  treat  them,  comp.  Phil.  iv.  12.  (Hence  Luther  has  rightly 
translated  here,  as  there,  and  also  in  Luke,  simply  :  konnet). 
The  ostrich,  which  is  hardened  against  her  young  ones,  as  though 
they  were  not  hers,  is  also  without  the  wisdom  of  animal  instinct 
(Job  xxxix.  16,  17).  There  is  more,  however,  in  this,  inasmuch 
as  it  contains  the  transition  of  the  reference  to  God :  Ye  know  how 
to  distinguish  good  and  evil  for  your  children,  so  that  you  freely 
give,  and  indeed  only  good  gifts,  which  only  are  truly  gifts — how 
much  more  your  Father  in  heaven  !  This  has  a  deeper  signifi- 
cance than  might  first  appear.  The  not  hearing,  and  not  giving, 
might  at  first  have  seemed  to  be  analogous  to  the  offering  stones 
and  serpents  :  but  now  the  wisdom  of  GooVs  love  does  not  always 
give  that  which  is  asked,  for  His  foolish  children  often  ask,  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  soul,  what  would  be  only  the  stone 
and  the  serpent — and  should  the  Father  answer  such  prayers  1 
He  no  more  does  this  than  a  father  upon  earth  would  in  such 
a  case,  which  is  lightly  hinted.  He  gives  us  always  aya6d, 
the  true  bread  of  the  soul,  the  only  wholesome  food  to  ac- 
company it;  and  were  it  to  assume  a  form  of  scantiness,  this 
must  be  steadfastly  believed.  He  gives  to  them  that  ask  Him  ! 
it  does  not  stand  in  the  words  which  would  have  corresponded 
— to  His  children,  or  to  you ;  for  His  Father-love  extends  so 
far,  that  every  one  who  prays  to  him  is  by  that  circumstance  as 
a  child  in  His  regard.  Consequently,  from  this  there  arises 
the  great  conclusion,  the  strong  argument  and  assurance :  He 
who  thus  gives,  is  your  Father,  and  if  ye  ask  Him,  shall  it  be  in 
vain? 

But  the  inconceivably  important  vfieh  irovvpol  ovres  comes 
into  strong  contrast  with  this  address  to  the  disciples  as  dis- 
tinguished from  others.  The  praying  children  of  God  are,  as  to 
their  nature,  placed  among  the  dvOpwiroi  generally,  and,  in  the 
midst  of  His  most  affectionate  tenderness,  He  testifies  to  them, 
that  they  are  in  themselves  evil  and  niggardly  (for  good  is  com- 
municative), and  thus  that  all  natural  goodness  and  love,  is  only 
the  contradiction  which  an  equivocal  instinct  makes  to  the  cor- 


296  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ruption  of  our  ruined  nature — and  not  geniune  and  pure  love  ! 
Thus,  as  it  was  before  said,  our  own  evil  love  (which  in  children 
loves  only  our  own  flesh  and  blood),  is  merely  a  figure,  which 
through  the  antithesis  of  iroaa)  /juaWov  points  to  the  pure  love  of 
God.  Was  it  possible  to  bind  together  the  testimony  to  God's 
mercy  and  the  essential  testimony  to  our  own  utter  corruption, 
more  expressly  and  emphatically  than  is  here  done  I  Thus  does 
the  Most  Blessed,  with  all  His  grace,  yet  speak  concerning  us 
men  !  concerning  our  human  father-and-mother  love  !  This 
word  cuts  deep  and  inexorably  into  all  the  beautiful  soft  sen- 
timentality which  talks  about  "  good  men ;"  yea,  this  word 
appears  to  me  the  most  rigorous  dictum  probans  in  all  the  Scrip- 
ture,1 for  original  sin  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the  strongest 
testimonies  to  the  superhuman  dignity  of  our  Lord,  who,  except- 
ing himself  from  the  whole  race,  can  say  to  all  mankind :  Ye 
being  evil !     (Jno.  viii.  23,  24). 

From  this  point  let  a  general  view  be  taken  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  Person  of  the  6t  Preacher  on  the  Mount"  exhibits  itself 
and  bears  its  own  witness,  in  ever  increasing  majesty  throughout 
the  whole  discourse,  so  that  all  that  the  Lord  afterwards  uttered 
concerning  Himself  (Matt.  xi.  27,  28),  and  all  that  St  John 
has  recorded  from  His  lips,  seems  already  involved  and  asserted 
in  this  sermon.  Its  first  words  distribute  blessedness,  impart 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Who  is  He,  that  hath  such  authority  ? 
He  says  in  ch.  v.  11,  for  my  sake,  as  quite  one  with — for  righteous- 
ness' sake.  He  calls  His  disciples  the  light  of  the  world,  the  salt 
of  the  earth, — what  must  He  be,  their  Lord  and  Master !  He 
begins  in  ver.  16  the  oft-recurring  :  your  Father  in  heaven  but 
He  avoids,  here  as  well  as  throughout  all  His  discourses  in  the 
Gospels,  placing  Himself  by  any  Our  in  conjunction  with  them, 
before  the  Father.  It  is  only — Pray  ye — Our  Father  !  He  re- 
mains the  only  One  who  can,  by  His  own  high  authority, 
give  them  this  command.      He  is  come,  to  fulfil  all  things  : — 

1  And,  indeed,  as  a  matter  of  presupposition,  and  not  now  to  be  first 
asserted  and  maintained  !  (Comp.  1  Kings  viii.  46).  The  same  who 
were  before  directed  to  say  Our  Father,  are  in  themselves  evil  children, 
though  themselves  fathers.  Chrysostom  in  vain  denies,  that  the  Lord 
speaks  this  as  SiajBdWcov  ttjv  dvdpconivrjv  (pixnv,  kciki£g>v  to  yevos,  and  in 
vain  would  merely  understand  it  of  the  avridiao-Tokr)  ttjs  dyadorrjTos 
between  us  and  God:  for  novrjpoi  admits  of  no  dyadorrjs  at  all. 


MATTHEW  VII.  9 — 11.  297 

He  utters  his  testimony  as  no  prophet  had  ever  done  before — 
Verily,  I  say  unto  you : — He  knows  what  will  take  place  till 
heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  who  shall  enter  the  kingdom 
and  who  shall  not,  who  shall  be  called  great  or  small  there- 
in : — He  opposes  His  own  But  I  say  unto  you,  to  every  other 
saying :  —  He  knows  the  entrances  to  hell,  and  the  laws  of 
the  everlasting  prison  house  : — He  lays  down  requirements  which 
enter  the  heart,  and  go  far  beyond  man's  ability  whether  to  do  or 
to  bear,  while  He  gives  corresponding  promises  of  grace  from  His 
Father  in  heaven,  which  embrace  the  whole  heart  and  the  whole 
life,  all  time  and  all  eternity.  He  gives  (ch.  vii.  7)  full  assurance 
of  the  answer  of  every  prayer ; — remains,  while  among  men  in 
most  gracious  condescension,  alone,  above,  and  apart  from  the 
whole  of  humanity,  being  evil ; — testifies,  as  if  He  saw  at  one 
glance  the  whole  of  mankind  as  viewed  by  God,  how  many  are 
in  the  way  of  perdition,  how  few  are  in  the  way  of  salvation ; — 
He  arrogates,  finally,  to  Himself  the  right  to  receive  the  name  of 
Lord  from  men,  and  presents  Himself  as  the  judge  of  all  the 
world  at  last ;  who  will  at  that  day  utter  the  words  of  final  decision 
for  eternity,  even  as  He  now  utters  His  present  words  that,  hear- 
ing and  doing  them,  men  may  not  fall  into  fearful,  irreparable 
ruin  !  O  ye  Rationalists,  who  take  so  much  complacency  in  the 
morality  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  hear  and  appreciate  its 
Dogmatic  teaching  too ! 

Or  will  ye  have  nothing  but  its  pure  ethics?  Then  here  you  have 
it  at  once  in  mice  (ver.  12.)  It  appears  a  very  simple  saying,  and 
yet  the  Lord  cries :  This  is  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  !  But  the 
same  Lord  requires  also  hearing  and  doing  for  this  His  so  ethical,  so 
intelligible  saying.  Be  it  so — do  ye  it  in  very  deed  1  Oh  beware, 
ye  false  prophets,  of  the  false  prophet  in  your  own  evil  hearts,  of 
the  arch-liar,  who  beguiles  you  into  the  deluding  supposition  that 
you  do  this,  that  you  can  do  it — without  Christj  without  the 
righteousness  of  God,  which  comes  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ, 
as  it  was  before  testified  by  the  Law  and  the  Prophets.  The  Lord 
places  this  great  requirement,  so  well  understood  by  all,  yet  only 
through  Him  by  any  to  be  fulfilled,  between  that  one  word —  Ye 
men  being  evil,  and  that  other — Here  is  the  strait  gate,  the  nar- 
row way  ;  for  this  all  asking,  seeking,  knocking  avails ! 

This  is,  as  we  may  see,  the  distinctive  and  comprehensive  final 


298  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

expression  of  the  law  of  Christ,  which  perfect  love  imposes  upon 
us,  who  even  in  our  love  are  evil  (in  our  love  as  parents,  ver. 
11,  as  brothers,  and  as  enemies,  ch.  v.  46,  47);  but  only  through 
the  life-giving  grace  which  is  both  promised  and  imparted.  This 
is  the  concluding  requirement  at  the  close  of  the  whole  great 
section  of  the  requirements :  Walk  in  this  way  towards  this  end, 
the  only  way,  narrow  but  sure  !  The  goal  (ver.  12),  the  way 
thereto  (ver.  13,  14).  The  Lord  here  lays  down  in  the  simplest 
manner  the  substance1  of  the  law  of  perfectness  in  regard  to  our 
neighbour :  for  it  is  only  another  expression  of  the  Mosaic  com- 
mand— to  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself — passing  from  the  love 
itself  to  the  confirmation  and  approval  of  it  in  deed.  It  embraces 
in  one  the  whole  second  table  of  the  Decalogue  (as  that  from 
which  all  the  rest  proceeded,  ch.  v.  21)  ;  in  the  same  manner  ch. 
vi.  33  embraces  the  first  table  ;  and  ch.  v.  48,  both  in  their  cen- 
tral unity.  It  is  uttered  with  respect  to  the  outer  and  the  inner 
life  (for,  as  we  saw  in  ch  vi.  1,  the  Lord  accounts  no  doing  of 
the  law  as  genuine  but  that  which  is  internal),  for  the  greatest 
and  the  slightest  cases  in  which  the  general  law  becomes  a  specific 
commandment.  It  refers  to  our  own  self-loving  sense  of  duty,  in 
which  that  which  is  most  difficult  to  do  is  yet  easily  seen  to  be 
right.  It  is  the  expression  of  the  third  fundamental  law,  which 
points  us,  and  urges  us  to  that  self-denial  which  can  only  be 
attained  through  the  grace  of  God,  to  the  deliverance  from  that 
internal,  deep-rooted  self-contradiction  of  evil  human  nature  which 
would  desire  from  others  what  to  others  we  deny.  (See  Lev. 
xix.  18,  in  its  connexion  with  this).  And  it  is  just  at  this  point 
that  the  great — Enter  ye  in !  (ver.  13),  is  attached,  embracing 
the  promise  of  the  opening  of  the  gate,  nay,  the  assurance  that  it 
is  already  opened.  And  immediately  upon  this,  as  the  ground  of 
that  solemn  and  simple  sentence  which  had  just  been  uttered  :  for 
there  is  no  other  gate,  no  other  way,  all  beside  this  is  the  broad  way 
which  leadeth  to  the  wide  gate  of  destruction  !  (vers.  13, 14)  which 
immediately  paves  the  way  to  the  remaining  third  main  division 

1  The  particle  ovv,  on  which  much  exposition  has  been  expended,  is 
just  the  indication  of  the  result  of  all,  summing  up  all  that  had  gone 
before.  In  this  sense  it  does  not  merely  connect  the  sentence  which  it 
begins  with  the  immediately  preceding,  but  takes  a  sweeping  retrospect 
of  the  whole. 


MATTHEW  VII.   12.  299 

of  the  Sermon,  which  draws  the  final  limits  between  the  good 
and  bad,  setting  forth  the  great  tests  and  separation  at  the  end 
of  all. 

Ver.  12.  Is  this  any  thing  new,  to  teach  which  as  a  higher  and 
more  perfect  morality,  the  Lord  must  come  down  from  heaven  f 
By  no  means,  rather  is  it  the  primitive  commandment,  extant 
among  all  nations,  by  which  every  man  who  sincerely  looks 
within  his  own  soul,  must  utter  his  own  condemnation.  It  is 
found  in  the  Talmud  :  for  example  Rabbi  Hillel  thus  speaks  to 
one  who  would  become  a  proselyte :  "  Whatsoever  is  hateful  to 
thyself,  that  do  not  to  thy  neighbour  :  in  this  is  the  whole  law, 
all  else  only  comes  out  of  this.  Go  and  be  perfect."  We  find 
it  in  Sirach  :  Noet,  ra  rov  ifkrjaiov  he  creavrov,  teal  iirl  travrl 
irpar/fiari  Scavoov  (Ecclus.  xxxi.  15),  and  in  Tobit :  b  [nereis  finSevl 
Troirjcrrj^  (ch.  iv.  15).  In  Isocrates  we  find :  a  iraGypwres  vcj> 
erepcov  opyiQade,  ravra  rot?  aXkoi?  fir)  iroielre.  But  the  tendency 
of  our  selfishness  to  extract  the  keen  severity  from  the  testimony 
which  it  is  constrained  to  bear  against  itself,  is  betrayed  in  this, 
that  in  nearly  all  cases  the  negative  only  is  seized :  what  thou 
wouldst  not  have  thyself,  do  not  thou  to  thy  neighbour !  The 
Lord  on  the  contrary  fetches  it  up  from  the  depths  of  conscience 
as  an  inexorably  positive  demand  :  "  Whatsoever  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also  to  them" — as  unlimited  a 
requirement,  therefore,  as  the  will  and  the  desire  of  self-love 
itself.  We  said  rightly :  our  own  self-loving  feeling  of  duty — 
although  this  is  just  as  much  a  contradictio  in  adjecto,  as  our  own 
love,  being  evil,  in  ver.  11  was.  It  is,  as  it  were,  the  theoretical 
and  practical  side  of  that  self-contradiction,  which  is  our  natural 
condition.  With  strict  propriety  has  Luther  said  :  "  Here  Christ 
lays  the  Bible  upon  thine  own  bosom,  and  so  clearly,  moreover, 
that  thou  needest  no  gloss."  But  to  how  many  limiting,  apolo- 
getic glosses  and  imaginations  has  natural  conscience  resorted,  to 
silence,  in  unrighteousness  and  self-delusion,  the  great  accusing 
gloss  :  I  am  not  thus !  I  cannot  do  this  !  Selfishness  perverts 
the  relation  between  me  and  my  neighbour,  so  that,  notwithstand- 
ing all,  the  most-loved  I  comes  before  and  comes  after  my  neigh- 
bour, and  remains  above  him.  Why  am  I  to  do  good  to  my 
neighbour  ?  That  he  may  do  me  good  in  return — this  clings  to 
the  evil  heart.     So  runs  the  common  proverb:   First  comes 


300  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

myself,  then  my  neighbour,  then  nryself  again — which  is  being 
interpreted — by  my  neighbour  I  mean  only  myself.  The  Lord 
refers  not  to  this  perversion,  but  to  the  great  truth  that  lies  at 
its  foundation.  He  goes  back  to  the  Mosaic  Sfo^,  as  thyself, 
in  unconditional  equality  without  any  before  and  after :  con- 
firmed as  it  was  by  an  ff\Tfi  "ON?  f°r  m  ^e  s^nt  of  God  no  self 
of  the  creature  can  have  place. 

The  Lord's  meaning  is  not  that  which  a  superficial  misappre- 
hension of  His  keenly  penetrating  rule  would  make  it — as  if  He 
only  spake  "  of  the  external,  material,  obvious  actions  of  life," 
and  consequently  "  had  not  in  His  purpose  to  set  up  a  principle 
of  morality."  (Neander).     The  Lord,  in  all  that  he  lays  down, 
will  be  understood  according  to  the  internal  principle,   and 
never  gives  "  external  tests,  merely,  of  character  and  life."     He 
neither  acknowledges  nor  alludes  to  any  other  act  than  that 
which  is  truly  such,  springing  from  the  heart.     It  is  His  aim, 
that  the  consciousness  of  equality  and  of  mutual  need  fas  Braune 
better  says,  though  without  fully  reaching  its  depth  of  meaning) 
should  exhort  and  urge  us  to  the  practical  love  of  our  neighbour. 
In  this  iravra  oaa  av  is  included  and  summed  up  with  most 
significant  definiteness  every  individual  case  that  could  prompt 
the  question  :  What  is  here  my  duty  to  my  neighbour  f     It  is 
this — let  the  relative  position  be  changed,  conceive  thyself  in  his 
place,  and  he  in  thine  !   That  fellow-feeling  and  sympathy  which 
naturally  is  excited  by  the  sight  of  another's  sorrow,  which  may 
be  almost  called  the  conscience  of  our  physical  nature,  will  show 
me  the  way,  as  it  makes  me  feel  as  if  I  were  in  his  place.    Then 
do  to  him,  what  thou  wouldest  desire  him  to  do  to  you,  were  you 
in  his  case?     But  who  is  there  who  does  not  stand  mid-way, 
instead  of  going  the  whole  way  and  entering  through  the  door 
— who  doeth  this  ?    Who  doeth  it  before  God,  as  the  genuine  and 
true  acting  of  love,  which  would  do  no  ill  to  his  neighbour,  nay, 
not  by  the  omission  of  any  good  that  he  might  and  ought  to 
render  him  I    He  who  thus  loves,  has  fulfilled  the  Law,  the  whole 
Law,  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  second  table  is  only  possible 
through  the  fulfilment  of  the  first — who  can  love  independently 
of  the  love  of  God  1     The  commandment  requires  love  out  of  a 
pure  heart,  a  pure  heart  comes  only  through  a  good  conscience, 
and  a  good  conscience  only  through  a  faith  unfeigned — in  the 


MATTHEW  VII.  13,  14.  301 

fulfilling  grace  of  the  great  fulfiller  in  us  (1  Tim.  i.  5).  Hence 
the  Lord  does  not  merely  say  :  This  is  the  Law  (of  both  tables) — 
but  in  addition  :  and  the  Prophets  !  In  the  same  sense,  that  is, 
as  ch.  xxii.  40.  For  he  means  to  tell  us  that  all  the  preparatory, 
prophetic  Scripture  which  pointed  to  Him  who  was  to  come, 
took  its  rise  from  the  requirement  of  the  Law,  and  is  one  with 
it :  He  refers  back  to  ch.  v.  17,  and  all  which  that  word  disclosed 
to  us ;  His  design  is  that  we  should  now  at  the  close  connect 
with  it  the  beginning  and  understand  :  this  is  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets,  to  fulfil  which  in  your  righteousness,  lam  come. 

Vers.  13,  14.  By  a  false  disposition  these  verses  are  generally 
placed  at  the  beginning  of  the  subsequent  paragraph ;  whereas 
they  only  form  a  transition  to  it,  and  are  in  themselves  most  dis- 
tinctively a  conclusion,  which  plainly  enough  refers  to  the  parallel 
conclusion  of  the  first  division  (ch.  v.  20).  Now  is  that  righteous- 
ness, which  must  be  better  than  the  Pharisees',  exhibited;  now  it  is 
said,  receive  it,  that  is,  seek  for  it  in  prayer  with  full  earnestness 
of  spirit,  and  thus  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  !  Through 
the  strait  gate  f  Yes  verily,  for  your  knowing  all  that  is  in  ver. 
12  will  avail  nothing;  that  I  point  it  out  to  you  and  teach  you 
will  avail  nothing ;  but  your  own  prayer  and  your  own  laying 
hold  must  proceed  from  self-denial  to  self-denial,  until  the  whole 
of  perfect  righteousness  is  established  within  you. 

How  then  are  the  way  and  the  gate  related  to  each  other  in 
the  following  discourse  ?  The  late  von  Meyer  thought  this  an 
idle  question,  inasmuch  as  the  figures  are  here  not  connected 
with  each  other,  but  'parallel:  I  cannot,  however,  agree  with 
him.  It  is  an  error  all  but  universal  to  understand  the  Lord, 
because  the  strait  gate  emphatically  stands  first,  as  having  placed 
a  strait  gate  of  conversion,  or  however  else  it  may  be  expressed,  to 
be  pressed  through  before  the  way  is  entered  on.  Thus  do  most 
preachers  apply  the  spirit  of  the  text.  But  this  entirely  contra- 
dicts the  simple  character  of  the  figure,  the  connexion  of  the 
whole  sermon,  and  much  other  illustration  of  the  Lord's  own 
meaning.  Doors  lead  not  to  ways,1  but  a  way  leads  to  the  gate 
of  the  town  or  the  house  whither  I  would  go :  when  I  reach  the 

1  As  we  see  it  figured,  unnaturally  enough,  in  old  books  of  devo- 
tion. 


302  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

gate  I  am  at  the  end  of  the  way.1  If  I  have  entered  through 
the  gate,  my  point  is  gained  definitively,  I  am  either  in  security, 
peace,  and  joy,  or — in  the  prison  of  eternal  ruin.  The  narrow 
way  is  that  which  the  whole  sermon  has  pointed  out,  the  gate,  or 
the  door  (for  irvXr)  is  a  general  expression,  which  includes,  as 
here,  the  widest  gate  and  the  straitest  postern)  is  no  other  than 
the  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  which  as  the  close  and 
crown  of  all  their  struggles  and  endeavours,  is  thrown  open  to 
those  who  knock ;  see  vers.  7,  21 ;  ch.  v.  20.  Thus  does  the  Lord 
explain  Himself.  (Lu.  xiii.  24,  25.)  So  also  He  speaks  again 
of  the  needle's  eye  (Matt.  xix.  24).  In  the  preliminary  daekOere 
the  Kedeemer  has  certainly  brought  near  to  us  the  gate,  as  if  it 
were  directly  before  us,  but  only  in  the  same  sense  as  the  future 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  come  nigh  to  us,  in  the  same  sense  as  we 
now  continually  stand  knocking  at  the  gate  of  heaven,  as  we  are 
now  already  saved  through  the  asking  and  receiving  of  prayer, 
which  brings  heaven  into  the  heart.  The  Lord,  to  be  more  par- 
ticular, includes  in  His  invitations  the  way  and  the  gate  in  one ; 
since  the  way  is  already  the  gate  to  those  who,  walking  in  that 
way,  are  sure  to  reach  that  gate.  When  He  would  summon  us 
to  walk  in  the  right  way,  He  prefers  at  once  to  take  His  language 
from  the  decisive  goal  to  which  it  leads :  Enter  ye  in  !  For  all 
our  walking  in  the  way  is  but  the  beginning  of  our  final  entrance. 
And  in  this  lies  the  truth,  and  the  justification  of  our  customary 
way  of  speaking  about  the  strait  gate.  It  would  be  even  exege- 
tically  right,  if  it  were  simply  derived  from  the  first  part  of  the 
verse,  and  confined  to  it :  but  if  the  remainder  is  thus  read,  and 
the  gate  is  placed  before  the  way,  it  is  at  least  exegetically  incor- 
rect, and  would  be  inapplicable  in  speaking  and  preaching  about 
the  inner  life.  This  exegetical  error,  alas !  may  become  the 
occasion  of  much  misapprehension  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  both 
in  theory  and  in  practice.  The  Lord  acknowledges  those  who 
are  entering,  who  are  struggling  to  enter,  but  none  as  having 
entered  till  the  end  comes.     And  what  then  would  become  of 

1  Thus  quite  appropriately  in  the  passage  of  Cebes  (quoted  also  by 
OlshausenJ  :  Svpav  riva  ptKpav  iea\  686v  nua  npb  rfjs  Ovpas.  Langes  rea- 
son for  placing  the  gate  first,  that  the  fundamental  idea  is  that  of  a 
departure  from  a  city,  of  decision  in  the  choice  of  the  right  way,  is 
quite  opposed  to  the  letter  of  the  text,  which  rather  speaks  of 'an 
entrance,  and  of  a  way  leading  to  this. 


MATTHEW  VII.  13,  14.  303 

the  wide  gate,  through  which  the  children  of  the  world  would 
have  already  entered :  since  in  their  case  there  is  no  distinctive 
beginning  or  passing  through  a  gate,  no  passing  out  from  any- 
state  whatever  into  the  broad  way,  in  which  by  nature  and  by 
their  birth  they  walk.  Rather  is  the  wide  gate  the  gaping  pit  of 
hell,  opening  her  mouth  without  measure  (Isa.  v.  14  ;  Hab.  ii.  5  ; 
Prov.  xxx.  15,  16)— into  which  men  walk,  and  dance  and  stagger 
and  fall  by  crowds. 

The  Lord  lays  down  the  eternally  decisive  alternative  and 
contrast — damnation  or  rather  destruction  and  life:  this  great 
antithesis,  and  the  others  connected  with  it — wide  and  broad, 
strait  and  narrow,  many  and  few ; — He  further  strengthens  the 
whole,  however,  by  the  words  which  we  must  not  overlook  :  many 
there  be  which  go  in  thereat,  few  there  be  thai  find  it.  Elcrepxp- 
fievoc  hiavrrjs — it  may  be  asked,  whether  6Bov  or  nrvkn^  be  signi- 
fied. Obviously  and  primarily  we  are  to  understand  as  the  word 
itself  and  the  previous  elcrekOere  show — who  go  through  the  wide 
gate  into  hell :  yet  Luther  has  understood  it  of  the  way  thither, 
and  rightly  so  far  as  the  Lord  includes  this  likewise.  The 
ambiguous  8i?  avTrjq  most  significantly  confirms  the  view  we 
have  given  above.  The  Lord's  glance  beholds  the  way  and 
its  termination  as  inseparable,  and  the  many  who  walk  in  the 
broad  way,  He  warningly  and  lamentingly  describes  as  entering 
in  to  destruction  !  This  "  going  in  thereat"  is  sorrowfully, 
catachrestically  spoken  :  as  if  they  were  entering  into  their  own 
eternal  house,  instead  of  entering  into  life !  (which  is  lost  in 
Luther's  text).  To  this  is  opposed  in  solemn  tone  of  exhorta- 
tion the  evpicFKovTes,  for  to  this  seeking  is  first  of  all  needful.  The 
broad  way  to  the  wide  gate  no  man  needs  to  seek ;  it  is  broad  as 
the  world  (eVpu^wpo?  marks  rather  a  great  country  than  a  way) ; 
thou  standest  and  walkest  upon  it  already,  thou  canst  not  fail, 
swim  only  with  the  current,  live  only  according  to  thy  inherited 
custom  and  after  the  impulse  of  thine  own  nature,  the  gate  of 
hell  will  then  receive  thee,  to  which  all  ways  converge  as  if  one 
single  broad  way  by  the  side  of  the  one  only  narrow  way.  But 
this  narrow  way  and  this  strait  gate  must  be  perseveringly  sought, 
till  it  is  found  throughout  and  to  the  end.  It  is  "  a  mountain-path, 
narrow,  insignificant,  and  not  obvious  to  the  eye."  ( Tholuck).  Few 
there  be  that  attain  to  its  end,  for  even  to  those  who  are  seeking  to 


304  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

pursue  it  there  are  by-ways  issuing  from  it  to  the  right  and  to  the 
left  (Isa.  xxx.  21 ;  Deut.  v.  32),  and  many  who  have  come  near 
to  the  gate,  fail  of  it  at  last  !  (Lu.  xiii.  24).  What  the  Lord  here 
says  of  the  many  and  the  few,  is  similar  to  Matt.  xx.  16  ;  xxii. 
14.  Only  the  doing  of  the  Divine  will  leadeth  unto  life  (after- 
wards ver.  21)  ;  for  the  word  of  Moses  (Lev.  xviii.  5)  still  holds 
good,  and  the  grace  of  our  Lord  establishes  and  fulfils  it  in  us. 
Life  and  destruction  are  set  before  us.  Who  regards  the  way,  its 
agreeableness  or  its  difficulty,  when  his  eye  is  on  the  goal !  Who 
would  be  guided  by  the  number  of  those  who  walk  in  any  way, 
instead  of  thinking  whither  they  tend,  and  whither  himself?  The 
foolish  world,  indeed,  "  loves  the  wide,  and  the  broad,  and  the 
numbers" — delights  in  the  majorities  !  But  who  ordinarily  inves- 
tigates the  door,  its  width  or  its  straitness,  instead  of  the  place  to 
which  the  door  conducts  him  who  enters  %  Look  only  at  the  goal 
and  the  end  !  This  is  the  emphasis  of  the  twice-repeated  fj  68b$ 
7)  airayovaa,  instead  of  which  Luther  has  constructed  another 
antithesis  which  is  not  in  the  words :  the  one  leading  away  to 
destruction,  the  other  leading  to  life.  Could  the  Lord  then  have 
meant  to  speak  of  a  leading  away  into  life,  (conversely  as  enter- 
ing into  destruction),  and  how  might  that  be  taken  %  It  would 
be  hard  to  find  a  meaning  :  we  should  have  to  understand  it  as 
leading  away  from  all  need,  from  all  evil  and  danger  and  tempta- 
tion into  perfect  security  :  as  in  the  other  case  from  all  pleasure 
and  security  into  everlasting  torment.  But  then  the  emphasis 
is  alike  in  both,  and  it  simply  denotes  the  eternal  decision,  the  sure 
result.  Bengel  seizes  the  meaning  exactly  in  his  pregnant — aira- 
<yovaa,  ex  hac  brevi  vita  !  Then  there  is  no  middle-path,  thus  there 
is  an  irrevocable  and  fixed  alternative  !  Tholuck  seeks  in  one  of 
his  sermons  over-critically  to  soften  this  :  as  if  the  Lord  says 
nothing  of  the  eternal  fall  of  these  many,  but  speaks  now  only  of 
their  present  walking  in  the  wicked  way  that  leads  to  it — many 
of  them  might  yet  turn  aside  from  it.  Assuredly  they  mighty  but 
the  airayeiv  signifies  the  completed  result,  the  haep^crOai  is  not 
their  present  walking,  according  to  the  weakening  translation  of 
the  German  Bible. 

We  have  now  to  give  our  view  of  the  remarkable  reading :  TV 
a-revrj,  how  strait  is  the  gate !  for  which  certainly  the  external 
evidence  of  manuscripts  is  favourable,  whence  even  von  Gerlach 


MATTHEW  VII.  13,  14.  305 

declares  it  the  true  reading.  We  cannot,  however,  agree  with 
this  :  and  if  Tlwluck  with  a  delicate  and  true  perception  says  that 
"  wherefore  so  strait  ?  "  would  be  a  human,  sentimental  pathos 
which  does  not  accord  with  the  whole  discourse  ;  we  also  say  the 
same  of  the  wondering  appeal — O  how  strait  I  The  Lord  is  here 
speaking  in  a  tone  of  simple  assertion  and  keen  testimony ;  the 
t/  by  no  means  suits  that  tone,  and  must  have  originated  from 
the  transcribers,  who  understood  not  the  point  of  the  second 
striking  oti.  This  is  justified  by  internal  criticism,  but  what  is 
the  meaning  of  the  expression  as  here  used  !  We  should  expect 
a  simple  "  and "  of  contrast,  as  Luther  has  translated  it ;  at 
furthest  a  "  but "  or  "  on  the  other  hand."  Yet  otl  can  be  made 
to  mean  none  of  these,  by  any  art.  We  understand  it  that  the 
Lord  has  the  former  injunction — Enter  ye  in  through  the  strait 
gate!  still  in  His  thought,  and  connects  with  that  the  two 
sentences  which  follow,  as  if  it  had  been  in  each  case  repeated — 
"  Enter  ye  in  !  for  wide  is  the  gate —  !  (once  again  :  Enter  ye  in  I 
being  understood),  For  strait  is  the  gate —  ! 

And  yet  it  is  and  must  ever  be  a  gate,  which  is  not  shut,  but 
stands  open  and  wide  enough  for  ever  for  those  who  would  enter 
it  by  the  right  way.  "  The  narrow  way  to  life  is  broad  enough, 
for  men  who  carefully,  gently,  evenly  walk  in  it."  That  is  the 
consolation,  which  even  this  rigorous  saying  contains.  What  more 
is  wanting  than  a  way  wherein  I  may  have  room,  and  a  gate  that 
will  let  me  through  ?  To  this  end  the  Lord  stands  in  fulness  of 
truth  and  grace,  calling  and  inviting  us  with  all  earnestness : 
Enter  ye  in  I  meets  us,  as  it  were,  with  "  enter  in "  before  we 
knock, — prays  us  that  we  ask, — commands  us  to  seek,  encour- 
ages us  Himself  that  we  may  knock !  Connect  with  this  His 
other  great  word :  I  am  the  way !  I  am  the  door !  and  thou 
shalt  in  thy  experience  learn  to  unite  Matt.  vii.  13,  14,  with  ch. 
xi.  28 — 30,  and  find  that  both  are  truth,  that  both  sayings  are 
essentially  one  in  His  meaning. 

The  requirements  which  are  enjoined  upon  us,  on  the  founda- 
tion of  a  promised  grace,  are  now  ended,  being  condensed  into 
that  one  appeal :  Enter  ye  in  !  This  speaks  as  encouragingly  and 
graciously  of  a  free  admission,  as  its  appended  statement  speaks 
severely  of  all  that  belongs  to  the  successful  prosecution  of  the 
way  till  the  final  entrance*     It  is  through  the  strait  gate,  the 

20 


306  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

straitness  of  which  is  previously  proclaimed  in  the  narrowness  of 
the  way  that  leads  thereto.  Its  meaning  is  just  what  a  later 
explanation  of  it  says:  dyov^eade  hcreXdelv  (Lu.  xiii.) — addressed 
to  those  especially  who  already  walk  in  this  way,  to  the  disciples, 
who  would  be  and  who  may  be  perfect.  Whether  they  shall  find 
the  way  directly  to  the  gate,  the  "  few  there  be"  makes  matter  of 
solemn  thought.  This  of  itself  is  a  warning  appeal:  Beware!  and 
thus  the  discourse  passes  over  to  its  conclusion,  showing  the 
dangers  of  the  way  external  to  ourselves,  and  lifting  the  curtain 
from  before  the  final  judgment-seat. 


The  third  division  of  the  Sermon,  as  it  was  defined  in  the  dis- 
tribution which  we  made  at  the  outset,  may  not  appear  to  corre- 
spond immediately  with  our  preconceived  expectations  of  what  it 
would  be  ;  yet  will  it  exhibit  itself  to  a  closer  observation  as  quite 
consonant  with  the  nature  of  things,  and  the  whole  course  of 
thought  throughout.  Its  beginning  seems  to  fly  off  abruptly 
from  the  subject  which  had  been  treated,  the  way,  namely,  of  a 
progressive  advancement  towards  the  goal :  but  it  is  not  so.  For 
just  because  at  the  close  of  the  whole  of  the  Requirements,  the 
"  Enter  ye  in  I"  had  been  so  closely  connected  with  a  strait 
gate,  and  the  bye-ways  to  right  and  left  of  inward  unholiness 
which  leave  the  narrow  way,  had  been  so  fully  and  clearly  dis- 
closed :  on  that  account  the  section  of  warning  was  not  required 
to  make  any  distinctive  and  express  reference  to  the  internal 
state.  But  this  did  not  render  unnecessary  a  glance  at  the  dangers 
of  the  way  which  rise  from  without,  through  the  false  teaching 
and  guidance  of  a  specious  deceit.  Thus  the  introductory  warn- 
ing against  false  prophets,  is  first  introduced  strictly  in  its  right 
place  (vers.  15—20)  ;  with  which,  nothing  now  being  withheld 
that  is  requisite  for  distinguishing  the  right  way,  the  discourse  has 
free  scope  to  pass  on  to  the  remaining  fundamental  warning  (vers. 
21—23)  of  the  final  judgment,  in  which  no  evil  doer  will  be  able 
to  stand.  We  are  wont  to  preach  about  the  false  prophets  in 
ourselves,  and  that  application  is  indeed  permitted,  yet  it  wrenches 
the  passage  from  its  place  in  this  connexion.  The  Lord  simply 
means  such  prophets  as  are  the  opposites  of  those  mentioned  in 
the  beginning,  ch.  v.  12,  (and  again  v.  17,  vii.  12),  so  that  the 


MATTHEW  VII.  15 — 20.  307 

beginning  and  the  end  agree  in  one.  According  to  St  Luke  He 
had  previously  cast  a  side-glance  upon  the  false  prophets.  The 
reference  in  the  discourse  to  ourselves  is  to  be  sought  not  in  this, 
but  in  something  else,  namely,  in  the  specification  of  the  fruits 
as  marks,  not  merely  of  the  office  of  prophet,  but  as  the  judg- 
ment-day presently  shows,  of  discipleship  generally.  It  is  a 
perversion  of  the  sense  to  regard  these  fruits,  as  is  commonly 
done,  as  the  proofs  by  which  true  guides  must  legitimate  their 
claims :  the  fruits  are,  as  the  reference  to  the  Baptist's  words  in 
ver.  19  shows,  no  other  than  what  the  common  usage  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament  understands  by  them.  In  the  whole  sec- 
tion vers.  17 — 20  those  fruits,  by  which  the  Lord  will  distin- 
guish His  own,  are  at  the  same  time  demanded  of  all  his  disciples, 
and,  as  befits  the  tone  of  this  concluding  division,  with  all  seve- 
rity ;  though  the  first  tone  of  promise  is  once  more  gently  heard 
in  the  reference  to  the  good  tree  which  bears  those  fruits — a  tree 
planted  in  us  by  the  grace  of  God.  Whereupon,  secondly,  in 
ver.  21,  the  doing  of  the  will  of  God  is  required  of  us  in  the  final 
utterance  of  law :  and  finally  at  the  minatory  conclusion  the 
warning  against  not  doing  it  is  heard  in  the  last  stern  tones  of 
all.  Thus  we  find  that  the  fundamental  principle  of  trichotomy  as 
we  laid  it  down  at  the  beginning  is  preserved  and  justified  down 
to  the  end. 

We  subdivide  vers.  15 — 20  thus :  1.  The  simple  appeal — Be- 
ware of  false  prophets !  2.  The  detecting  reference  to  the  con- 
tradiction between  appearance  and  reality :  Wolves  in  sheep's 
clothing !  3.  The  laying  down  of  a  mark  to  distinguish  them, 
which,  however,  is  and  can  be  no  other  than  the  same  which  will 
avail  us  now  and  ever  before  the  Lord  : — the  fruits  of  righteous- 
ness, the  fulfilling  of  all  the  commandments  from  that  new  nature 
which  grace  creates  in  us.  Let  it  be  observed  how  that  which 
is  here  said  was  foreshadowed  in  ch.  v.  19.  This  further  resolves 
itself  into,  (V),  The  general  position  :  the  tree  is  known  by  its 
fruit,  put  in  ver.  16  in  a  convincing  manner  in  a  double-similitude 
of  natural  and  Scriptural  symbolism.  (b)9  An  emphatic  repetition 
of  this,  which  however  in  its  generality  now  includes  the  disciples 
generally,  and  the  key-note  of  promise  is  heard  in  the  "  good 
tree."  The  good  and  the  corrupt  tree  are  contrasted :  twice 
positively  (ver.  17),  twice  negatively  (ver.  18).      Conclusion  ol 


308  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

both :  the  corrupt  tree  is  cast  into  the  fire !  (ver  19),  which 
directly  leads  over  to  the  judgment  which  follows — yet  to  com- 
plete the  organization  of  the  discourse,  first  (c)  we  have  once  more 
the  truth  repeated:  Wherefore  by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them? 
(ver.  20).  That  is,  at  the  same  time,  according  to  the  intimation 
that  lies  in  the  words  (in  accordance  with  the  irav  of  vers.  17 
and  19)  :  By  their  fruits  will  ye  be  known,  even  as  ye  know 
others.  This  is  the  verification  of  discipleship  before  men  in  the 
time  of  the  present  life  (the  shining  before  men,  ch.  v.  14, 16) ;  and 
with  it  the  transition  is  strikingly  made  to  the  impressive  sequel. 

Vers.  21,  23.  The  approval  of  their  discipleship  in  the  presence 
of  God  in  eternity  now  follows,  or  rather  on  that  day,  which  divides 
time  from  eternity,  and  the  days  of  grace  in  the  way  from  the  goal 
of  eternal  decision  and  doom — the  judgment.  And  now  we  find  not 
— before  God,  but  before  Me,  the  Lord,  the  Judge  !  Not — your 
Father  will  know  you  and  receive  you — but :  I !  The  same  who  at 
ver.  11  excepted  Himself  alone  from  the  whole  evil  race,  now  in 
language,  simple  and  sublime,  presents  Himself  as  the  Judge  at 
the  end  of  the  way,  even  as  He  now  exhibits  Himself  as  the  Law- 
giver in  the  way.  Presumption,  if  He  also  belonged  to  the  men 
who  are  evil  and  to  the  corrupt  trees :  quite  natural  and  necessary, 
however,  to  this  testimony  of  truth,  from  Him  who  may  speak  to 
us  from  the  Judgment-seat  and  say  (as  it  now  for  the  first  time 
breaks  forth  in  majesty) — My  Father — as  the  eternal  Son,  the 
Lord.  All  this  is  but  the  consummation  of  what  had  been  pre- 
pared for  in  ch.  v.  22,  25,  and  still  earlier  in  ver.  20.  He  deter- 
mines now,  for  the  first  time,  who  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  and  who  be  cast  into  the  prison.  The  end  goes  back  to 
the  beginning  :  the  whole  Sermon  is  a  building,  of  which  every 
stone,  from  the  first  to  the  last,  is  laid  in  its  place  according  to  a 
pre-arranged  and  wonderful  order.  It  says  already,  as  the  begin- 
ning of  sermons,  what  every  other  discourse  proclaimed — /  am 
He  !  for  the  conviction  and  assurance  of  every  one  who  hath  ears 
to  hear,  though  without  specifically  and  in  so  many  words  pro- 
claiming it. 

His  words  are  now  more  closely  compressed,  as  their  force 
becomes  more  solemn.  They  lay  down  three  positions.  The 
first  (ver.  21),  begins  gently  with  the  mere  "  not  every  one," 
and  mentions,  affirmatively  and  with  a  tone  of  promise  pervading 


MATTHEW  VII.  21 — 23.  309 

this  last  requirement,  the  "  doing  of  the  will "  as  the  sure  and 
certain  way  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  In  this  is  embraced,  as 
in  the  most  simple  possible  compendium,  the  whole  middle  division 
of  the  Sermon,  from  its  preface  (ch.  v.  20)  down  to  its  close  (ch. 
vii.  14) :  particularly  the  three  critical  precepts  (ch.  v.  48,  vi. 
33,  vii.  12)  as  they  are  condensed  in  that  central  petition  of  ch. 
vi.  10.  The  second  sentence  (ver.  22J  strengthens  the  negative 
"  not  every  one''  by  a  threatening  "  many"  :  the  third  (ver.  23), 
is  the  inexorable  conclusion :  Depart  from  me  !  although  the 
"  then"  leaves  us  a  period  of  grace  for  the  doing  of  those  sayings, 
which  we  now  hear  from  the  lips  of  the  Lawgiver  who  came  to 
fulfil  them,  and  will  come  again  to  be  our  Judge.  Thus — He 
who  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear !  Let  him  who  is  a  hearer, 
be  also  a  doer  of  the  worki     (John  vii.  16,  17). 

Then  ends  the  mighty  Sermon  with  a  cry  of  most  direct  and 
urgent  warning,  with  i^ovala  seizing  the  heart  and  conscience 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  God  :  ivhosoever  heareth  these  sayings 
of  mine  and  doeth  them  not,  is  a  foolish  man,  has  his  own  destruc- 
tion to  impute  to  himself,  because  he  has  not  received  and  applied 
my  gracious — enter  ye  in  !  my  faithful — beware  !  It  is  in  gra- 
cious condescension  from  its  highest  dignity,  a  winning  tone 
being  mingled  with  the  threatening,  that  even  such  a  conclusion 
as  this  takes  the  form  once  more  of  a  popular  similitude,  the 
balanced  and  contrasted  members  of  which  bring  directly  home 
to  us  the  great  alternative  of  everlasting  decision,  exhibiting  the 
final  judgment  in  warning  preparatory  judgments,  and  the  test 
of  the  last  day  in  manifold  tests,  which  are  applied  upon  earth, 
and  within  the  day  of  grace.  For  this  alone  is  the  true  meaning 
of  the  figure  (vers.  24 — 27),  which  generally  and  indefinitely 
comprehends  in  one  the  approval  of  the  house  (before  exhibited) 
in  time  and  in  eternity :  in  strict  conformity  with  the  Apostle's 
meaning — the  day  shall  declare  it,  time  present  and  future  (1  Cor. 
iii.  13).  In  many  cases  the  morrow,  but  in  every  case  the 
last  day !  The  reference  to  the  wise  man  who  built  securely, 
comes  graciously  first :  although  no  longer  (for  every  turn  of 
the  word  and  thought  is  significantly  adjusted)  in  the  form  of  an 
express  appeal  and  injunction,  but  with  a  decisive — Whosoever 
thus  heareth  and  doeth !  The  last  appeal  to  the  warned  occurred 
at  vers.  15  and  20,  but  in  ver.  21  the  warning  and  threatening 


310  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

remains  only  in  the  third  person,  just  as  the  discourse,  in  its  great 
promise,  had  commenced  (ch.  v.  2 — 20).  The  fearful  fall  (ver. 
27),  preaches  condemnation  at  the  close,  as  blessedness  had  been 
announced  in  the  beginning. 

Let  the  process  of  our  Saviour's  preaching  and  teaching 
according  to  the  Evangelists  be  compared  with  the  process  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount:  and  the  procedure  which  is  marked 
out  here,  will  as  a  whole  be  found  reproduced  throughout.  We 
refrain  from  referring  this  to  the  details,  and  will  only  exhibit 
the  analogy,  as  it  is  strikingly  shown  with  respect  to  the  conclu- 
sion. The  warning  against  false  prophets  recurs  at  the  end  of 
His  ministry  for  His  disciples  and  the  people,  in  Matt,  xxiii. 
(comp.  Lu.  xx.  46),  for  His  disciples  particularly  in  Matt,  xxiv., 
as  also  at  the  close  of  the  New  Testament,  in  the  epistles  of 
Peter,  Jude,  and  John.  The  fruits  are  demanded  at  last  (an 
evidence  this,  also,  of  the  soundness  of  our  exposition  here)  in 
Matt.  xxi.  34  ;  Jno.  xv.  The  judgment,  the  rejection  and  casting 
out,  is  threatened  in  all  the  final  parables  to  the  disciples  which 
we  know  of,  in  the  last  discourse  to  the  people  (Matt,  xxv.),  as 
in  the  Apocalypse  we  find  it  closing  the  whole  New  Testament. 
The  reference  to  the  word  of  the  future  Judge,  heard  in  order  to 
be  done,  is  found  also  in  Jno.  xii.  47 — 50 ;  compare  for  the 
disciples  particularly  Jno.  xiii.  17,  and  the  final  conclusion  of  the 
whole  Bible,  Rev.  xxii.  6 — 21. 

Ver.  15.  The  Lord  here  bears  witness  to  Himself  as  the  true 
Prophet,  who  should  come  into  the  world  (Jno.  vi.  14 ;  1  Mace, 
xiv.  41,  7rpo<f>rjT7}<;  7rtcrTo?)  :  the  whole  series  of  heralds  and  wit- 
nesses of  God  from  the  first  prophecy  of  Moses  downwards,  con- 
verging into  the  one,  last,  perfect  utterance  of  God's  will,  through 
Him  whose  prerogative  it  is  to  say  "  My  Father,"  and  concerning 
whom  the  Father  responds — Him  shall  ye  hear  !  even  as  Moses 
in  the  beginning  had  testified  (Deut.  xviii.  15).  Hear,  and  bear 
well  in  mind,  what  I  now  say  unto  you :  after  me  will  many 
other  voices  speak  to  you,  beware  of  them  all.  In  this  lofty 
generality  His  warning  is  to  be  understood ;  and  what  the  Lord 
declares  for  the  hearing  of  all  ages,  must  not  be  shrivelled  into  a 
narrower  application  to  this  or  that  emergency,  to  any  present 
or  following  time.  It  is  altogether  the  same  as  if  he  had  now 
also  said — All  who  come  besides  me,  not  genuinely  in  my  name, 


MATTHEW  VII.  15.  311 

all  who  shall  teach  anything  other  than  I  say  to  you — are  thieves 
and  robbers,  whom  the  sheep  may  not  hear !  ( Jno.  x.  8).  As 
comprehensive  as  was  the  word  in  ch.  v.  12,  concerning  the  true 
prophets  of  former  ages,  is  the  contrast  to  them  in  this  passage — 
as  universal  as  that  contrast  had  been  already  exhibited  by  the 
Lord  Himself  in  Lu.  vi.  26 — with  this  let  Matt.  x.  41,  xxiii :  34 
be  also  compared.  For  the  sake  of  the  people  and  the  disciples, 
who  then  heard  him,  the  scribes  of  ch.  v.  19,  20 ;  Lu.  xx.  46, 
are  first  of  all  intended ;  but  then  all  are  included,  against  whom 
Matt.  xxiv.  lifts  up  a  warning  voice,  from  the  last  days  of  Israel 
to  the  end  of  time.  It  may  be  taken  in  connexion  with  the 
words  which  had  just  preceded  ;  and  they  are  then  false  guides. 
This  must  not,  however,  be  restricted  by  a  one-sided  limitation 
to  those  who  would  make  the  narrow  way  broader  to  you :  for 
there  are  false  guides  who  would  make  the  narrow  way,  apparently 
at  least,  narrower  than  the  Lord  has  made  it.1  They  come  to 
you — there  is  a  slight  contrast  hinted  in  this  :  they  come  though 
they  are  not  sent,  by  their  own  authority ;  thus  pointing  to  such 
ancient  warnings  as  Jer.  xiv.  14,  xxiii ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  God  sends 
them  not,  but  He  permits  them  to  come,  for  the  trial  and  con- 
firmation of  his  people  (1  Cor.  xi.  19  ;  Deut.  xiii.  1 — 4). 

What  then  is  the  sheep's  clothing  ;  does  the  genitive  irpo- 
ftdrcov  mean — with  evBu/xdai, :  clothed  like  sheep,  as  if  they  were 
sheep, — or — with  sheep  skins?  Men  contend  about  this  with 
idle  pains,  for  both  are  one  and  the  same :  and  the  word  is 
chosen  for  its  twofold  reference.  It  is  at  once,  assuredly,  clear 
from  the  simple  tone  of  the  words  (especially  with  reference 
to  the  Old  Testament  warnings  against  false  pastors  and  pro- 
phets which  is  connected  with  the  discourse),  that  it  should 
mean  : — they  demean  themselves  as  guides  and  shepherds,  going 
before  you  as  if  themselves  belonging  to  the  flock,  but  it  is  only 
a  counterfeit  and  mask,  for  they  are  not  sheep  as  ye  are,  to  whom 
they  come.  In  this  we  have  a  prelude  to  what  is  more  strongly 
expressed  soon  after  in  ch  x.  16  :  it  is  an  early  note  of  our  Lord's 
manner  of  describing  His  own  as  His  sheep,  as  it  appears  in  St 
John  :  a  usage  which  is  rooted  also  in  St  Matthew,  as  we  see  in 

1  Indeed  only  apparently — for  the  heaviest  yoke  of  human  imposi- 
tion is  always  lighter  to  us  and  more  agreeable,  than  the  true  and 
narrow  wav. 


312  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST    MATTHEW. 

such  sayings,  derived  from  prophetic  style  of  language,  as  ix. 
36,  x.  6 — and  in  the  shepherd-similitudes  (ch.  xviii.  12,  xxv. 
32,  33).  But  this  alone  does  not  exhaust  the  expression  as  used 
here :  for  these  first  hearers  were  not  sufficiently  prepared  for 
this  view,  and  there  was  yet  needed  some  intermediate  point  of 
connexion.  This  lies  certainly  in  the  ivSv/juaa-i,  which  to  Israel- 
itish  ears  would  immediately  carry  a  reference  to  the  prophet- 
costume,  known  to  all  of  them,  in  their  proverbial  language,  and 
of  late  brought  before  their  very  eyes  by  John  the  Baptist.  That 
this  included  also  sheepskins,  fjLrjXcoTds,  we  are  taught  by  Heb.  xi. 
37  ;  comp.  1  Kings  xix.  13 — 19  Sept.  If  it  is  asked,  whether  the 
sheepskins  and  goatskins,  the  rough  leathern  garments  (^JflJI  2 
Kings  i.  8)  of  the  prophets,  were  the  symbol  of  innocence  and  the 
natural  character  of  sheep,  we  answer  by  again  asking — may  not 
the  Lord  give  the  figure  this  application,  and  extend  it  from  its 
historical  use  so  far  ?  His  word  is  certainly  directed  to  this  point 
that  the  prophet's  garment  is  made  a  pledge  and  pretence  of  an 
honest  design,  and  thus  their  lie  is  cloked  under  the  appearance 
of  truth  and  sincerity  :  just  as  the  prophet  has  it  (Zech.  xiii.  4). 
We  thus  see  that  the  Lord  comprehends  in  their  inner  unity  the 
symbolism  of  nature  and  the  Bible,  combines  the  Old  Testa- 
ment phraseology  (even  the  Eabbinical  which  sprung  from  it) 
with  the  well-understood  usage  of  the  Gentiles,  so  that  His 
words  are  equally  intelligible  to  the  Scribes  in  Israel  and  to 
all  people  who  dwell  upon  the  earth  even  to  the  distant  ^ 
q^j-j.  The  JEsopic  wolf  in  sheep's  clothing,  and  the  Jewish 
perverter  in  the  garb  of  a  prophet,  are  united  in  one  similitude 
which  comprehends  the  idea  of  both,  and  combines  what  had  been 
true  as  a  historical  fact  with  the  common  truth  of  nature.  The 
apirayes  added  to  \vkol  does  not  merely  strengthen  the  figure, 
but  makes  emphatically  prominent  the  destruction  and  ruin  of  the 
poor,  deluded  ones;  as  subsequently  in  Jno.  x.  10 — 12,  and  again 
by  the  Apostle  (not  without  reference  to  our  Lord's  word)  Acts 
xx.  29.  How,  then,  shall  we  strictly  define  the  sheep's  clothing? 
A  fair  show  generally,  as  far  as  it  is  a  mere  evhvfxa  striking  the 
eye  of  those  who  are  said  eacodev  ehac :  then,  further,  it  includes 
on  the  one  hand  the  specious  discourses  (7ndavo\oyia,  Col. 
ii.  4 ;  tcevol  \6yoi,  Eph.  v.  6 ;  xP7lcrT0^°l'la   Ka^  ivkoyia,  Bom. 


MATTHEW  vn.  16,  17.  313 

xvi.  18)  of  an  attractive  doctrine  and  counterfeit  orthodoxy, 
and,  on  the  other,  the  simulated  walk  of  a  righteous  and  devout 
spirit,  /j,6pcf)(0(Ti<;  evaefiiiaq  (2  Tim.  iii.  5).  Although  in  the  latter 
case  the  deficiency  of  the  Bvvcljms  is  perceived  by  those  who  look 
searchingly,  and  it  is  scarcely  possible  (as  Nitzsch  preaches)  to 
counterfeit  the  stamp  of  godliness  to  the  eye  of  those  who  are 
well-grounded  in  the  experiences  of  Christian  self-denial.  As 
manifold  as  is  the  form  which  their  hypocrisy  assumes,  so  com- 
prehensive is  the  Lord's  meaning  with  regard  to  them.  It  must 
be  observed,  however,  that  what  it  is  attempted  to  impose  as  pure 
and  true  doctrine,  must  bring  with  it  also  false  doctrine  and 
error,  else  how  were  they  false  prophets  ?  And  further,  that  what 
appears  to  be  a  righteous  and  blameless  life,  can  be  no  genuine 
fruit  of  righteousness,  else  how  could  the  Lord  have  specified 
fruits  as  the  tokens  by  which  they  should  be  known  %  With  the 
most  perfect  propriety  of  truth,  He  places  fruits  in  opposition 
both  to  the  word  and  the  work  of  these  hypocrites. 

Vers.  16,  17.  Once  more  a  universally  appreciable  natural 
emblem,  which  at  the  same  time  finds  its  deep  significance  in  the 
symbolism  of  Scripture :  for  the  Bible  explains  to  us  from  its 
rudiments  the  book  of  creation.  (St  James  cites  once  more 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  ch.  iii.  12).  The  fig  tree  and  the 
vine,  the  noble  productions  of  the  holy  land,  the  vine,  indeed,  the 
noblest  of  all  lands  generally,  are  in  the  language  of  the  pro- 
phets, the  emblem  of  Israel :  thorns  and  thistles  indicate  (rather 
under  a  theological  than  a  physical  presentation)  the  weeds  of  sin 
which  have  sprung  from  the  curse,  as  may  be  seen  particularly  in 
2  Sam.  xxiii.  6 ;  Mic.  vii.  4.  What,  then,  are  the  figs  and  grapes, 
the  good  fruits  ?  As  far  as  the  reference  is  here  especially  to  the 
prophets,  certainly  not  pure  doctrine  simply  as  such,  as  an  ex- 
position would  maintain  which  springs,  however  unconsciously, 
from  an  evil  principle :  for  that  would  contradict  the  whole  con- 
sistent usage  of  the  Scripture  when  speaking  of  fruits,  and 
especially  the  words  of  the  Baptist,  to  which  the  Lord  here  refers, 
and  which  must  have  occurred  to  the  minds  of  all  His  hearers 
upon  the  Mount.  If  appeal  is  made  to  the  context  and  connexion 
of  Matt.  xii.  33,  34,  with  equal  appropriateness  at  least  may  we 
refer  to  the  disavowal  of  the  mere  saying,  Lord,  Lord,  afterwards 
in  this  same  discourse  (ver.  22).     Confession  alone,  doctrine  how- 


314  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ever  pure,  is  by  no  means  a  decisive  mark,  may  be  no  more  than 
a  hypocritical  pretension,  which  itself  must  be  brought  to  the  test. 
Still  less  may  we,  further,  limit  the  words,  as  has  been  done, 
to  the  fruit  which  the  false  teachers  may  produce  in  their 
disciples :  look  well,  what  kind  of  people  they  create  out  of 
their  adherents !  Although  this  view  is  not  altogether  ex- 
cluded, as  in  Jno.  xv.,  among  the  much  fruit  of  the  disciples, 
their  so-called  ministerial  fruit  must  be  included  with  the  rest. 
But  still  this  refers  to  the  teachers  and  guides  themselves  :  they 
cannot  make  their  disciples  what  they  are  not  themselves.  Thus 
is  it  the  life  of  these  prophets,  by  which  we  are  to  take  know- 
ledge of  them  I  Certainly  mainly  this  :  for  while  they  for  the 
most  part  speak  fairly,  their  error  is  manifest  enough  in  their 
life  ;  their  sheep' s-clothing  is  mostly  woven  of  words.  Yet  there 
are,  again,  though  not  in  such  numbers,  deceivers  of  an  opposite 
kind,  who  come  the  more  boldly,  the  more  they  appear  to  be 
authenticated  by  the  well-ordered,  decorous,  resplendent  charac- 
ter of  their  deportment.  Hence  the  Lord's  words  must  be  rightly 
understood,  as  fastening  upon  these  likewise :  we  are  not  to  look 
only  at  the  superficial  cast  of  their  words  and  works,  their  walk 
and  their  teaching,  which  is  far  from  a  sufficient  test,  but  we  are 
to  learn  by  it  to  distinguish,  what  are  genuine  grapes  and  figs,  from 
the  thorn  sloes  and  thistle-heads  which  might,  whether  nigh  at 
hand  or  far  off,  be  mistaken  for  them.  This  is  the  inmost  point 
in  the  meaning  of  the  Lord's  words,  this  is  the  only  true  sense  of 
the  KapiTol,  in  which  He  by  no  means  lays  down  a  merely  prepa- 
ratory, external  test,  while  St  John  afterwards  goes  deeper  into 
the  matter  (1  Jno.  iv.  1 — 3)  ;x  for  though  St  John  refers  there 
to  a  fundamentally  sound  doctrine,  yet  this  note  itself  requires, 
in  order  to  its  not  deceiving,  the  complement  to  it  which  is  here 
given  :  Fruits  and  work  decide  alone  at  last  unerringly.2      But 

1  So  Olshausen  in  his  frequent  overbold  manner ! 

2  In  which  we  are  not  misled  by  the  strange  assertions  of*  Lohe  (von 
der  Kirche  S.  93)  who,  relying  on  Lu.  vi.  45,  would  actually  have  all 
otherwise  illusory  holiness  of  life  tested  by  doctrine  and  confession  alone. 
A  sad  misunderstanding,  exposed  to  yet  sadder  abuse  !  If  possible 
stranger  yet  is  the  well-intentioned  explanation  of  the  Beuggener 
Monatsblatt — that  the  fruits  are  the  aim  and  tendency  of  their  actions, 
since  we  have  regard  to  the  fruit  in  the  planting  of  a  tree.  Who  can 
discern  that,  and  use  it  as  a  test  ? 


MATTHEW  VII.  18—20.  315 

let  this  be  rightly  understood !  The  question  might  be  put  in 
reply  :  But,  O  Lord,  thou  who  speakest  of  fruits,  how  should  we 
then  distinguish  the  fruits,  the  true  and  the  genuine,  such  as 
Thou  eallest  such,  and  as  will  avail  before  Thee  ?  For  there  is 
many  a  vine  of  Sodom,  which  produces  its  grapes  and  wine,  but 
gall  and  poison  are  therein  (Deut.  xxxii.  32,  33).  And  this 
question  he  has  already  answered  in  the  whole  Sermon,  in  which 
He  has  defined  the  fruits  of  righteousness  so  clearly,  that  we 
cannot  err  therein.  He  who  lives  and  acts  before  us  after  this 
standard,  can  be  no  false  prophet,  can  be  no  corrupt  tree.  The 
criterion  is  an  objective,  absolute  moral  law :  not  as  if,  in  entire 
perversion  of  the  order  and  relation,  "the  peculiarity  of  the 
individual "  should  be  the  measure  and  standard  of  appreciation, 
according  to  the  crafty  Wallenstein  :  "  Let  me  first  search  out 
the  nature  of  the  man,  and  I  will  tell  his  will  and  his  deed." 
Who  can  search  into  that,  but  from  without  inwardly?  although 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  a  sound  eye  is  requisite  for  rightly 
seeing  what  is  visible  before  it.  If  we  ourselves  stand  in  the 
living  apprehension  and  inward  experience  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  then,  but  only  then,  can  we  be  on  our  guard,  and  discern 
all  the  counterfeit  of  hypocrisy.  The  kiri^v^aeaQe  repeated  in 
ver.  20  is  less  imperative  than  a  promise :  ye  shall  know  them, 
that  is,  ye  who  are  my  disciples,  who  live  and  abide  in  my  words. 
For,  as  we  saw  above  in  our  general  glance,  the  fruits  which  are 
wanting  even  to  external  observation  in  the  false  teachers,  as 
certainly  as  they  are  inwardly  evil,  are  the  same  which  the  grace 
of  our  Lord  produces  in  all  His  disciples,  and  which  therefore  the 
judgment  of  our  Lord  will  exact  finally  from  all  His  disciples, 
sheep  and  shepherds  alike.  Such  a  general  meaning  is  rendered 
incontrovertible  by  the  sequel. 

Vers.  18 — 20.  That  which  in  ver.  17  was  expressed  with  irav 
as  a  natural  law  exhibiting  itself  in  things  generally :  that  the 
inwardly  good  manbringeth  forth  truly  good  fruits,  the  evil  man  on 
the  contrary,  evil  fruits  (in  which  the  iroielv  /capTrovs,  yy^  f^tyy 
of  the  original  brings  out  the  doing  of  the  work  more  fully  than 
we  can  express  it,  see  for  example  Ps.  i.  1,  3) ; — is  now  once  con- 
firmed by  a  negative  ov  Svvarac.  He  who  is  born  of  God  cannot 
commit  sin,  according  to  St  John's  meaning  (1  John  iii.  9), 
although  he  hath  sin  and  weakness  arising  from  within  him  and 


3 1  6  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

from  without.  But  the  natural,  sinful  man  (above  ver.  11),  cannot 
do  anything  good,  in  the  sense  in  which  grace  only  is  effectual  how- 
ever much  he  may  simulate  it :  they  who  are  living  in  a  state  of 
grace  can  well  distinguish  it.  It  is  indeed  possible  for  a  while  that 
the  wild  tree  should  be  graffed  into  grace  through  faith  (Rom. 
xi.),  but  there  follows  a  judgment  which  finds  the  tree  as  it  then 
is.  And  this  is  said  here  equally  for  the  good  of  the  disciples 
themselves.  We  have  this  same  expression  of  the  Lord  in  St 
Luke  (ch.  vi.  43 — 45),  independently  of  any  connexion  with  the 
warning  against  the  false  prophets,  but  in  the  closest  connexion 
with  the  reference  to  the  perfection  of  the  disciple  (vers.  40—42), 
as  also  with  the  judgment  upon  all  who  call  Him  Lord  without 
obeying  Him,  and  hear  Him  without  doing  His  words  (vers.  46 
— 49).  In  this  St  Luke,  though  in  a  briefer  extract,  has  rightly 
seized  and  preserved  the  leading  idea  of  the  discourse.  But 
whether  the  Lord  actually  then  upon  the  Mount  uttered  what 
St  Luke  appends  in  ver.  45,  or  whether  it  was  transposed  from 
the  repetition  of  the  Lord's  discourse  in  Matt.  xii.  33,  37,  where 
regard  is  rather  had  (after  the  precedent  of  Ecclus.  xxvii.  6),  to 
the  words  as  springing  from  the  heart,  we  venture  not  to  deter- 
mine. But  as  this  particular  reference  to  words  can  scarcely  be 
made  to  suit  the  Sermon  according  to  St  Matthew,  either  as  a 
mark  to  distinguish  the  prophets,  or  as  to  the  doing  of  the  will 
(ver.  21),  we  might  be  led  to  suppose  that  in  this  instance  St 
Luke,  standing  at  one  remove  from  the  event,  has  slightly 
departed  from  the  original  text  and  its  meaning,  which  would,  in 
that  case,  be  the  only  instance  of  the  kind  in  his  exhibition  of  it. 
The  being  "  hewn  down  and  cast  into  the  fire"  is  literally 
according  to  the  words  of  the  Preacher  of  Repentance  in  ch.  iii. 
10.  From  which  we  may  perceive  that  the  fruits  demanded 
by  the  Lord  are  no  other  than  the  fruits  meet  for  repentance 
required  there  in  ver.  8,  icapirbs  agio?  t?}?  /xeravoLas.  But  what 
fxerdvova  in  its  full  and  ever-deepening  sense  is,  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  as  the  development  of  that  compendious  announce- 
ment of  ch.  iv.  17,  fully  expounds  to  us  ;  and  in  such  a  manner 
that  that  first  requirement  must  always  recur,  whether  it  be  at 
the  close  of  the  Sermon  or  the  close  of  life, — or  to  speak  more 
definitely,  whether  it  be  at  the  close  of  the  gospel,  or  of  the  life 
of  grace.     That  which  as  a  legal  threatening  and  before  the  con- 


MATTHEW  VII.  21.  317 

solatory  message  of  grace,  impelled,  to  a  first  repentance,  after- 
wards impels  with  all  the  might  of  the  gospel  to  the  perfecting 
of  holiness.  It  is  a  fixed  decree — the  Lord  utters  it  as  strongly 
as  it  could  be  uttered — God  wills  inexorably  the  doing  of  His 
will :  I  am  not  come  to  relax  the  Law,  but  to  fulfil  and  establish 
it.  In  the  judgment  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  :  the  tree  must 
bear  its  fruit,  each  one,  be  he  whom  he  may.  If  he  produces 
not  good  fruits,  then  must  he  assuredly  produce  evil  fruit :  this 
follows  as  a  necessary  conclusion  from  vers.  17,  18.  But  that 
only  the  lack  of  good  fruit  is  expressly  mentioned  (just  as  ch. 
xxv.  42 — 45),  has  its  severe  meaning  for  the  wilful  blindness 
which  asks:  What  evil  can  I  do,  that  deserves  damnation? — 
Finally,  in  these  sentences  we  have  a  criterion  indicated  for  the 
two  most  obvious  classes  of  false  prophets  :  the  one  speaking  of 
fruits  without  planting  the  tree,  the  other  speaking  of  the  tree 
without  its  fruits.  As  for  that  most  dangerous  middle-class 
between  these  two  extremes,  including  those  who  teach  faithfully 
the  fruits  of  the  tree  which  the  Lord  plants,  and  also  seem  to 
possess  such  fruits,  not  merely  in  saying  Lord,  Lord,  but  in 
mighty  works  and  deeds  ;  for  them  the  Lord's  word,  with  apaye 
emphatically  repeated,  has  its  keen  force :  by  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them,  namely,  by  those  same  fruits  by  which  the  Lord 
knows  you  yourselves  to  be  His  own,  when  you  walk  sincerely 
before  Him,  and  for  the  lack  of  which  He  will  judge  you  in  com- 
mon with  all  who  persist  in  wanton  self-blinding. 

Vers.  21.  Let  it  be  carefully  observed,  for  this  alone  gives  the 
conclusion  of  the  whole  discourse  its  true  meaning,  that  the  Lord 
designedly  interweaves  together  the  judgment  upon  the  deceivers 
and  the  judgment  upon  all  generally  who  cannot  then  stand 
before  Him.  He  continues  to  speak  in  vers.  21 — 23  of  false 
prophets  (yet  not  now  as  known  hypocrites  and  wolves,  but  by  a 
transition  as  self-deceived)  ;  but  generally  also  of  all  who  know, 
proclaim,  and  call  upon  His  name.  Kvpios  is  here,  as  it  mightily 
announces  itself  to  be,  infinitely  more  than  the  usual  title  of 
reverend  men  (Jno.  xii.  21 ;  Acts  xvi.  30)  ;  He  who  now  in  the 
highest  and  only  sense  arrogates  as  befitting  Himself  the  name 
of  "  Lord,"  never  from  sacred  propriety  bestowed  that  title  on 
any  one  in  the  inferior  sense,  even  in  His  lowest  subjection.1  To 
call  Me  Lord  in  life,  to  call  Me  Lord  in  the  day  of  judgment — 

1  Ipse  neminen,  ne  Pilatum  quidem,  Dorainum  vocavit.     Bengel. 


318  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

is  the  claim  of  Him,  who  now  at  the  close  of  His  sermon,  every 
word  of  which  (even  in  St  Matthew)  is  strictly  measured,  pro- 
nounces that  great  and  all-comprehensive  "  My  Father."  That 
perversion  of  the  Lord's  words  in  the  mouth  of  the  Rationalists, 
which  represents  Him  as  laying  no  stress  upon  the  calling  of  Him 
Lord,  on  the  honour  of  His  own  name,  provided  only  the  doing 
of  God's  will  is  secured1 — is  the  most  wilful  perversion  that  can 
possibly  be  imagined.  Does  the  Lord,  then,  lay  such  emphasis 
upon  the  contrast  between  the  saying  Lord,  and  the  doing  the 
will  of  the  Father  f  Assuredly  not,  He  only  says  :  not  every  one 
that  saith  unto  me  Lord,  Lord  (however  earnestly  and  repeatedly 
he  may  say  it,  to  hide  his  deficiency,  as  the  repetition  of  the  word 
indicates),  if  it  be  no  more  than  saying,  if  the  evidence  of  the 
sincerity  of  this  profession  in  holy  life  is  wanting.  Moreover, 
He  expressly  exacts  in  Jno.  xiii.  13,  at  the  moment  of  His 
deepest  humiliation,  not  merely  the  slighter  Rabbi,  but  the  full 
and  unlimited  "  Lord."  When  He  prophecies  in  Matt.  xxv.  of 
such  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  shall  stand  before  His 
great  tribunal,  on  the  evidence  of  their  works  of  mercy,  without 
having  lived  in  the  conscious  knowledge  of  His  person,  He  yet 
represents  them  as  addressing  Him  at  the  last  with  nothing  less 
than  "  Lord."  His  Spirit  testifies  afterwards  in  the  Apostle,  that 
every  tongue  shall  confess  that  he  is  Lord  (Phil.  ii.  9 — 11) — as 
also  that  to  call  Him  Lord  is  precisely  the  same  as  to  belong  to 
Him,  and  possess  His  Spirit  (1  Cor.  xii.  3).  Only,  however, 
when  this  profession  is  a  reality  of  the  heart  and  of  the  whole  life, 
the  serving,  depending  upon,  and  obeying  Him  as  the  Lord,  in 
the  absolute  and  most  distinctive  sense  of  the  word,  as  it  was  found 
above  in  ch.  vi.  24.  Hence  the  perfectly  appropriate  question 
(Lu.  vi.  46),  which  was  probably  added  by  our  Lord  (between 
ver.  23  and  ver.  24  of  St  Matthew).  With  such  generality  is 
the  saying  of  Lord,  Lord,  laid  down  with  reference  to  the  sem- 
blance of  discipleship,  which  may  deceive  many,  even  as  many 
deceive  themselves  ;  and  now  comes  in  for  the  sake  of  the  reality 
of  that  profession  the  simple — he  that  doth  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven.  Which  indeed  does  not  merely  mean — he 
who  keeps  the  Ten   Commandments — but   the  commandment 

1  Fichte  led  the  way  by  maintaining  that  "  if  Jesus  only  should  find 
obedience  and  fruit,  He  would  ask  very  little  about  the  connexion 
which  His  name  or  His  person  had  therewith  I" 


MATTHEW  VII.  22,  23.  319 

of  faith,  the  revealed  will  and  council  of  the  Father  in  the 
sermon  (Jno.  vi.  39,  40;  1  Jno.  iii.  23)  is  essentially  in- 
cluded in  it.  Not  otherwise  does  the  Lord  speak  elsewhere, 
when  He  is  defining  the  limits  of  His  own,  as  for  example  in 
ch.  xii.  50 :  and  His  Spirit  in  the  Apostles  similarly  promises 
eternal  assurance  and  salvation,  the  final  possession  of  the  pro- 
mised kingdom,  only  to  such  doing  of  God's  will.  (1  Jno.  ii.  17  ; 
Heb.  x.  36.) 

Vers.  22,  23.  The  concrete  individuality  of  the  preceding  ov 
7ra9  aXX  6  ttolwv,  (the  plural  translation  of  which  in  the  German 
does  not  so  markedly  designate  every  one),  is  now  followed  by 
Many  !  which  introduces  in  its  sad  and  warning  severity,  a  more 
convincing  application  of  His  words,  and  lifts,  as  it  were,  already 
the  curtain  of  the  judgment-seat.  Many  again,  as  in  ver.  13, 
but  still  more  definite  and  strict :  not  merely  the  many  who  run 
with  a  wicked  world  in  the  road  to  hell,  but  many  even  among 
those  who  appeared  to  honour  Me,  to  walk  as  mine  in  words  and 
works,  who  thought  themselves  to  be  such !  In  that  day : 
according  to  the  exact  language  of  Prophetic  Scripture,  the  so 
frequent  fr^inn  D'V'Q.  ^ne  worst  development  of  hypocrisy ,  the 
result  and  judicial  self-punishment  of  deception,  is  at  last  seen  in 
the  deluded  belief  of  its  own  lie,  self-deception  become  hardened 
into  reprobation.  Hence  the  Lord  represents  as  the  extreme 
contrast  to  those  who  stand  before  Him  accepted  in  judgment, 
those  who  at  that  day  will  vainly  imagine  that  they  also  shall  find 
acceptance.1  For  that  is  indeed  all  that  is  meant  by  their  saying 
to  Him :  and  of  course  not  any  actual  so  speaking.  There  is  a 
self-deception  which  holds  out  to  the  end :  a  frightful  truth,  which 
the  Lord  once  again  reminds  us  of,  in  the  discourse  Lu.  xiii.  25 
— 27 — a  discourse  closely  related  to  this.  We  ask  in  our  curio- 
sity— is  there  then  a  self-deception  which  continues  through  Hades, 
even  to  the  last  day?  The  Lord's  word  answers  Yes,  but 
we  dare  not  ask  further  how  that  may  be.  The  word  of  Reve- 
lation does  not  lift  the  curtain  from  this  intermediate  state.  We 
may  forecast  and  anticipate,  but  nothing  certain  is  told.      Theo- 

1  They  are  as  thoroughly  assured  of  their  righteousness  and  salvation, 
as  the  Pharisee,  Rabbi  Simeon,  in  the  Talmud,  who  says  :  If  there 
are  only  two  righteous  men  in  the  world,  my  son  and  myself  are  the 
two  :  if  there  is  only  one,  it  is  I  myself ! 


320  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

sophy  alone  teaches  and  understands  (although  with  no  small 
danger  of  being  over-wise)  the  continuance  in  the  empire  of  the 
dead  of  the  errors  carried  thither. 

The  threefold  progressive  exhibition  of  their  word  and  deed, 
upon  which  the  evil-doers  relied,  advances,  according  to  their 
conception,  from  the  less  to  the  greater :  but  in  reality  and  in  the 
Lord's  estimation,  the  progression  is  downwards,  and  the  order 
must  be  reversed.  Awa^eus,  wonderful  works  or  miracles,  are 
the  least  of  all  attestations  according  to  the  general  doctrine  of 
Scripture :  there  are  many  signs  and  wonders  ascribed  to  the 
false  Christ,  and  the  false  prophets  (ch.  xxiv.  24).  More  plau- 
sible are  profitable  miracles,  by  which  the  Devils  are  really  cast 
out,  as  we  find  the  Lord  Himself  evidencing  by  them,  in  ch. 
xii.  25 — 28,  the  divinity  of  His  miracles.  Yet  it  is  requisite,  in 
order  that  this  token  may  not  deceive,  that  the  accordant,  con- 
firming evidence  of  all  the  works  which  spring  from  an  inner  life, 
good  fruits,  should  be  added :  the  spirits  are  subject  to  the  name 
of  Jesus,  even  when  pronounced  by  such  as  have  not  their  names 
written  in  heaven,  though  it  be  by  Judas  found  among  the 
twelve.  It  is  indeed  a  kind  of  faith,  by  which  they  are  produced, 
but  not  the  faith  which  saves  and  sanctifies  the  soul.  (1  Cor. 
xiii.  2).  Finally,  the  most  specious  is  the  first  mentioned  irpo^T)- 
reveiv,  not  merely  the  revealing  futurity  (which  belongs  rather  to 
the  hwafxeis))  but  according  to  the  use  of  the  expression  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  the  speaking  and  teaching  from  inspira- 
tion. But  there  is  even  an  inspiration,  which  consists  in  the  being 
transitorily  possessed  by  the  Spirit  of  truth,  without  penetrating 
to  the  regeneration  of  the  heart  and  will.  Alas,  how  many  a 
powerful  preacher  of  Christendom  falls  into  this  condemnation, 
that  of  preaching  thus  to  others,  himself  remaining  or  becoming 
reprobate ! 

There  is  such  a  self-deception  which  continues  to  the  end,  but 
it  is  detected  at  the  last :  and  the  detection  is  as  righteous  as  it  is 
fearful,  for  this  self-deception  is  only  hypocrisy  made  perfect  in 
its  own  guilt.  If  then — for  this  is  the  conclusion  which  the  Lord 
designs  to  produce  in  the  minds  of  His  hearers — such  as  can 
point  to  the  evidence  of  prophecy  and  miracle  are  rejected ;  how 
much  less  will  the  unfruitful  trees  of  a  commoner  kind  be  saved 
from  the  burning  !     If  even  their  thrice-protested — Lord,  Lord, 


MATTHEW  VII.  22,  23.  321 

in  thy  name  !  is  insufficient  for  their  salvation,  how  much  less  will 
the  saying  Lord,  Lord,  with  their  lips  only,  avail  for  the  multi- 
tudes of  the  utterly  idle  and  unprofitable,  in  the  day  of  His 
wrath !  Let  it  be  observed  how  significantly  the  Lord  main- 
tains the  honour  of  His  name,  by  thus  declaring  that  it  is  not  a 
mere  empty  external  honour  that  it  requires.  Let  our  hearts 
feel,  without  many  words,  the  inexpressible  egovcrla  of  the  judi- 
cial tot€  6/Ao\oryri<ja),  which  scattering  to  the  winds  the  delusion 
of  lies,  pronounces  the  truth  against  all  imaginations  and  self- 
delusion  !  There  is  no  'E<ya)  prefixed,  and  yet  in  these  most 
simple  words  it  is  most  solemnly  implied : — I,  the  Judge,  will 
say  unto  you ;  I  the  searcher  of  the  hearts,  will  reveal  to  you 
your  long-hidden  heart  and  conscience,  will  only  confirm  to  you 
what  you  should  have  known,  and  must  now  know.  If  all  the 
world,  if  all  God's  children  have  held  you  for  my  people,  I  never 
knew  you,  that  is,  as  truly  and  effectually  mine  ;  the  word  says 
nothing  more,  that  is  enough.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  fore- 
announcing  his  final  judicial  sentence,  the  Lord  appropriates  a 
word  of  His  great  ancestor  and  type,  King  David  ;  and  not  any 
such  royal  utterance  as  is  found  in  Ps.  ci.  3,  4,  7,  but  that 
which  occurs  in  Ps.  vi.  8  :  which  was  given  to  David  after  he 
had  cried  in  deep,  personal,  most  lowly  penitence — Rebuke  me 
not  in  thine  anger !  This  is  intended  to  intimate  (for  it  cannot 
have  been  chosen  without  signification)  that  whoso  hath  not 
learned  thus  to  speak  with  David,  will  be  constrained  to  hear  it 
from  another  mouth.  From  the  mouth  of  Him  whose  Depart 
from  me !  (ch.  xxv.  41)  is  cause  enough  for  condemnation  :  of 
Him,  who  needed  to  have  said  nothing  more,  yet  in  His  right- 
eousness makes  the  explanatory  addition  :  ye  that  work  iniquity  ! 
This  is,  further,  a  solemn  expression  taken  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, j^  ^7^S>  as  f°r  example>  in  Ps*  v»  6,  xiv.  4,  xxviii.  3, 
xxxvi.  13,  xcii.  8 — 10,  xciv.  4 — 16,  ci.  8,  cxxv.  5  ;  Job  xxxiv. 
8 — 22  ;  Prov.  x.  29,  xxi.  15,  (1  Mace.  iii.  6,  comp.  Lu.  xiii.  27). 
Ye  have  named  my  name,  but  ye  have  not  departed  from  ini- 
quity!  (according  to  2  Tim.  ii.  19,  where  there  is  manifestly  an 
echo  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  whether  by  the  conscious 
design  of  the  Apostle,  or  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit).  In  ttjv 
avofiiav  of  the  Greek  expression  we  may  detect  the  great  truth — 
with  all  your  other  appearances,  your  life  and  work,  judged  by 

21 


ffip'  0*  THE  **S^ 

(UKIVBRSITI 


322  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

its  internal  principle,  was  one  great  avo/xia,  nothing  but  unright- 
eousness, lawlessness,  and  transgression  in  my  sight  I1  Whether 
the  Lord  did  thus  keenly  express  His  meaning  is  questionable; 
on  account  of  the  Old  Testament  v^  \?$&* 

Vers.  24 — 27.  From  His  utterance  at'  the  day  of  judgment 
the  Lord  suddenly  turns  to  what  His  lips,  the  same  lips  now 
utter,  in  the  day  of  grace,  and  with  the  judgment  yet  in  the 
future.  These  sayings  of  mine : — these  words,  utterances,  testi- 
monies, as  I  have  now  given  them  in  one  entire  and  perfect 
harmony  of  connexion.  This  requires  us  to  regard  toutou?  as 
implying  a  fundamental  sermon  of  peculiar  solemnity :  and  it 
forms  its  sublime  conclusion  as  such,  its  direct  and  authoritative 
Dixi,  by  which  the  whole  discourse  makes  its  appeal  to  the  con- 
science as  the  word  of  the  future  Judge  even  before  its  \6yoL 
have  ceased  to  be  spoken.2  It  is  with  the  hearing  of  these  sayings 
as  with  the  saying  Lord,  Lord :  it  avails  not  of  itself,  but  must 
not  be  omitted.  The  hearing,  indeed,  is  the  first  necessary  con- 
dition :  for  faith  and  supplication,  asking,  receiving,  obeying,  and 
doing,  come  all  from  the  previously  received  and  accepted  word 
of  grace  and  truth,  Heb.  ii.  1,  xii.  25.  Yet  see  with  this  Kom.  ii. 
13  ;  Jas.  i,  22 — 25.  Again  there  is  the  concrete  antithesis :  & 
wise  man,  a  foolish  man ;  as  in  vers.  17 — 19,  tree  set  against  tree. 
The  very  popularly  conceived  and  condescending  similitude 
which  follows,  is  found  in  similar  terms,  though  more  superfi- 
cially, in  Sirach  (Ecclus.  xxii.  16, 17),  who  points,  as  the  Lord 
does  here,  to  passages  in  the  prophetic  Scripture.  To  Isa.  xxviii. 
15 — 18?  namely,  where  the  great  foundation  is  more  especially 
referred  to,  and  Ezek.  xiii.  10 — 15,  where  the  falling  of  the  un- 
tempered  wall  as  well  as  of  the  whole  building  is  threatened  in 
similar  figures.  Ezekiel  may  rather  refer  to  temporal  judgment 
(comp.  Ecclus.  xlix.  11),  Isaiah  to  the  final  fall  into  death  and 
hell.  Our  Lord's  word  here  embraces  both,  as  we  showed  above. 
The  house  which  a  man  builds  for  himself  as  a  secure  abode, 

1  Hence  Lange  would  translate  boldly — ye  who  pursue  lawlessnesses 
your  calling. 

2  Tovs  \6yovs  tovtovs  seems  to  bind  together  the  Sermon,  and  pre- 
clude, as  indeed  does  the  whole  structure  of  the  Sermon,  the  supposition 
that  these  chapters  are  merely  a  collection  of  sayings  uttered  at  dif- 
ferent times. — Alford. 


MATTHEW  VII.  24 — 27.  323 

as  a  defence  and  protection  against  wind  and  weather,  signifies 
the  abiding  and  standing  before  the  judgment  of  God  both  in 
time  and  eternity,  the  salvation  of  the  soul  into  perfect  security ; 
in  this  sense  Solomon  also  says — The  wicked  are  overthrown 
and  are  not ;  but  the  house  of  the  righteous  shall  stand  (Prov. 
xii.  7).  If  the  house  falls,  which  thou  hast  built  for  thyself,  then 
wilt  thou  thyself  be  overwhelmed  and  buried  in  its  ruins.  The 
Lord  speaks  not  directly  concerning  those  who  think  nothing 
about  all  this ;  who  have  no  concern  where  or  how  they  shall 
stand;  whobuild  not  at  all; — their  fate  is  understood  without  being 
mentioned.  They  also  who,  having  laid  the  right  foundation  at 
first,  yet  have  neglected  to  build  fast  and  firm  upon  that  founda- 
tion, will  find  their  condemnation  in  the  simple  word  which  after- 
wards makes  prominent  the  extremest  contrast  of  folly,  with 
those,  namely,  who  seem  to  think  mere  hearing  without  doing  to 
be  foundation  and  superstructure  enough.  (As  before  in  ver. 
22,  the  uttermost  extreme  was  contrasted,  designedly  to  embrace 
all  else).  If,  however,  we  look  narrowly  and  hear  attentively,  we 
shall  find  that  all  are  actually  included  who  fail  in  the  persistent 
doing  of  the  will  of  God  :  for  these  sayings  speak  directly  of  this, 
and  require  of  all,  who  hear  and  do  them,  perseverance  and 
consummation  of  their  holiness ;  and  we  might  add,  taking 
this  similitude  generally  to  ourselves,  that  a  foundation  is  not  itself 
a  dwelling,  there  must  be  something  built  upon  it.  This,  how- 
ever, is  contrary  to  the  close  connexion  of  the  figure  with  all 
these  sayings.  Rather  the  Lord  regards  the  entire  and  full  per- 
formance of  His  whole  will  as  itself  the  foundation  of  rock,  on 
which  all  depends :  the  superstructure  thereupon  is  understood 
without  any  specific  mention,  in  both  cases  alike. 

A  house  must  be  built  with  direct  reference  to  protection 
against  wind  and  weather,  for  the  rain,  the  floods,  the  winds  will 
not  fail  or  cease  : — this  is  the  significant  meaning  of  the  article 
here  designedly  used.  Specially  does  this  apply  to  Eastern 
countries,  with  regard  to  the  physical  character  of  which  this 
figure  is  chosen,  where  these  commotions  are  more  sudden  and 
more  violent  than  ordinarily  in  our  own  land.  The  rain  descends 
from  above  (tcareftw),  the  floods  come  side-long,  washing  their 
way  to  the  very  foundation  beneath  ;  when  in  addition  to  all  this 
the  winds  blow  and  violently  beat  upon  the  building,  none  but  a 


324  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

foundation  of  rock  can  sustain  the  whole.  This  has  been  pursued 
into  more  exact  detail,  as  referring  to  the  sorrows  and  afflic- 
tions which  God  sends  from  heaven  like  heavy  rain  ;  to  the  cur- 
rent of  the  spirit  of  the  age,  of  temptation  or  persecution,  which 
presses  around  and  shakes  the  foundation  ;  to  the  additional 
storms  or  marked  judgments  of  God,  in  which  He  blows  with 
His  breath,  to  separate  and  make  manifest  what  is  only  flesh.1 
We  leave  this  to  the  judicious  application  which  every  word  of 
Holy  Writ  will  easily  admit ;  but  the  generality  of  the  final  tone 
of  the  whole  discourse  will  not  permit  us  to  deduce  such  specific 
views  from  the  text.  In  St  Luke,  where  the  whole  reads  some- 
what differently  in  the  freedom  of  the  variable  letter,  the  winds 
and  the  rain  are  wanting,  a  simple  ifXrjfjLfjLvpa  is  all  that  is  spoken 
of.  On  the  other  hand  he  brings  into  more  prominence  the  fun- 
damental idea  of  the  parable,  which  is  the  firm  foundation  : — he 
digged  deep,  till  he  could  lay  his  foundation  upon  a  rock.  There? 
further,  our  Lord's  first  ofioLoocrco  is  made  strongly  emphatic,  in 
entire  harmony  with  St  Matthew's  meaning  :  vTrobei^w  v/jliv  tivi 
iarlv  o/jLOLos.  For  the  sovereign  authority  of  the  Master  employs 
here,  as  emphatically  as  condescendingly,  a  customary  mode  of 
speaking  among  the  Kabbies,  comp.  Mark  iv.  30.  In  the  second 
member  of  the  sentence,  it  is  merely  ofjuoLcodrjaeraL  or  ojjlolo? 
e<TTiv.  The  conclusion,  with  its  solemn  tone  of  threatening,  is 
the  same  in  both,  though  expressed  in  different  words  :  a  mani- 
fest token  that  we  have  in  St  Matthew  and  St  Luke  one  and  the 
same  discourse  of  our  Lord,  pursuing  its  course  of  instruction 
from  the  same  beginning  to  the  same  end. 


St  Matthew  conclusively  and  irresistibly  confirms  this  by  the 
postscript  (vers.  28,  29),  which  points  back  to  the  superscrip- 
tion in  ch.  v.  1,  2,  and  we,  for  our  part,  can  never  accede  to  the 

i  Braune's  interpretation  is  just  like  this,  as  far  as  concerns  the  first 
reference  ;  but  when  the  winds  are  made  only  human  temptations 
attacking  us  sideways,  and  the  floods  of  the  ocean,  "  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  the  despairing  and  then  froward  heart,"  this  seems  to  us  to  be  more 
subtle  than  skilful.  Father  Zeller  of  Beuggen  speaks  again  of  the 
heavy  rains  and  floods  of  revolutions,  the  wind  of  false  doctrine,  storms 
of  the  "judgments  of  God,"  agreeing  in  this  last  point  with  what  we 
have  given  above,  which  is  the  best  exposition,  after  all,  if  we  must 
make  these  distinctions. 


MATTHEW  VII.  28,  29.  325 

position  that  this  is  a  collection  of  sayings  uttered  at  various 
times.  How  mischievously  a  hypothesis  may  beguile  is  shown 
by  Olshausen,  who  finds  clear  evidence  of  St  Matthew's  having 
formed  such  a  collection  in  his  expression  tol»?  \6yovs  tovtou?, 
since  a  connected  discourse  could  only  be  spoken  of  as  X070?  in 
the  singular ;  while  the  avvereXeaev,  which  contradicts  this  sup- 
position, is  altogether  passed  over.  As  if  St  Matthew  had  not 
received  this  very  expression,  which  he  designedly  repeats  with 
great  emphasis,  from  the  Lord's  own  mouth  in  vers.  24.  and  26  ! 
(Oi  \6yoi  ovtol  cannot  there  be  "  extracts  from  several  discourses," 
but  have  the  same  meaning  as  ra  pr/fiara  a  iyw  \e\a\r)fca  vjuv  in 
Jno.  vi.  63,  and  6t  \6yoL  fiov  in  Matt.  xxiv.  35. 

What  the  Apostle  remarks  of  the  impression  of  the  discourse 
upon  the  0x^01,  appears  to  be  one  of  those  unfrequent  reflexions 
of  his  own  which  he  inserts  in  he  simple  narrative ;  but  it  is 
evidently,  when  closely  examined,  itself  only  narrative,  a  record 
once  made  in  the  most  appropriate  place,  just  as  St  Luke  after- 
wards says  the  same  thing,  (ch.  iv.  32).  Indeed,  what  St 
Matthew  says  in  ver.  29  may  be  almost  received  as  the  actual 
expression  of  the  people's  feeling,  as  an  epitome  of  all  their  say- 
ings concerning  it :  just  as  in  a  similar  manner  he  gives  in  ch. 
x.  36,  a  word  probably  spoken  by  the  Redeemer  himself.1  That 
was,  in  any  case,  most  naturally  the  necessary  impression  upon 
the  minds  of  the  multitude,  whether  they  thus  uttered  it  or  not ; 
that  was  the  inward  ground  of  that  outward  eKiikriaceaOaL,  of 
which  they  were  thoroughly  conscious  in  themselves.  It  was  so  : 
the  Apostle  himself  remembers  it  well,  for  his  own  emotion  at 
the  first  hearing  was  living  yet  in  his  soul.  Not  as  the  scribes  ! 
In  this  is  summed  up  yet  once  more  the  great  contrast  which 
pervaded  the  Sermon  from  ch.  v.  20.  But  alas  the  mere  igeirXijcr- 
(tovto  in  which  the  whole  terminated  with  regard  to  most  (Lu. 
ii.  18,  19),  transmits  to  us  a  melancholy  example  of  that 
hearing  and  not  doing,  with  warning  against  which  the  Sermon 
closed. 

1  Roos :  ws  i£ov<rlav  lx<ai/  as  one  who  was  though  incognito  the  King  in 
His  kingdom  1  Chrysostom  earlier:  nam-axou  iavrov  (vdeacvvfxevos  elvai  t6v 
to  Kvpos  exovra — on  account  of  the  "  I  say  unto  you,"  and  the  assertion  of 
the  judgment  at  the  close. 


o26  THE  GOSPELS  OE  ST  MATTHEW  AND  ST  LUKE. 


st  luke's  extract  from  the  sermon  on  the  mount. 


(Luke  vi.  20—49). 

We  have  already  shown  in  passing  that  St  Luke's  report  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  perfectly  agrees  with  St  Matthew 
in  everything  essential,  that  there  is  not  only  no  contradiction 
between  their  several  statements  and  view  of  it,  but  that  the 
comparison  tends  to  their  mutual  confirmation  and  elucida- 
tion. St  Luke  gives  an  epitome  of  the  Sermon,  like  St  Mat- 
thew: hence  it  is  natural  that  each  gives  something  which 
is  wanting  in  the  other,  even  in  the  case  of  St  Luke,  who  gives 
a  much  more  concise  presentation  of  it.  That  which  we  read 
as  given  by  the  apostles  and  ear-witnesses,  was  brought  to  their 
remembrance,  selected  for  them,  and  set  in  order  by  the  pro- 
mised Spirit  (Jno.  xiv.  26,  xvi.  14)  ;  the  historical  writer  St 
Luke,  who  derived  his  information  from  the  original  witnesses, 
and  whose  testimony  (in  relation  to  Jno.  xv.  26,  27)  is  human- 
mediate,  although  he  is  not  without  the  Spirit  of  truth,  yet  may 
naturally  be  supposed  not  to  have  caught  so  central  a  view,  and 
to  have  spread  out  the  whole  amplitude  of  a  long  discourse, 
which  was  poured  forth  at  once  in  such  depth  and  fulness.  For 
we  must  allow  in  the  New  Testament  as  the  synagogue  admitted 
in  the  Old  degrees  of  inspiration,  a  difference  even  between  St 
Matthew  and  St  John,  and  how  much  more  between  both  these 
and  the  two  other  Evangelists.  All  proceeds  naturally  with  each, 
in  the  miracle  which  yet  approves  itself  as  nature  ;  how  otherwise 
would  the  higher  and  lower  nature  come  together  as  a  true  and 
living  reality  I 

Here  we  are  constrained  in  a  second  edition  most  decidedly  to 
oppose  a  view  propounded  in  Langis  Leben  Jesu.  That  excel- 
lent man  having  thoroughly  entrenched  himself  (his  work  is 
pervaded  with  it)  in  the  notion  at  first  broached  by  Augustin, 
and  since  his  time  sometimes  emerging  into  notice,  of  two 
discourses  delivered  at  a  short  interval,  endeavours  to  convince 


luke  vi.  20—49.  327 

us  that  there  was  a  sermon  on  the  mountain-level  in  addition  to 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  a  platform  sermon  besides  the  hill 
sermon,  a  sermon  for  the  people  after  the  sermon  for  the 
church  i1  but  few  we  think  will  concur  with  him.  The  reasons 
which  are  adduced,  more  confidently  maintained  than  well- 
grounded  against  the  long-prevailing  view,  are  indeed,  actually 
very  weak,  and  provoke  our  instant  opposition.  Apart  from  the 
ingenious  turns  of  thought  andforced  interpretations  which  Lange 
in  this  as  in  all  his  hypotheses  has  abundantly  at  command,  the 
arguments  for  this  view  are  reduced  to  these  two  positions  :  that 
the  Evangelists  themselves  indicate  separate  localities  and  circum- 
stances, and  that  St  Matthew's  discourse  could  not  from  its 
intrinsic  nature  have  been  openly  and  publicly  delivered. 

We  are  to  understand  (Matt.  v.  1)  that  the  Lord  at  the  sight 
of  the  great  multitude  of  people,  retired  into  the  narrower  circle 
of  His  own  disciples  !  But  what  man  in  his  senses  and  not 
already  pledged  to  a  hypothesis,  can  fail  to  see  that  the  connexion 
with  ch.  iv.  25  will  not  allow  of  a  retreating  from  the  crowd, 
but  rather  requires  that  that  crowd  is  itself  taught  ?  (Com p.  ix. 
36,  xv.  29,  30,  xix.  2).  Thus  the  disciples  are  either  those 
who  in  a  narrower  circle  more  immediately  surrounded  Him ;  or 
more  generally  and  in  a  wider  sense,  all  who  were  disposed  to 
hear  Him  and  followed  Him  for  that  purpose.  This  is  rendered 
more  certain  by  St  Matthew's  own  declaration  (vii.  28)  that  the 
ox^ol  were  hearers  of -this  discourse  !  Further,  the  ear?)  of  Lu. 
vi.  17  is  not  to  be  pressed  (as  Braune  takes  it)  to  mean,  that 
Jesus  delivered  this  discourse  standing  upon  the  plain,  but  it 
simply  signifies,  as  coming  after  the  na-raftd^  that  then  he  stood 
still,  halted  at  the  place  which  He  would  choose  for  His  Sermon. 
The  T07TP9  Tre&ivos,  the  "  high  or  mountain-level,"  a  platform  of 
the  opos,  was  naturally  selected  as  adapted  for  the  gathering 
together  of  the  people. 

But  the  very  doubtful  exegesis  in  favour  of  distinct  locality  is 

1  Since  the  Lord,  in  contrast  with  the  second,  and  more  bare  redac- 
tion o£  the  law  by  Moses  (!)  reduces  the  first  form  of  the  Sermon  on. 
the  Mount  which  only  His  devoted  disciples  could  apprehend  ;  and  in 
tender  consideration  of  the  people's  weakness,  gives  a  second,  more  con- 
crete, and  easily  apprehended.  Against  all  such  distinction  see  the 
testimony  of  Jno.  xviii.  20. 


328  THE  GOSPELS  OF  ST  MATTHEW  AN1>  ST  LUKE. 

supported  by  an  internal  criticism,  which  comes  to  its  aid  with  the 
bold  affirmation  that  Christ  could  not  have  delivered  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  to  all  the  people  indiscriminately !  It  cannot  receive 
a  view  which  would  indiscreetly  put  to  the  utmost  peril  its  whole 
design,  for  this  discourse  has  altogether  an  esoteric  and  confiden- 
tial type  I1  The  common  people  were  not  yet  ripe  to  receive 
such  an  illuminating  criticism  upon  the  precepts  of  the  Phari- 
sees !  We  appeal  against  this  to  our  whole  exposition,  which  has 
seized  and  exhibited  the  spirit  of  the  whole  discourse  as  a  public 
programme  of  doctrine  for  the  whole  people.  We  think  we  can 
decisively  overturn  this  whole  position  by  three  brief  questions. 
First :  did  not  the  discourse  which  the  Lord  might  utter  before 
his  formed  circle  of  disciples  (which,  however,  could  not  possibly 
be  a  closed  circle,  since  whosoever  would  might  go  up  to  them) 
instantly  and  necessarily  and  always  become  public— especially  a 
discourse  so  strikingly  delivered  as  this  I  As  to  its  being  confiden- 
tial, a  mountain  in  the  very  sight  of  the  following  crowds  would  not 
have  been  chosen  for  a  discourse  which  was  to  be  withheld  from 
the  people.  Can  we  suppose  the  Lord  to  have  commanded  them 
to  remain  below,  until  He  should  come  down  and  speak  also  to 
them?  Secondly:  where  do  we  find  in  all  the  Gospels  the 
slightest  trace  of  any  such  delicacy  and  consideration,  of  any  such 
disposition  to  spare  the  Pharisees,  in  the  first  period  of  His 
ministry  f  Finally  :  was  John  the  Baptist's  public  and  unspar- 
ing and  severe  opposition  to  the  Pharisees  in  the  presence  of  all 
the  people  an  imprudence,  which  the  Lord  can  be  supposed  to 
have  desired  to  repair,  or  to  have  been  in  a  condition  to  do  so  ? 

Enough,  no  further  detailed  refutation  is  necessary.  We  at 
least,  observe  not  in  St  Luke  any  such  «  dim  and  exhausted 
representation  of  the  discourse"  as  the  supposition  of  its  identity 
is  thought  to  involve  :  he  gives  another  extract  of  it,  and  indeed 
each  Evangelist  can  be  supposed  to  have  given  the  longer  dis- 
courses of  our  Lord  only  in  such  extracts.  But  we  hold  it  a  far 
worse  evil  than  even  a  dim  presentation  at  a  second  remove  by  a 
collator,  if  such  language  may  be  used;  yea,  we  reckon  it  the 

»  It  is  even  said  that  in  the  midst  of  a  gathering  of  thousands  of 
^irdi?dn0t  W  *^**W  M**  -partly 


luke  vi.  20—49.  329 

worst  possible  evil,  and  one  that  decisively  condemns  and  over- 
throws the  whole  hypothesis  of  Lange,  that  untruthfulness  is  thus 
necessarily  imputed  to  an  Apostle  and  eye-witness.  Is  it  said  that 
by  his  "  inexact  concluding  words  "  concerning  the  astonishment 
of  the  people,  he  has  in  some  degree  weakened  his  own  first 
"  more  exact  statement"  in  ch.  v.  1 1  Assuredly  not,  he  tells  us 
only  at  the  close  himself,  how  his  words  at  the  beginning  are  to 
be  understood.  It  is  said  that  u  he  has  allowed  the  sermon  to  the 
people  to  mix  with  the  sermon  to  the  church ;"  nay  that  "  minute 
transpositions  from  the  one  sermon  to  the  other  may  have  taken 
place  through  evangelical  tradition."  We  have  a  quite  different 
opinion  of  St  Matthew's  Gospel,  and  of  his  narration,  so  simple 
in  its  truth,  and  exhibiting  so  entirely  as  it  does  the  marks  of  an 
eye-witness.  He  is  said,  finally,  to  have  taken  the  popular  and 
lucid  similitude  at  the  conclusion  of  the  exoteric  discourse,  and 
attached  it  to  the  esoteric: — but  what  assertions,  what  imputations 
are  these !  and  how  did,  then,  the  Lord  close  His  confidential 
sermon  ?  Was  it  not  also  with  the  rejection  of  the  workers  of 
iniquity,  ch.  vii.  23 1  And  how  did  the  fit  and  appropriate  con- 
clusion pass  into  oblivion,  the  other  taking  its  place  1  Then 
must  the  wisdom  of  the  Great  Teacher,  which  led  Him  to  deliver 
two  sermons,  and  which  could  not  have  spoken  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  to  the  multitude,  have  remained  hidden  from  the 
Apostle  Matthew  as  well  as  from  all  "  evangelical  tradition,"  so 
that  they  mixed  together  in  early  times  what  it  was  left  to  our 
later  skill  to  discriminate.  Against  all  these  absurdities  we  have 
our  consolation,  reading  the  Sermon  to  the  people  even  in  St 
Matthew's  account ;  and  regarding  it  as  returning  to  us  again 
abbreviated  in  the  derived  Gospel  of  tradition.  "  Devoted"  dis- 
ciples— how  came  these  such  so  early?  were  they  not  rather  made 
so  by  this  Sermon,  which  was  designed  to  call  out  and  to  separate 
those  disciples  from  the  mass  of  the  people  f 

St  Luke  hands  down  what  his  sources  gave  him,1  and  arranges 
more  after  the  manner  of  human  skill  and  wisdom  the  words 
which  his  reporters  had  seized  and  preserved  as  then  spoken  by 
our  Lord.  Thus  in  his  case  there  may  be  something  of  that 
which  is  improperly  imputed  to  St  Matthew,  a  working  up,  if  we 

1  Not,  however,  just  a  "  Postscript " — as  Schleiermacher  once  said,  as 
if  talking  about  his  Berlin  sermons  I 


330  THE  GOSPELS  OF  ST  MATTHEW  AND  ST  LUKE. 

may  so  call  it,  of  Ins  materials.  He  constructs  out  of  the  details 
a  whole  of  his  own,  and  in  doing  so  we  must  suppose  that  the 
original  letter  may  have  been  departed  from  in  some  cases  by  his 
vouchers,  as  well  as  that  he  may  in  some  cases  have  departed 
from  it  himself,  just  in  order  to  give  it  more  closely.  He  gives  his 
own  spontaneous  expression  sometimes  so  as  to  make  his  narrative 
move  more  harmoniously  ;  generalizes  the  concrete,  for  instance, 
in  order  that  it  might  lose  any  fragmentariness  or  indistinctness, 
being  conscious  in  himself  that  in  some  cases  he  had  not  received 
the  ipsissima  verba  of  the  Lord.  We  concede  all  this,  for  it  lies 
before  our  eyes  ;  and  yet  we,  on  our  side,  maintain  with  equal 
confidence,  that  St  Luke  could  not  in  this  manner  incorporate 
any  thing  of  his  own,  or  any  tiling  that  by  others  before  him  had 
been  falsely  attributed  to  our  Lord.  For  that  the  Spirit  of  Truth 
miraculously  guided  him  also,  preserving  him  from  all  essential 
error  in  the  matter  of  his  Gospel,  is  most  evident,  however  more 
or  less  conscious  his  Prooemium  shows  himself  to  have  been  of 
this.  It  is  manifestly  stamped  upon  the  very  character  of  His 
whole  Gospel,  and  is  proved  by  the  many  discourses  of  our  Lord 
which  he  alone  gives  in  all  their  self-evidencing  truth.  Conse- 
quently we  have  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  even  of  St  Luke 
nothing  but  the  Lord's  word  actually  spoken  by  Himself :  even 
there  where  for  once  he  may  be  thought  to  have  transgressed  the 
bounds  of  his  own  faculty  by  introducing  a  saying  from  another 
place  (ver.  45) ;  yet  even  this  is  a  saying  of  our  Lord,  actually 
spoken  on  another  occasion. 

The  more  closely  genuine  criticism  examines  the  contents  of 
the  two  Evangelists,  laying  them  side  by  side  and  subjecting 
them  to  a  comparative  exposition,  the  more  incontestably  does 
St  Matthew's  evince  itself  to  be  the  original,  according  to  which  St 
Luke's  is  to  be  understood.  For  what  the  latter  gives  us  bears 
the  natural  character  of  having  been  transmitted  and  derived  from 
hearers  at  a  second  remove.1  To  make  this  the  proper  original, 
and  St  Matthew's  a  deviating  and  expanded  collection  and  com- 
pilation, is  not  criticism  but  folly,  which  heedlessly  and  super- 
ficially talks  about  what  has  never  been  thoroughly  investigated , 

1  Not,  however,  in  the  sense  in  which  Schleiermacher  says,  u  that  the 
reporter  had  a  more  unfavourable  place  for  hearing." 


luke  vi.  20—49.  331 

This  is  our  avowal  and  testimony ;  the  detailed  grounds  of  which 
appertain  not  to  this  book,  though  we  hold  them  in  readiness. 

Let  the  entire  arrangement,  closely  compacted  as  it  i3  in  St 
Matthew  down  to  its  slightest  details,  be  now  surveyed  ;  and  let 
the  elements  of  the  discourse  as  given  by  St  Luke  be  assigned  to 
their  place  in  it.  The  commencement  and  the  conclusion  fit 
well  together,  although  the  great  bulk  of  the  expansive  middle- 
part  is  wanting.  Of  the  first  main  division  we  have  the  Benedic- 
tions, apprehended  in  their  starting-point  and  in  their  essence,  and 
illustrated  by  distinctive  contrasts.1  Of  the  second  part  we  find 
little,  yet  that  little  is  well-ordered  and  correct.  Of  the  first  con- 
trast as  opposed  to  the  righteousness  of  the  Pharisees,  we  have 
the  commandment  of  the  love  of  enemies  which  disannuls  their 
wicked  gloss  upon  the  falsely  interpreted  law ;  as  well  as  the 
accompanying  reference  to  the  perfect  merciful  benevolence  of 
God.  (The  express  polemic  against  their  apprehension  of  the 
law  in  individual  precepts  is  wanting  at  the  beginning,  as  also 
that  against  their  specious  conformity  to  the  law  in  alms- 
giving, prayer,,  and  fasting).  The  whole  of  the  second  con- 
trast as  against  heathenish  care  is  pretermitted,  probably  with  the 
Evangelist's  knowledge  and  design,  certainly  under  the  Spirit's 
direction,  since  this  gospel  (ch.  xii.  1)  contains  a  record  of  it 
afterwards  as  having  been  spoken  by  our  Lord.  The  third 
contrast,  on  the  contrary,  as  against  judging  and  mote-seeing, 
comes  forward  with  tolerable  fulness,  even  enlarged  upon  the 
main  idea.  (On  the  other  hand  the  profound  observation 
directed  against  the  imprudence  of  charity  in  exhorting  and 
preaching,  is  wanting :  and  so,  indeed,  is  the  whole  close  of  this 
division,  viz.,  the  injunction  to  prayer  and  to  enter  through  the 
strait  gate,  but  only  for  the  reason  given  above,  that  both  are  to 
occur  in  a  later  repetition  (xi.  and  xiii.  chs.,  as  well  as  the  pre- 
ceding liord's  prayer.)  Finally,  in  the  third  part  of  the  discourse, 
only  the  warning  against  false  prophets  is  passed  over,  as  before 
the  general  controversy  with  Pharisaism.  Instead  of  this  the 
requirement  of  the  fruits,  the  exhortation  to  doing,  and  the  warn- 

1  Not  as  if  (according  to  Schleiermacher)  the  reporter  had  appended 
the  woes,  in  order  to  fill  up  a  gap  which  he  felt,  but  knew  not  how 
to  complete  I  But  in  the  sense  in  which  we  shall  afterwards  explain 
ourselves. 


332  THE  GOSPELS  OF  ST  MATTHEW  AND  ST  LUKE. 

ing  against  not  doing  y  follow  immediately  next,  in  strict  harmony 
with  the  fundamental  course  of  thought.  And  now  we  ask  any 
man  whether  in  St  Luke's  extract  also,  the  characteristic  element 
of  every  section  is  not  preserved  :  the  heart  of  the  promise  at  the 
commencement;  the  point  of  the  requirements  in  the  middle, 
piercing  the  heart  of  every  hearer  who  keeps  them  not  (in  ver. 
40  these  requirements  merge  into  that  of  a  perfect  discipleship) ; 
and  finally  the  conclusion  with  its  no  less  emphatic  and  solemn 
warning.  We  have  fresh  evidence  in  this,  that  we  have  rightly 
seized  the  course  and  order  of  the  discourse  in  St  Matthew,  since 
it  is  not  contradicted  here  but  confirmed.  We  find  a  reason  and 
justification  of  St  Luke's  omission  of  the  reference  to  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets  (Matt.  v.  17 — 19),  as  well  as  of  the  subsequent  con- 
troversy with  Pharisaism  upon  its  interpretation  of  individual 
commandments,  in  the  relation  which  his  Gospel  bears  to  the 
first :  he  has  less  directly  than  St  Matthew  a  Jewish  interest  and 
aim,  but  the  Spirit  uses  him  as  a  witness  for  the  Greeks  and  the 
Gentiles.1  Thus  in  the  marvellous  domain  of  inspiration,  where 
human  consciousness  and  divine  direction  most  wonderfully  unite 
in  concert,  even  deficiencies  approve  themselves  as  parts  of  a  well- 
ordered  arrangement. 


Vers.  20 — 23.  In  the  benedictions  as  here  given  according  to 
the  conception  of  a  less  immediate  report,  we  do  not  find  recog- 
nized St  Matthew's  internal  progression  through  the  number 
seven  into  its  close  and  confirmation  in  the  eighth,  and  the  com- 
plete systematic  view  of  the  inner  and  outer  life  of  discipleship 
which  he  has  stamped  upon  them.  Hence  not  only  is  the  second 
part  (Matt.  v.  7 — 9)  quite  wanting,  but  also  the  previous  bene- 
diction of  the  meek,  as  it  stands  at  the  turning-point  of  the 
development.  But  so  much  more  sharply  comes  out  in  striking 
paradox  the  contrast  between  the  promised  blessedness  and  the 
present  external  circumstances  of  the  disciples,  as  St  Luke's  main 
point  of  view  :  blessed  are  ye  who  are  now  miserable,  needy  and 
persecuted !      In  this  view  the  transposition  which  places  those 

1  Von  Gerlach  simultaneously  concurred  with  me  in  this  reason  for 
regarding  St  Luke's  discourse  as  u  without  doubt  the  selfsame"  which 
St  Matthew  gives  more  in  detail. 


luke  vi.  20—23.  333 

who  hunger  before  those  who  weep,  is  fully  justified  :  and  thus 
viewed  the  benediction  of  the  persecuted  and  separated  ones, 
(vers.  22,  23)  was  all  the  more  indispensable.  It  is  in  harmony 
with  this  point  of  view,  further,  that  the  discourse  just  here 
assumes  the  direct  address  of  Ye,  (which  in  St  Matthew  first 
begins  at  ver.  11)  ;  and  the  preceding  observation  that  the  Lord 
thereby  signified  His  disciples,  is  so  entirely  correct,  that  we  can- 
not but  suppose  in  connexion  with  St  Matthew's  form  of  expres- 
sion such  a  direct  turning  of  the  Lord's  eye  upon  His  immediate 
and  near  disciples.  To  give  this  idea,  as  a  human  illustration 
which,  however,  is  faithful  to  the  true  reference  of  the  discourse, 
vvv  is  now  appended:  for  if  a  present  internal  satisfaction  and 
consolation  are  promised  to  those  who  hunger  and  those  who 
weep,  yet  does  the  full  contrast  as  here  viewed  stretch  its  futu- 
rum  onwards  to  that  time  of  which  such  a  passage  as  Rev.  vii. 
16,  17,  speaks.  Then  will  the  consolation  which  now  begins  be 
consummated  in  laughing  in  its  highest  sense  (Ps.  cxxvi.  2). 

But  here  a  false  criticism  and  exposition — even  that  of  Ne- 
ander,1  to  our  great  regret — will  have  it  that  the  Lord's  word  is 
misunderstood,  as  if  He  had  spoken  of  the  physically  and  exter- 
nally hungry  and  poor.  Assuredly  it  is  not !  Let  it  be  observed 
narrowly  and  it  will  be  seen  that  as  in  St  Matthew  the  Q^V^N 
are  by  transition  included,  so  also  in  St  Luke  internal  poverty, 
hunger  and  sorrow  are  not  excluded  but  implied.  He  had  already 
(ch.  iv.  18)  quoted  Isaiah's  ivayyekiaaaOai  7tto)^o69,  and  now 
indicates  the  true  meaning  of  that  expression,  the  only  one 
which  it  will  bear  in  the  prophetic  Scripture  :  viz.,  that  which 
includes  both  senses  in  the  indeterminate  language  of  the  Spirit. 
Are  mendicants,  as  such,  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of  God  % 
Only  as  far  as  their  external  poverty  becomes  true  poverty  of 
spirit ;  as  on  the  other  hand  the  externally  rich  may  be  truly 
poor  before  God.  The  ra>  Trvevfiart  is  wanting  to  tttw^oi  and 
ttjv  Siicatoavvnv  to  Treiv&vres,  but  that  they  are  to  be  understood 
in  the  Lord's  word  follows  necessarily  from  its  being  His  word.2 

1  Who  sees  here  only  narrow-minded  misunderstanding  combined 
with  rhetorical  painting. 

2  Alford  remarks  very  truly  that  a  comparison  of  other  passages  in 
St  Luke  without  reference  to  St  Matthew,  would  render  a  spiritual 
sense  necessary. 


334  THE  GOSPELS  OF  ST  MATTHEW  AND  ST  LUKE. 

In  the  sequel  we  have  as  a  mere  change  of  expression,  instead 
of  persecute,  its  principle  sharply  defined  in  fiiaelv,  and  with  this, 
its  manifestation  in  a<popi£eiv  ;  the  Lord  may  have  uttered  both  ; 
let  His  corresponding  concluding  discourse  to  the  disciples  be 
compared  with  this,  and  let  the  probable  allusion  in  Jno.  xvi. 
2  to  Isa.  lxvi.  5  be  duly  noted.1  The  eKJSaXkeiv  to  ovo/ia  o>? 
Travnpov  is  probably  the  same  as  ^  D^  N^iH-  (Dent.  xxii.  19). 
Yet  is  €K(j)epeLu  ovofxa  irovnpov  as  the  Sept.  translates  there  some- 
what different  from  the  stronger  iicfidWeiv  of  our  text  (which 
rather  includes  the  idea  of  excommunicating  or  putting  under 
ban),  and  from  the  just  as  much  stronger  to  ovopa  vp,wv  &>?  Trovrj- 
pov. This  a)?  and  this  to  point  rather  to  the  Name  which  they 
preach  and  glory  in;  which  they  thus  make  their  own  and 
bear ;  see,  again,  the  Epistle  of  St  James,  which  is  pervaded 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (ch.  ii.  7),  where  we 
the  rather  find  allusion  to  our  text,  as  the  poor  and  the  rich,  ver. 
5,  6,  had  just  been  spoken  of.  In  the  intense  vKipTav  St  Luke 
only  remains  true  to  his  fundamental  aim,  to  make  prominent  the 
contrast  between  the  future  and  the  now :  but  inasmuch  as  not  a 
future  but  an  imperative  stands  connected  with  "in  that  day" 
(comp.  Matt.  vii.  22,  a  prelude  of  which  we  may  have  here),  it 
must  be  taken  with  dya\\iaa6e  :  Leap  up  joyfully  in  faith  and 
hope,  in  anticipation  of  your  future  joy. 

Yers.  24—26.  Just  in  these  words  the  Lord  assuredly  spoke, 
though  they  may  be  reported  with  more  or  less  literal  exactness. 
It  is  not  conceivable  that  any  reporter  could  have  falsely 
appended  such  contrasted  woes  to  the  distinctly  marked  benedic- 
tions ;  even  leaving  out  of  view  the  Spirit's  guidance  of  St  Luke. 
St  Matthew,  who  makes  prominent  the  progress  of  development  as 
the  main  idea  of  the  Sermon,  has  omitted  these  as  well  as  much 
else  that  is  similar,  here  however  they  take  their  place  with  the 
full  force  of  perfect  contrast.  Here,  still  less  than  before,  the 
externally  rich,  and  full,  and  laughing,  are  intended  as  such  : 
and  we  have  new  confirmation  of  the  spiritual  interpretation  of 
the  preceding.  These  sayings  of  our  Lord  find  their  type  in  the 
Prophetic  Scripture,  Isa.  lxv.   13,  14.      St   James,  in  whom, 

1  Though  there  ip$  Wff? is  to  De  construed  differently  from  Luther 
as  my  commentary  on  Isaiah  shows. 


luke  vi.  24—26.  335 

we  discern  so  many  elements  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (as 
found  whether  in  St  Matthew  or  St  Luke),  to  which  he  imme- 
diately went  back  through  the  medium  of  living  tradition,  mani- 
festly refers  to  it  not  only  in  ch.  iv.  9,  but  also  in  ch.  v.  1 ;  with 
which  he  also  in  vers.  2,  3  combines  (as  we  saw  before)  an  allu- 
sion to  what  is  found  in  Matt.  vi.  19,  20.  Both  in  the  former  and 
the  latter  passage  he  designates  the  externally  rich,  but  as  they 
are  at  the  same  time  rich  and  self-satisfied  in  the  sense  of  Lu. 
xviii.  24,  25  ;  Rev.  iii.  17  ;  Hos.  xii.  9.  Ye  have  received  your 
consolation — once  more  an  anticipatory  note  of  Matt.  vi.  2, 
comp.  Lu.  xvi.  25.  Very  significant  also  is  i/uLTreTrXwo-fjuevoi,  full 
indeed,  but  not  properly  satisfied.  (Lu.  xv.  16  ;  Ps.  xvii.  14). 
They  are  the  rich  and  the  full,  who,  because  they  have  the  good 
things  of  this  world  and  earthly  consolation,  think  themselves 
also  contented  in  soul :  such  are  immediately  spoken  of,  but 
they  are  taken  only  as  a  most  striking  type  and  example  of  those 
who  are  spiritually  satisfied  and  at  ease,  of  whom  there  are  many, 
indeed,  who  have  no  external  abundance  of  earthly  goods  and 
earthly  joy.  But  he  whom  earthly  good  does  not  content, 
belongs  to  the  hungry  ones  who  were  before  blessed,  even  though 
he  may  abound  in  provision  for  his  earthly  life.  The  four  woes 
correspond,  as  they  are  here  arranged,  to  the  four  benedictions : 
hence  the  laughing  has  no  bye-meaning  of  mad  earthly  exube- 
rance of  joy  (as  in  Eccles.  ii.  2,  vii.  3,  6) ;  it  is  only  the  exact 
converse  of  ver.  21.  In  reality  it  includes  not  only  that  wicked 
laughter,  properly  so  called,  which  being  a  mere  convulsive 
excitement  of  the  animal  nature  is  exhibited  as  unworthy  of  man, 
but  also  and  more  than  that,  the  malevolent  laughter  of  those 
who  hate  righteousness  and  triumph  over  the  righteous,  which 
is  referred  to  again  in  Jno.  xvi.  20,  but  not  in  the  same  terms. 
Thus  it  forms  a  good  transition  to  the  mention  of  hatred  and  per- 
secution, which  follows  presently  afterwards  in  contrast.  How 
apt  is  the  proleptic  allusion  to  the  false  prophets  in  the  Lord's 
discourse,  which  in  the  first  part  already  shadows  out  its  whole 
course,  we  have  noticed  already  upon  St  Matthew.  What  St 
James  says  in  ch.  iv.  4  may  refer  to  this  expression  as  directly 
as  to  Matt.  vi.  24,  probably  to  both  together  :  his  main  idea,  at 
least,  is  certainly  an  echo  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 

The  whole  of  our  Lord's  discourse,  from  Matt.  v.  21  to  ver. 


336  THE  GOSPELS  OF  ST  MATTHEW  ANE  ST  LUKE. 

48,  this  account  compresses  into  that  one  pointed  and  prominent 
saying :  Love  your  enemies  !  which  here  commences  as  it  there 
closes  all,  with  condensed  and  emphatic  brevity.  Here  we  find 
it  again  in  ver.  35,  and  thus  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  end  it 
is  the  boundary  of  the  whole  discourse  upon  this  subject.  Hence 
the  transposition  of  vers.  29,  30,  which  according  to  St  Matthew 
were  spoken  before,  and  formed  the  appropriate  transition  to 
this  topic.  Similarly  ver.  31  was  probably  placed  here  instead 
of  later,  as  in  Matt.  vii.  12,  since  to  an  inexact  remembrance 
this  seemed  its  point  of  connexion.  According  to  their  sense  and 
meaning  the  two  sayings  are  strictly  connected,  for  the  one 
explains  the  other.  Instead  of  the  many  contrasts  in  which  the 
Lord  so  emphatically  spake  His  But  I  say  unto  you  !  we  have 
only  now  the  vjulv  Xeyco  remaining,  which  does  not  so  much  indi- 
cate a  contrast  of  His  words  with  other  sayings  and  teachings  of 
the  scribes  (the  false  prophets  of  ver.  26,  with  which  the  aWd  in 
ver.  27  may  be  a  slight  link),  as  the  absolute  authority,  which, 
even  thus  abridged,  they  emphatically  announce,  of  Him  who 
now  speaks.  We  observe  here  also  how  thoroughly  St  Luke's 
account  brings  the  earlier  portion  of  the  discourse  into  connexion 
with  the  fundamental  idea  of  its  conclusion,  the  iffilv  Xeyco  with 
vers.  46,  47  afterwards.  It  is  partly  to  express  this  that  to?? 
aKovovav  is  added;  and  partly  as  equivalent  to  iraai  toU 
dtcovovaiv — in  contrast  with  the  avroh  of  ver.  39,  which  specially 
points  to  the  fiaOrjrafi  of  ver.  20.  Precisely  in  conformity  with 
the  Lord's  meaning,  who,  beginning  with  his  disciples  in  parti- 
cular, then  included  all  people  universally  in  His  address. 
Finally,  again,  returning  especially  to  those  who  were  His  own 
disciples  and  stood  in  His  presence. 

In  vers.  27,  28  there  is  a  transposition  which  disregards  (as  in 
the  benedictions)  the  inner  sequence  of  blessing,  doing  good, 
praying  for,  as  St  Matthew  preserves  it,  the  contrasts  merely 
being  aimed  at.  In  ver.  29,  the  concrete  going  to  law  for  coat 
or  cloke  is  generalized  as  a  mere  aupeuv,  taking  away ;  hence, 
naturally,  as  we  saw  before,  the  cloke  comes  first.  The  essential 
power  and  truth  of  our  Lord's  words,  do  not  lie  in  these  speciali- 
ties :  and  this  the  Holy  Spirit  designs  to  teach  us  by  the  more 
exact  or  inexact  expressions  found  in  parallel  places  of  the 
Evangelists.     The  atpeiv  is  even  not  necessarily  now  robbery  by 


luke  vi.  30—36.  337 

force,  but,  generally  speaking,  a  taking  away  without  asking,  which 
should,  however,  be  regarded  as  equivalent  to  asking  it :  and  so  we 
find  ver.  30  carrying  on  the  idea,  in  conformity  to  its  peculiar  fun- 
damental design  as  we  discovered  it  in  St  Matthew.  JJola  v/jlcv 
%tf/cn?  earl — another  form  of  St  Matthew's  riva  fiicrObv  e^ere.  We 
might  almost  say  that  it  embraces  in  its  generality  the  tl  irepia- 
gov  TToieZre  which  is  there  found  hard  by.  For  sinners  also  do — 
a  general  idea  instead  of  the  concrete  Publicans  and  Gentiles. 
St  Matthew  says  nothing  of  the  lending,  but  the  Lord  probably, 
as  we  there  saw,  added  that,  since  it  most  strikingly  represents 
the  virovoia  of  all  Scriptural  teaching :  unselfish  love,  without 
regard  to  its  return,  or  to  previous  love  in  its  object,  a  readiness 
to  lend  without  interest,  even  at  the  peril  of  not  receiving  again 
even  the  principal,  at^  least  from  men.  Let  Moses'  prohibition 
(Lev.  xxv.  35 — 37)  of  usury  and  increase  be  reflected  on,  and 
the  commandment  to  lend  to  a  poor  brother,  without  hope  of  the 
principal,  even  though  the  year  of  release  was  nigh.  (Deut.  xv. 
7 — 10.)  Ta  Icra,  in  effect,  refers  rather  to  principal  than  to 
interest,  as  the  antithesis  /junBev  am-ekTri^ovTes  afterwards  more 
directly  declares.1  Yer.  35  corresponds  in  its  threefold  expres- 
sion clearly  enough  to  the  three  sentences  vers.  32 — 34.  The 
form  viol  vyjrlarov  here  used,  is  after  the  Old  Testament  (see 
Ecclus.  iv.  11,  Kal  earj  &>?  wo?  vifnaTov)  and  might  have  been 
used  by  the  Lord,  as  well  as  the  other,  in  a  more  detailed  and 
copious  discourse.  The  ^p^crro?  icm  once  more  generalizes  the 
sense,  if  we  compare  St  Matthew,  and  a^apio-Toi;?  is  a  human 
illustration  at  the  close,  corresponding  wTith  the  context.  "  Ingra- 
titude is  the  world's  recompense  v — this  also  experiences  the  Most 
High  God,  the  Merciful  One  to  all :  let  it  not  overmuch  grieve 
you  to  bear  the  like.  In  this  we  have,  and  must  not  overlook,  a 
keen  exposition  of  the  word  which  St  Matthew  uses.  God  maketh 
His  sun  to  shine  and  sends  His  rain  upon  the  evil,  that  is,  not 

1  This  uTT&TriCeiv  which  is  only  found  here  in  the  N.T.  is  explained 
by  its  context :  hoping  for  nothing  of  it,  for  it,  again.  Nulla  modo 
desperantes  (a  signification  which  is  found  in  Diodorus  and  Polybius 
as  also  in  a  var.  reading  of  Ephv  iv.  19)  would  be  altogether  inappro- 
priate; but  the  transitive  sense  which  the  Syriae  gives  it,  is  quite 
contrary  to  the  language. 

22 


338  THE  GOSPELS  OF  ST  MATTHEW  AND  ST  LUKE. 

merely  upon  those  who  were  before  evil  and  therefore  deserve  it 
not,  but  who  remain  so  afterwards  also,  and  thank  Him  not. 

Although  so  much  that  is  intermediate  is  omitted,  how  spiri- 
tually correct  and  true  to  the  whole  harmony  of  the  discourse  is 
the  condensation  which  attaches  ver.  37  immediately  to  ver. 
36.  St  Matthew  commenced  a  new  subject  with  these  words, 
but  the  thought  was  closely  connected  with  what  had  just  been 
said  concerning  a  God-resembling,  forgiving,  blessing  love  of  our 
enemies  :  and  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  whole  section  (Matt. 
vii.  1 — 6, 12  is  pure,  unselfish  love.  St  Matthew  sets  down  the 
simple  and  impressive  fir]  Kplvere,  but  here  we  have  a  more 
detailed  commentary  upon  his  word,  one  which  cannot  bethought 
to  have  been  added  by  any  one  ex  propriis,  for  it  is  too  definite, 
and  striking,  and  appropriate.  The  Lord  assuredly  uttered  these 
words,  nor  could  that  conception  of  the  discourse,  which  has  found 
"  love  ye  !"  to  be  the  centre  and  heart  of  the  whole  second  part 
of  it,  willingly  dispense  with  them.  We  have,  further,  in  St 
Luke  a  gradation,  a  threefold  progression  in  the  thought  :  judge 
not,  even  forgive,  and  finally  (as  practical  evidence  of  the  same) 
give,  impart,  do  good,  that  is,  as  the  preceding  verses  require,  to 
all  alike  without  distinction,  enemies  as  well  as  friends.  (Luther's 
explanation  of  the  fifth  petition).  The  having  it  measured  again, 
is,  as  in  St  Matthew,  an  undefined  promise,  which  in  part  finds 
its  fulfilment  from  man,  assuredly  in  full  from  God.  This  latter 
we  hear  in  the  fikrpov  tcaXov.  The  threefold  detail  of  the  figure 
(Bengel :  in  aridis,  mollibus,  liquidis)  is  so  familiar  and  acceptable 
to  all,  and  clings  so  fast  to  our  hearts,  that  we  strongly  suspect, 
though  we  cannot  positively  affirm  it,  that  the  Lord  actually 
added  these  very  words,1  and  all  the  more  as  ek  top  koXttov,  with 
a  changed  application,  however,  from  threatening  to  promise, 
comes  from  the  same  chapter  of  the  Prophet  (Isa.  lxv.  6  7)  to 
which  vers.  21,  25  referred  us,  as  ver.  22,  to  Isa.  Ixvi.  5. 

Vers.  39,  40  are  peculiar  to  St  Luke,  but  suit  very  aptly 
the  connexion  of  St  Matthew.  The  signification  of  the  subse- 
quent beam  is  before  indicated  by  the  idea  of  blindness  :  the 

1  If  others  think,  rejecting  BengeVs  interpretation,  that  the  same 
measure  is  designated  only  with  the  climax  of  full  rising  into  overfull  • 
we  accept  this  as  a  subordinate  sense,  yet  must  cling  to  the  threefold 
application  of  the  figure. 


luke  vi.  39,  40.  339 

ground-thought  of  Matt.  vii.  1 — 6,  as  we  showed  before,  is  then 
emphatically  made  prominent :  be  perfect  as  disciples  !  Even  if 
it  were  an  expository  addition,  we  should  think  it  to  have  pene- 
trated the  depth  of  the  Lord's  meaning.1  But  the  Holy  Ghost 
has  expressly  provided  against  this,  by  inspiring  the  Evangelist  to 
insert  elire  he  TrapafioXrjv  clvtols — which  remark  certainly  cannot 
signify  that  here  a  parable  spoken  elsewhere  is  interpolated  :2  for 
the  avTois  is  only  to  be  interpreted  by  ver.  20,  and  was  used  here 
to  show  (in  contrast  with  ver.  27)  that  the  disciples  were  parti- 
cularly addressed.  St  Luke  also  (ch.  vii.  1)  asserts  beyond  all 
doubt  that  it  was  a  connected  discourse  which  he  had  given. 
The  Lord  consequently  uttered  this  at  this  place,  and  by  a  sig- 
nificant parable  more  decisively  taught  what  in  St  Matthew  we 
find  Him  teaching  without  it :  that  a  censorious  disciple  is  still,  or 
has  become  no  better  than  a  Pharisee.  For  he  has  repeated  the 
same  words,  afterwards,  concerning  the  Pharisees,  Matt.  xv.  14, 
(xxiii.  16).  Let  it  be  noted  that  in  this  one  word  St  Luke  also  has 
given  some  intimation  of  the  general  tendency  of  the  discourse  to 
oppose  the  Pharisees. 

When  expositors  and  preachers  refer  ver.  40  to  ver.  39  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  interpret  the  words  only  that  a  blind 
teacher  makes  also  blind  disciples3 — they  entirely  pervert  the 
text.  That  would  be  too  keenly-expressed  irony,4  and  Karrjp- 
Tiafj,ivo<;  then  would  be  an  altogether  unsuitable  word.  No,  the 
discourse  passes  into  a  severe  contrast,  and  opposes  to  these  false 
and  yet-blinded  teachers  and  censors,  the  one  true  Master,  that 
perfect  8i$do~/ca\o<;  who  now   speaks  to  His  disciples.      That 


1  As  G.  K.  Rieger's  Herzenspostille  on  Lu.  vi.  36 — 42  (the  Gospel 
for  iv.  Sund.  after  Trin.)  takes  from  this  verse  the  comprehensive  theme, 
ein  ganzer  Christ — a  whole  Christian. 

2  In  Lu.  v.  36  the  Evangelist  inserts  the  same  before  a  strictly  con- 
nected discourse;  similarly  also  ch.  xii.  16,  xxi.  19,  xiii.  6,  xix.  11, 
xx.  9. 

3  Hilgenfeld  thus  drivels :  the  Pauline  Lucas- Evangelium  could 
have  only  intended  in  this  distorted  saying  thus  patched  in, — accord- 
ing to  the  connexion  (in  the  Expositor's  brain  I) — to  have  condemned  the 
Jewish-Christian  teachers. 

4  According  to  Von  Gerlach :  even  in  the  best  case  the  disciple  is 
only  as  his  Master. 


340  THE  GOSPELS  OF  ST  MATTHEW  AND  ST  LUKE. 

meaning  which  has  been  incorrectly  imported  from  Matt.  x.  24, 
25 ;  John  xiii.  16  (where  the  Lord  places  the  significant 
Maschal  in  an  unusual,  and  altogether  new  application  of 
His  words),  as  if  he  meant  that  the  disciples  must  suffer  like 
their  Master,  is  foreign  to  the  discourse,  where  the  nrapaftdXr) 
occurs  in  a  general,  and  well-understood  sense.  The  Irony, 
which  indeed  adheres  to  the  first  sentence  (ov/c  ecrri  vvrep)  though 
not  to  the  second,  lies  deep,  and  the  Lord  intends  to  say  :  take 
care  that  ye  do  not  in  your  rash  and  unmeasured  condemnation 
of  your  brethren,  exercise  a  severer  judgment  than  I,  in  my  love 
and  forbearance,  have  exercised  upon  you !  For  does  not  the 
censorious  judge  place  himself,  as  it  were,  above  His  forgiving, 
graciously  correcting,  long-suffering  Master  I  ITa?  in  its  position 
here  is  not  "  every,"  but  totus  quantus  est — when  he  is  perfect, 
has  learnt  all  as  puaQr\Tr]^,  will  he  be  altogether  whole  and  perfect, 
as  His  Master.  The  earai  is  a  hortatory  promise  just  like 
eaeaOe  (ver.  35). 

We  have  already  seen  that,  in  conformity  with  the  spirit  of 
the.  section,  vers.  43,  44  omit  the  false  prophets,  and  require 
from  the  disciples  themselves  the  good  fruits  of  the  good  trees  :  we 
only  now  observe,  that  nothing  may  be  unmentioned,  the  change 
of  expression  etc  ftarov  Tpwywcri,  and  the  transposition  of  gvkcl  and 
ara(j)u\rjv,  as  well  as  the  generalization  here  suiting  the  thought: 
eKaarov  SevSpov  yivcbo-Kerai,  instead  of  St  Matthew's  eTrvyvtbaeo-- 
6e  dvTovs,  That  the  Lord  signified,  though  he  may  have  only 
said  this. 

Of  ver.  45,  we  have  spoken  again  and  again  :  we  may  point 
out  that  we  are  unjustly  charged  with  maintaining  a  stiff  me- 
chanical theory  of  inspiration,  since  we  here  (though  with  the 
proper  reservation,  that  it  is  only  till  we  obtain  a  deeper  insight) 
are  willing  to  allow  that  this  passage  has  been  transposed  from 
another  place,  and  that  it  does  not  harmonize  with  the  connexion 
(not  even  with  ver.  46).  We  may  have  frankly  to  concede  the 
same  in  the  case  of  St  Luke.  We  regard  this,  however,  as  possible 
only  in  his  case  and  in  St  Mark's  :  not  in  that  of  the  Apostles. 
But  with  equal  confidence  do  we  discern  and  assert  the  wisdom, 
correctness,  harmoniousness  of  the  whole  residue  of  St  Luke's 
report  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  down  to  this  one  word : 
would  that  all  criticism  penetrated  into  the  depths  of  the  whole 


MATTHEW  VIII.   3,  4.  341 

context,  before  making  assertions  of  the  same  nature  so  abun- 
dantly and  hastily  as  it  does. 

Ver.  46  gives  in  few  words  what  we  find  in  Matt.  vii.  21 — 23, 
condensing  the  Lord's  teaching  after  the  manner  of  the  shorter 
extract.  As  the  original  concrete  presentation  has  been  given 
up  throughout,  we  have  it  here  in  a  general  position,  which  cor- 
responds most  perfectly  with  our  Lord's  meaning,  as  we  find  it 
later  explained  by  Himself  in  a  parable  (Matt.  xxi.  28 — 31) 
which  St  Luke  has  not.  Finally,  we  have  the  same  generaliza- 
tion in  the  7ra?  6  ip-)(piievo<i  7rpo?  ^e,  which,  though  probably  not 
thus  spoken  by  our  Lord,  yet  indicates  at  the  close  and  fitly 
illustrates,  the  universal  and  all-comprehensive  character  of  this 
first  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  in  which  all  other  sayings  were 
already  bound  up.  Is  there  nothing  but  "  dim  and  weakened 
exhibition7'  in  an  extract  like  this,  so  wisely  selected,  so  skilfully 
knit  together,  according  to  its  own  independent  point  of  view 
and  aim  ? 


THE    LEPER. 

(Matt,  viii  3,  4  •  Mark  i.  41—44 ;  Luke  v.  13,  14). 

The  first  miracle  of  healing  which  St  Matthew  records  in 
detail,  after  the  general  statement  of  ch.  iv.  23,  24,  belongs  as- 
suredly, as  far  as  regards  its  time  and  place,  to  the  position  which 
the  u  behold"  of  an  eye-witness  here  assigns  it.  That  the  Lord's 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  had  only  resulted  in  a  vague,  unimpor- 
tant, and  uninfluential  impression — That  was  a  mighty  discourse! 
the  Evangelist  has  just  informed  us.  Nor  is  there  more  signifi- 
cance in  the  following  of  the  multitudes,  when  the  Lord  had 
ended  speaking.  What  inwardly  passed  in  individual  souls  at 
the  time,  or  afterwards  recurred,  to  the  conviction  and  salvation 
of  the  inner  man,  the  sacred  narrative  does  not  reveal ; — this 
belongs  to  the  KpviTTa  twv  dvOpcbircov  (Rom.  ii.  16).  There  was 
a  poor  leper,  having  ventured  to  approach  or  actually  to  mingle 
(probably,  at  least),  with  the  fykoit  iroWol^  as  they  listened  at 
first  and  afterwards  as  they  followed,  whom  the  final  close  of  the 
discourse,  stern  and  severe  as  it  was,  had  not  discouraged  from 


342  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

laying  hold  upon  the  loving-kindness  of  its  first  promises  to  all 
the  poor  and  wretched ;  nay,  rather  by  the  very  i^ovcria  of  its 
severity  had  given  ground  to  his  confidence,  A  wonderful  type 
for  us  all  in  this  respect,  the  truth  and  applicability  of  which  are 
manifest  in  the  narrative  as  given  by  the  Spirit,  even  though  the 
leper's  prayer  had  no  immediate  connexion  with  the  influence  of 
the  sermon.  This  leper  tells  us  parabolically  what  the  true  and 
entire  result  of  that  sermon  is  to  be  in  our  minds  : — Lord,  if  thou 
wilt,  thou  canst  make  us  clean  !  This  is  the  right  "  Lord,  Lord," 
which  will  not  be  cried  in  vain.  As  God  sends  the  leprosy,  so 
God  only  can  heal  it — said  the  Jewish  proverb  :  and  Moses  cried 
to  the  Lord  concerning  Miriam — Heal  her  now,  O  God  !  Above 
in  ch  .iv  24  lepers  are  not  as  yet  expressly  mentioned:  but  in  any 
case,  even  if  such  had  been  already  healed  by  Jesus,  and  it  had 
come  to  this  man's  ears,  and  still  more  so  on  the  likelier  supposi- 
tion of  the  contrary,  it  is  a  strong  faith  which  his  words  utter — 
Thou  canst  make  me  clean  !  (Unlike  Mark  ix.  22).  This  faith 
it  is  which  urges  him  further,  even  to  the  fearless  approach  and 
falling  down  before  the  Lord :  even  as  to  His  willingness  he  does 
not  really  doubt,  but  his  "  if"  is  the  becoming  expression  of  an 
humble  supplication,1  which  by  this  word  seems  to  tarry  afar  off, 
as  it  was  prescribed  to  the  leper  bending  under  the  plague  of 
God. 

Yer.  3.  The  Lord  is  now,  as  ever,  ready  to  help.  No  sooner 
is  the  request  uttered,  than  it  is  heard.  The  hand  anticipates 
the  word  (St  Mark  adds,  <T7fkar/xvio-0€L<;),  He  stretches  it  forth 
down  towards  the  leper,  who  scarcely  knelt  quite  close  to  Him, 
He  touches  him,  as  Elijah  and  Elisha  touched  the  dead  without 
defilement,2  the  word  and  deed  are  one,  an  immediate  moment  of 
most  immediate  answer.  Alas,  the  majestic  utterance  may  not 
be  fully  rendered  into  our  own  tongue,  as  the  three  Evangelists 
unanimously  preserve  it  in  those  two  only  words  so  full  of  grace 
and  authority  : — QeXxa,  Ka6apia6r)Ti.  The  first  is  not  merely  an 
instant  echo  of  His  mercy  to  this  present  single  request : — I  will 

1  But  not  unbelieving,  for,  as  Von  Gerlach  has  well  put  it :  "  Faith 
always  savs,  if  thou  wilt  I  not,  if  thou  canst  I  The  opposite  of  Mark 
ix.  2*2." 

2  The  contagion  of  pestilence  is  overcome  and  kept  off  from  the  Lord, 
and  can  as  little  attach  itself  to  Him  as  sin — Braune. 


MATTHEW  VIII.  4.  343 

do  it.  No,  the  Lord,  who  ever  contemplates  and  perceives  in 
His  spirit  the  whole  in  each,  inclines  Himself  to  this  man,  as  to 
that  entire  unclean  humanity  which  He  only  can  cleanse,  with 
an  avowal  and  testimony  which  comprehends  everything : — 1 
will !  The  appealing  If  awakened  the  whole  full  tone  of  love  in 
the  depth  of  his  heart : — If  I  will  heal  and  help  1  Yes,  verily,  it 
is  for  that  that  I  am  come !  It  is  the  same  great  /  will  with 
which  He  came  into  the  world,  and  with  which  He  leaves  the 
world,  which  is  consummated  in  that  /  will  uttered  to  His 
Father  on  behalf  of  His  sanctified  ones,  in  Jno.  xvii.  24. 

And  now  is  added  that  word  of  authoritative  command  which 
was  essentially  contained  in  the  former,  but  is  now  expressly 
uttered  as  a  testimony  to  man  : — Become  clean  !  Be  thou  clean  ! 
(Comp.  Luke  xiii.  12  ;  xviii.  42).  Because  I  will!  Therefore 
i"  can  !  I  say  not,  I  can — faith,  awakened  by  my  discourse  will 
confide  in  me  for  that.  My  power  is  necessarily  included  in  my 
willingness.  In  this  manner  never  prophet  before  Him  healed, 
and  He  thus  speaks  only  in  the  power  of  God  who  speaketh  and 
it  is  done.  An  imperative  this,  which  human  language  had  never 
known  before.  The  leprosy  of  the  body  must  visibly  and  in- 
stantly obey  Him.  The  leprosy  of  the  soul,  indeed,  not  equally 
so  :  yet  is  there  in  the  word  of  our  Lord's  authority,  which  speaks 
clean,  at  once  both  the  power  and  the  will  on  His  part,  to  make 
clean  also. 

Ver.  4.  It  was  for  the  sake  both  of  an  internal  and  an  external 
propriety,  that  the  wisdom  and  consummate  prudence  of  the  Lord 
adds  to  His  first  utterance,  which  had  sprung  from  the  mighty 
impulse  of  His  authority  as  well  as  of  His  love,  something  more, 
viz.,  a  prohibition  and  a  command,  both  wholesome  and  expedient. 
The  prohibition,  to  tell  no  man  of  it,  is  not  simply  to  be  taken  in 
connexion  with  what  follows — delay  not  by  so  doing,  but  hasten 
to  the  priest  !  It  is  certainly  to  be  understood  in  the  same  sense 
as  many  other  similarly  recurring  prohibitions,  in  connexion 
with  one  of  which  (when  it  was  imposed  upon  all  the  healed 
together),  St  Matthew  (xii.  16)  gives  its  most  immediate  signi- 
fication and  cause  in  the  prophetic  word, — He  shall  not  strive  nor 
cry  ;  neither  shall  any  man  hear  his  voice  in  the  streets.  The 
Lord's  design  is — not  indeed  to  suppress  all  that  we  may  call 
rumour  or  noise  in  connexion  with  His  works,  for  He  knew  that 


344  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

His  prohibitions  were  in  most  cases  to  no  purpose  ;  but  to  testify 
most  expressly  that  it  was  not  desired  or  demanded  by  Himself. 
A  deeper  cause  which  is  in  Mark  viii.  26  for  example  and  else- 
where, more  distinctly  intimated,  was  the  wise  aim  of  His  love 
to  direct  the  healed  ones  themselves  into  the  seclusion  of  thank- 
fulness before  God,  to  a  profounder  penetration  of  the  matter 
where  injurious  talk  about  it  might  not  dissipate  their  thoughts, 
in  order  that,  if  possible,  what  had  taken  place  in  their  bodies, 
might  lead  to  their  inner  healing.  This,  however,  our  Lord 
seldom  attained,  but  He  continues  in  every  new  case  to  impose  it 
with  unwearying  patience.  On  the  present  occasion  He  spoke 
the  prohibition  all  the  more  emphatically,  because  of  the  publicity 
which  already  had  attended  His  healing  word  of  authority.  (St 
Mark — efi^pifirjadpLevo^ — euOicos  igefiakev  ambv — thus  as  it  were, 
strengthening  the  firjEevl  fjbrjBev  emy?). 

With  this  is  connected  the  recognition  of  the  levitical  regula- 
tion, the  reference  to  the  priest's  authority  and  prerogative,  upon 
which  the  true  High-Priest  meekly  falls  back,  even  at  the 
moment  when  He  has  exhibited  most  impressively  His  own 
supreme  authority,  in  order  that  we  should  not  offend  against  it 
(ch.  xvii.  27).  Go  thy  way  instantly,  that  if  possible  the  fame 
of  what  has  taken  place  may  not  outstrip  thee,  and  give  occasion 
to  the  evil-disposed  to  interpret  My  act  of  power  into  an  invasion 
of  their  office.  What  lowliness  of  the  Mighty  One  !  What 
condescension  of  the  Righteous  One  on  account  of  unrighteous- 
ness !  This  healed  one,  forsooth,  might  have  been  justified  in 
thinking  himself  released  from  the  offering;  but  just  because 
He  might  so  think,  the  Lord  reminds  him  of  it,  and  will  not 
have  that  which  He  has  done,  otherwise  regarded  than  as  what 
God  does  when  a  leper  is  healed  of  his  plague.  (Mar.  v.  19). 
The  article  in  tw  lepel  and  to  Bwpov  points  plainly  to  what  was 
written  in  Moses :  which  St  Mark  and  St  Luke,  having  said 
indefinitely  h  irpoaera^e,  icadw  irpoaera^e  Mcovorr}^,  supplement 
and  complete  by  the  addition  of  irepl  rov  Kadapca/iov  gov.  We 
may  not  regard  to  hwpov  as  being  the  offering  especially  pre- 
scribed by  Moses  for  the  first  day  in  Lev.  xiv.  which  was  fol- 
lowed on  the  eighth  by  another,  but  it  comprises  the  whole  obli- 
gatory duty  in  one  word. 

In  the  conclusion  €*9  \1apTvp10v  aviol^  which  all  the  three 


MATTHEW  VII I.  7—18.  345 

Evangelists  have  in  common,  there  lies  a  comprehensive  mean- 
ing :  that  they,  these  priests  so  especially  malevolent  against  me 
(this  is  signified  in  the  transition  from  the  singular  to  the  plural, 
in  the  emphatic  avToty,  may  learn  at  once  both  the  miracles 
which  I  accomplish  and  that  I  do  not  invade  their  office  by  them 
(comp.  further  on  Lu.  xvii.  14).  The  former,  however,  is  the 
special  sense  of  that  solemn  expression,  which  recurs  again  in  ch. 
x.  18,  xxiv.  14,  where  the  general  rejection  of  His  testimony  is 
presupposed.  We  must  further  guard  against  the  error  of  many 
well-meaning  persons  (who  are  here  unconsciously  following 
Eoman  Catholic  precedent),  in  interpreting  this  commandment 
to  show  themselves  to  the  priests,  as  referring  to  our  present 
spiritual  guides,  who  must  inspect  and  sit  in  judgment  upon  souls. 


THE  CENTURION. 

(Matt.  viii.  7,  10—13;  Lu.  vii.  9). 

A  second,  equally  prompt  I  will !  A  believing  proselyte  of  the 
Jews  from  among  the  heathen  placed  in  opposition  to  that 
unbelief  of  Israel,  which  the  last  word  of  the  Lord  had  just 
indicated.  Did  the  reader  suppose  that  the  stretched  out  hand 
and  the  touching  were  necessary  in  connexion  with  the  mighty 
"  OeXco  naBapiadnTL :"  it  takes  place  now  through  a  simple 
TevrjQrjTG)  spoken  at  a  distance.  But  He  who  can  do  this,  yet 
graciously  and  condescendingly  complies  in  every  case  with  man's 
request.  That  request,  as  St  Luke  expresses  it  more  definitely, 
was  07TO)?  i\6a)v  Biaaooo-j)  top  8ov\ov — and  the  Lord  does  not 
instantly  utter  His  Tevn6r)T<D,  but  'Eyo*  i\6a>v  depairevaco 
avrov.  Whether  the  Centurion  came  himself  and  spoke,  or  only 
by  those  whom  he  sent,  can  scarcely  be  determined  with  cer- 
tainty, and  affects  the  question  but  little.  Without  St  Luke's 
account  we  should  unhesitatingly  understand  the  former  from 
the  letter  of  St  Matthew,  but  the  exceedingly  definite  account  of 
St  Luke  must  have  as  much  weight  as  the  prerogative  of  St 
Matthew's  eye-witness.  Both  have  been  united  in  the  supposi- 
tion that  the  man,  in  the  unrest  of  his  great  desire,  had  sent 
once  and  again,  and  at  last  had  come  himself.     This  might  be 


346  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

possible,  but  appears  to  be  contradicted  by  St  Luke  (ver.  7). 
If  according  to  St  Luke  the  first  request  was  not  urged  in  per- 
son, yet  must  vers.  5,  6  of  St  Matthew  be  understood  in  con- 
nexion with  this,  and  St  Luke  ver.  10  admits  most  assuredly  of 
no  other  coming  and  going  than  that  of  those  who  were  sent. 
Therefore  we,  for  our  part,  would  concur  with  Bengel,  who  holds 
St  Matthew's  account  to  have  been  written  sublimiore  divinoB 
quam  historiae  humance  lege.  That  is,  not  that  it  is  indeed  im- 
material whether  any  man  speaks  by  himself  or  by  messengers  (for 
there  would  be  no  justification  of  untruthfulness  in  this) ;  but  it 
is  no  untruthfulness  to  place  one  instead  of  the  other,  as  the  au- 
thoritative language  of  Scripture  elsewhere  teaches.  How  often 
in  the  Old  Testament  does  speaking  by  the  medium  of  others 
assume  all  the  living  reality  of  speaking  in  person  !  Compare 
in  the  New  Testament  Mar.  x.  35  with  Matt.  xx.  20.  Thus 
St  Matthew's  irpoarfKOev  with  its  sequel  may  well  be  regarded 
as  a  living  representation  of  St  Luke's  aireareiXe;  the  Xiycav 
(continued  afterwards  as  airoicpiOeLs)  equivalent  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ^fofc^?  m  countless  instances.  So  also  is  the  elirev  of  Matt, 
xi.  3,  and  in  this  very  place  St  Luke  uses  ipwr&v  in  ver.  3,  of 
the  sending  and  saying  by  others,  and  in  ver.  6  uses  Xeycov  also. 
Let  what  we  have  elsewhere  said  be  remembered,  concerning  the 
just  distinction  between  the  represented  and  the  acted  nar- 
rative, the  historical  writing  which  gives  us  the  very  life  of  the 
events,  and  the  mere  recital  of  the  events  themselves.  In  accor- 
dance with  this  let  the  higher  grade  of  freedom  of  spirit  in  St 
Matthew  be  here  observed  as  it  is  contrasted  in  this  external 
circumstance  with  the  more  human  exactitude  of  St  Luke. 

This  freedom,  however,  proceeds  not  so  far  as  to  place  a  word 
in  the  mouth  of  our  Lord,  which  He  might  not  in  such  a  sense 
have  spoken.  Thus  when  St  Luke  (ver.  6)  only  intimates  that 
Jesus  went  with  them,  but  St  Matthew  announces  a  word  of 
willingness  and  promise  as  spoken  by  Him,  they  mutually  sup- 
plement each  other  So  he  who  reads  St  Luke,  thinks  almost 
necessarily  of  such  an  utterance  in  answer.  Here  also  the  word 
and  the  action  are  immediately  united. 

The  humbly  believing  words  of  the  Centurion  which  follow, 
and  which  St  Luke  records  as  having  met  the  Lord  when  He 
had  approached  near  to  the  house,  appear  in  St  Matthew's  living 


MATTHEW  VIII.  7 — 13.  347 

presentation  of  the  whole  circumstance  as  the  answer  of  the  man 
himself;  so  on  the  other  hand  even  St  Luke  in  his  external 
particularity  has  represented  a  similar  approach  of  the  man  as  if 
in  person,  who  yet  was  not  present.  He  writes  in  ver.  9  eOavixa- 
tpv  avrov,  and  then  gives  the  commendation  of  his  faith,  just 
as  St  Matthew  does.  (Only  without  Afxrjv,  which,  as  it  was  so 
often  spoken  by  the  Lord,  is  not  by  all  the  Evangelists,  and  by 
St  Luke  especially,  mentioned  with  uniformity.)  He  also  more 
definitely  states  (with  gt pafak)  what  St  Matthew  does  not 
neglect  to  record,  that  the  Lord  spoke  this  praise  rofc  cko\ov- 
OovctlVj  tw  aico\ovdovvTL  avra>  o^Xot),  that  is,  not  so  much  to  the 
Centurion  in  commendation,1  as  to  the  Israelites  for  their  shame, 
and  as  a  testimony  against  them. 

It  has  been  said  that  this  is  the  first  time  that  we  find  the  word 
"  Faith  "  in  the  New  Testament :  but  the  Lord  had  not  only  given 
utterance  to  it  in  the  Sermon,  ch.  vi.  30,  but  on  many  occasions 
from  Marki.  15  downwards :  compare  Jno.  i.  50,  iii.  12,  15,  &c, 
iv.  48 ;  Mar.  vi.  6.  He  everywhere  seeks  and  demands  faith,  not 
only  as  a  susceptibility  which  his  miracles  and  wonders  must  meet, 
but  as  that  without  which  He  cannot  confer  that  blessing  which  He 
is  so  willing  to  bestow.  Much  else  was  to  be  praised  in  this  eminent 
man,  his  amiable  care  of  his  servants,  the  humility  so  unwonted 
in  a  Roman,  the  profound  recognition  of  God's  revelations  mani- 
fested in  his  retreating  behind  the  despised  people  of  God— but 
the  Lord  only  makes  prominent  his  faith.  He  even  marvelled  at 
his  strong  faith,  as  it  is  only  once  elsewhere  (Mark  vi.  6)  said  that 
He  marvelled, — but  in  that  case  it  was  at  unbelief  He  must 
have  in  some  way  given  express  utterance  to  this,  else  how  could 
the  Evangelists  have  ventured  to  record  it  1  But  let  not  this  be 
hastily  read  and  passed  over ;  let  us  thoughtfully  penetrate  the 
depths  which  that  wonder  at  faith  or  unbelief  in  the  Spirit  of  the 
Son  of  Man  discloses  to  us.2     So  great  faith — He  says :  so  strong, 

1  BengeVs  remark  that  the  Lord  would  not  thus  have  praised  the 
man  if  present — appears  to  us  a  refinement,  almost  in  direct  contra- 
diction to  St  Matthew,  who  felt  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  word  would 
assuredly  be  very  soon  reported  to  him,  and  thus  was  just  the  same  as  if 
spoken  to  him  and  in  his  presence. 

2  Julius  Mailer  seems  to  us  to  pass  over  this  deep  meaning  in  a 
loose  and  inconsequential  manner,  thinking  that  goodness  can  only 


348  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

so  great  (Matt.  xv.  28),  by  which  this  man,  a  man  under  autho- 
rity, absolutely  and  nakedly  trusts  in  Me,  confiding  that  I  have 
power  to  command  sickness1  by  a  Word  without  coming  or  lay- 
ing on  of  hands  in  the  name  of  God,  just  as  he  himself  can  com- 
mand his  servant  in  the  name  of  Cassar !  I  have  not  found  it 
in  Israel,  I  who  came  to  seek  it,  and  to  seek  it  there  first  of  all, 
where  it  should  have  been  to  be  found.  For  is  not  Israel, — the 
Lord  while  He  puts  them  to  shame  in  His  language  of  reproof, 
yet  uses  the  glorious  and  honourable  title  of  their  calling — beyond 
every  other  people  the  people  of  faith,  called  by  God  from  the 
time  of  Abraham,  and  prepared,  and  through  long  ages  trained 
unto  Faith?  The  Lord  thus,  as  manifestly  as  expressively, 
indicates  the  great  leading  idea  of  the  Divine  dealing  with  His 
people,  the  essential  aim  of  all  the  institutions  which  had  pre- 
ceded His  own  coming. 

Vers.  11,  12.  St  Luke,  who  elsewhere  makes  prominent  the 
calling  of  the  Gentiles,  and  for  this  reason  records  in  detail  the 
history  of  the  Centurion  directly  after  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
yet  contents  himself  here  with  the  Lord's  first  saying,  which 
indeed  involved  all  the  rest.  The  extended  development  of  it  into 
that  clear  and  ample  prediction  which  now  follows  as  taken  from 
the  Prophets,  he  introduces  in  another  place,  (ch.  xiii.  29,)  where 
the  Lord  uttered  it  a  second  time.  (Just  as  we  found  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount).  Ample  occasion,  however,  was  given  by 
the  retiring  humility  of  the  Gentile,  and  yet  more  by  the  self- 
complacent  obtrusion  of  "  our  nation  "  (Lu.  ver.  5)  in  the  saying 
of  the  elders,  for  such  an  utterance  of  our  Lord, — probably  the 
first  such  testimony  that  fell  from  His  lips,  as  probably  this  was  the 
first  heathen  who  ever  came  to  be  admitted  into  the  kingdom  of 

astonish  us,  because  we  have  participation  in  sin.  The  ground  of 
Christ's  marvelling  at  the  Centurion's  faith  lies  only,  as  His  own  words 
show,  in  its  contrast  with  what  the  Lord  was  accustomed  to  find. — Not 
also  generally  in  its  contrast  with  the  "evil  unbelief"  of  mankind, 
since  the  Lord  knows  its 'sm  without  participation  therein? 

1  Certainly  his  meaning  was  simply — command  the  sickness  that  it 
depart,  (comp.  Lu.  iv.  39),  somewhat  as  the  modern  fashion  of  aiming 
to  speak  to,  and  drive  away,  bodily  evil.  What  Lange  says  of  "  Genii 
of  recovery  and  health,  powers  of  life,  a  genius  of  healing  sent  as  a 
servant,"  sounds  very  beautiful  and  delicate,  but  is  an  importation 
from  another  quarter  altogether. 


MATTHEW  VIII.  11,  12.  349 

God.  It  was  nothing  new  that  he  spake,  for  it  was  only  the 
blindness  of  Israel  which  failed  to  read  it  in  the  Prophets,  and  to 
find  in  the  Promise  to  Abraham.  Yea,  it  was  only  the  remains 
of  this  blindness  which  rendered  it  necessary  to  the  Apostles  of 
the  Circumcision  with  Peter  at  their  head,  even  after  all  that  the 
Lord  had  said  down  to  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  and  after  the  uncom- 
preh ended  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  Acts  ii.  39,  to  receive 
another  and  distinctive  revelation  of  this  mystery  (Eph.  iii.  5). 
The  Lord  expresses  Himself,  as  it  were,  euphemistically ;  avoiding 
the  word  "  heathen,"  as  also  in  Lu.  iv.  24 — 27.  But  He  uses 
the  prophetical  expressions,  probably  alluding  to  the  Apocryphal 
passage  (Bar.  iv.  37  ;  v.  5,  6)1 — or  directly  to  that  fundamental 
promise  (Gen.  xxviii.  14)  which  the  book  of  Baruch  seems  also 
to  have  in  view,  and  the  echoes  of  which  are  heard  in  such  pro- 
phetic passages  as  Isa.  xlix.  6,  12  ;  lx.  4,  &c.  In  contrast  with 
Israel,  and  comprehending  those  gathered  from  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  they  are  regarded  as  many  who  come  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  The  sitting  down  at  table,  dvatcklveaOaL,  is  not 
to  be  specially  referred  to  the  last  futurity,  although  it  points 
as  far  as  that  :  it  is  obviously  and  first  of  all,  the  general  Scrip- 
tural metaphor,  firmly  established  in  the  phraseology  of  Israel 
(Lu.  xiv.  15),  for  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  blessings  and  benefits 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  has  the  same  signification  as  in  Isa. 
xxv.  6,  and  as  it  has  in  all  the  parables  of  our  Lord  concerning 
marriage  feasts  and  suppers.  The  Israelites  would  not  eat  with 
heathens  :  the  Lord  puts  them  to  shame  by  the  express  contra- 
diction of  this.  We  also  see  that  the  coming  of  these  many 
signifies  their  first  entrance  into  the  fellowship  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  set  up  on  earth,  by  the  contrasted  simultaneous  rejection 
of  Israel  in  ver.  12.  The  children  of  the  kingdom — that  is  not 
ironically  spoken,  as  if  meaning  those  who  vainly  thought  them- 
selves such  (comp.  ch.  xiii.  38,  where  we  find  the  expression  in 
its  most  distinctive  sense)  :  but  those  who  are  already  the  authen- 
ticated heirs,  the  guests  already  called,  those  who  were  born  in 
the  typical  kingdom  of  God  in  order  to  the  inheritance  of  the 

1  Where,  indeed,  the  discourse  is  only  of  the  children  of  Jerusalem 
returning,  yet  the  Vulg.  reading  Sicut  Jilios  regni  remarkably  suits 
our  passage.  That  the  Lord  elsewhere  has  apocryphal  places  in  His 
mind,  is  undeniable. 


350  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Messianic,  promised  kingdom ;  they  who  as  the  children  of  Abra- 
ham stand  already  in  some  sense  in  its  possession  and  enjoyment. 
With  this  sense  only  does  the  expression  used  in  the  later 
parallel  accord :  the  kingdom  of  heaven  shall  be  taken  from  you, 
(ch.  xxi.  43.) 

Let  it  be  observed,  further,  how  the  Lord  proclaims  faith  n 
His  person,  confidence  in  His  Divine  power  and  authority,  as 
the  distinctive  condition  of  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Throughout  and  entirely  this  and  no  other.  For  the  whole 
discourse  proceeds  from  this  point,  beholding  in  this  one  heathen 
the  type  and  earnest  of  many,  who  in  point  of  faith  shall  be  like 
him.  I  have  not  found  such  faith  in  Israel,  that  is,  at  the  same 
time — I  have  not  been  hailed  and  received  with  faith  :  a  general 
and  indefinite  faith  in  God  ( Jno.  xiv.  1)  is  no  more  the  question 
since  He  makes  His  appearance,  and  when  He  proposes  His 
claims,  the  evidence  of  such  faith  is  to  be  sought  and  found  as 
faith  in  Him.  But  just  as  little  are  we  to  seek  the  Lord's  mean- 
ing in  a  more  far-reaching,  free  development  of  faith  as  to  its 
object ;  as  if  the  insight  into  the  person  of  Christ,  as  the  Lord 
of  spirits,  from  the  heathen  standing-point,  is  placed  in  advanta- 
geous contrast  with  the  limited  and  straitened  Messianic  ideas  of 
the  Jews!  (as  Neander  imposes  his  meaning,  contrary  to  all 
Scripture).  When  Christ  and  the  Apostles  speak  of  the  measure, 
the  greatness,  the  strength  of  ttIgti^  they  never  refer  directly  to 
its  extent  of  perception  and  acknowledgment. 

Let  it  be  observed,  further,  that  the  Lord  gives  those  who  are 
to  be  cast  out  their  full  rights  at  first  as  "  Israel,"  and  "  the  chil- 
dren of  the  kingdom,"  as  also  that  He  describes  even  the  entrance 
of  the  strangers  from  the  east  and  the  west  as  only  an  opening 
to  them  of  fellowship  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  (quite  in 
harmony  with  the  Prophets)  ; — but  that  yet  the  casting  out  of  the 
unbelieving  on  account  of  their  unbelief  is,  on  the  other  hand, 
most  definitely  and  decidedly  fore-announced.  For  the  outer 
darkness  which  is  opposed  to  the  feast  of  light  and  joy,  although 
it  seems  in  part  to  have  its  accomplishment  in  the  blindness  and 
obduracy  of  Israel  upon  earth,  yet  stretches  its  warning  and 
threatening  meaning  to  nothing  less  than  what  the  Lord  after- 
wards by  similar  expressions  indicates  (ch.  xxii.  13 ;  xxiv.  51, 
xxv.  30  ;  xiii.  42).   For  as  all  the  Lord's  legislation  does  no  more 


MATTHEW  VIII.  13.  351 

than  fulfil  and  unfold  what  had  before  been  written  and  spoken, 
so  in  all  His  prophecies  He  only  illustrates,  and  perfects  what  the 
preceding  prophets  had  included  in  their  field  of  vision  and  range 
of  utterance.  Darkness  in  the  Old  Testament  is  equivalent  to 
the  prison.  (Ps.  cvii.  10 — 14  ;  Isa.  xlii.  7  ;  Eccles.  xviii.  4).  But 
finally  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  stands  only  opposed  the  kingdom 
of  him,  who  keeps  bound  in  the  everlasting  bonds  of  death.  The 
article  before  KkavOnos  and  ftpvyfios  tcov  oSovtcov  does  not  simply 
oppose  emphatically  the  future  torture  to  all  pains  of  time,1  but 
points  obviously  to  the  prophetic  word,  in  order  to  connect  the 
whole  discourse  with  that  in  its  conclusion.  Isa.  lxv.  14  is  indicated 
(as  elsewhere  ch.  lxvi.  24  is  brought  forward),  and  placed  in  con- 
nexion with  such  passages  as  Ps.  cxii.  10,  with  which,  again, 
Judith  xvi.  21  may  be  compared.  Whether  in  the  significant 
contrast,  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth  (not  chattering  as  with 
cold),  a  farther  antithesis  between  the  softer  bewailing,  and  the 
mad  fury  of  anguish  is  intimated,2  we  leave  undecided  :  we  pre- 
fer taking  the  description  as  a  simple  Scriptural  emblem  of  self- 
engendered,  useless  sorrow  of  every  kind. 

But  let  it  be  noted,  finally,  that  the  Lord,  with  wise  discrimi- 
nation, does  not  proceed  as  we  might  have  expected — the  chil- 
dren of  Abraham  shall  be  cast  out.  For  in  the  back-ground  of 
this  saying  He  designs  to  leave  room  for  the  second  historical 
fulfilment  of  the  great  relative  change  between  the  far  off  and 
the  near,  those  who  are  there  within  and  those  who  are  without, 
— as  it  is  perspectively  announced  by  the  Prophets.  Twice  must 
the  children  recede  that  those  who  were  before  strangers  and  afar 
off  may  enter  into  their  place :  the  second  great  change  is  when 
the  Gentile-Christians  have  become  ripe  for  rejection,  and  the 
seed  of  Abraham  dispersed  through  all  lands  return  back  again 
from  the  east  and  the  west,  from  the  north  and  the  south.  (Isa. 
xliii.  5.  6).  The  Lord  does  not  say  or  signify  this  immediately, 
but  He  leaves  room  in  the  prophetic  perspective,  for  this  second 
and  inverted  fulfilment  of  His  word. 

Yer.  13.  St  Matthew's  representation,  which  from  ver.  5  has 

1  Articulus  insignis  :  in  hac  vita  dolor  nondum  eat   dolor.  Bengel. 

2  According  to  Von  Gerlach  :  "  probably  the  former  represents  the 
grief  of  the  softer  natures,  the  latter  that  of  the  more  rugged."  He 
also  observes  the  more  obvious  contrast  with  the  songs  of  the  blessed. 


352  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

more  and  more  clearly  set  the  nobleman  before  us  as  if  present, 
now  passes  from  a  spiritual  intercourse  between  him  and  Christ, 
to  what  would  seem  to  have  all  the  vividness  of  a  bodily  inter- 
course. He  who  may  think  that  the  iW/e,  spoken  as  if  to 
a  person  present,  departs  too  far  from  the  reality  of  the  occasion, 
may  suppose,  with  many,  that  the  Centurion  himself  came  after- 
wards :  whereby,  however,  the  greater  inaccuracy  of  St  Luke, 
nay  the  only  irreconcilable  inconsistency  in  the  whole  narrative 
is  immediately  involved.  The  signification  of  the  word,  whether 
we  regard  it  as  thus  immediately  spoken  or  not,  lies  in  two  criti- 
cal points,  which  now  recur  in  their  relation,  and  which  the 
Evangelist  now  points  out  and  makes  emphatic  for  the  analogy 
of  similar  cases.  Faith,  with  the  praise  of  which  the  discourse 
began,  is  ever  the  ground  of  help,  as  the  Lord  now  testifies,  with 
joy  that  He  has  found  faith  and  therefore  may  help,  but  keeping 
back  in  His  lowliness  the  mention  of  His  own  power  which  is 
ever  spontaneous  and  ready  to  help.  Be  it  done  unto  thee,  as 
thou  hast  believed,  namely  to  thee  in  thy  servant,  for  whom  thy 
affectionate  faith  may  avail.  This  expression  is  a  universal  word 
of  mercy  and  of  power,  which  the  Lord  had  for  every  one  who 
came,  and  may  have  spoken  to  many  unmentioned  ones,  with 
the  same  meaning  in  various  expression.  It  is  the  design  of  the 
Evangelist  to  record  this,  and  in  this  lies  the  truth  of  his  nar- 
rative according  to  the  mind  of  the  Spirit.  As  to  the  external 
historical  letter  of  our  Lord's  words,  we  may  safely  resign  that 
up,  while  the  Spirit  continues  from  age  to  age  to  illustrate  its 
living  meaning  in  the  world  through  the  holy  Gospels.  More- 
over we  know  not  in  any  case,  at  least  know  not  in  the  most 
important  discourses,  nor  is  it  necessary  for  us  to  know,  in  what 
language  they  were  uttered  by  the  Lord. 


THE   TWO  DIVERSE   FOLLOWERS. 

(Matt.  viii.  20,  22 :  Lu.  ix.  58,  60.) 

The  chronological  connexion,  which  has  been  preserved  hi- 
therto, begins  now  to  fail  us.  It  seems,  indeed,  as  if  St  Matthew 
placed  this  transaction  expressly  between  ver.  18  and  ver.  23, 


MATTHEW  VIII.  20—22. 

yet  St  Luke's  account  from  ver.  51  has  certainly  the  appearance 
of  having  adhered  very  strictly  to  the  order  of  time.  Who  shall 
decide  this  ?  Thus  much  in  general  we  may  regard  as  certain,  that, 
as  St  Luke  often  collects  into  one  homogeneous  whole,  events 
occurring  on  various  days  of  our  Lord's  eventful  history,  so  also 
St  Matthew  by  no  means  makes  it  his  design  to  relate  every- 
where every  thing  acoluthistically,  or  in  the  strictest  order  (to 
quote  the  recent  eminent  critic  Ebrard).  It  must  remain  unde- 
cided, also,  whether  the  two  incidents  occurred  in  succession,  as  it 
appears  in  the  narrative.1  The  sayings  of  our  Lord  are  the 
marrow  of  the  Gospels.  Much  stress  is  laid  upon  the  connection 
of  the  more  connected  and  longer  discourses,  but  little  or  none 
upon  the  date  and  sequence  of  single  incidents  and  shorter  sayings, 
the  beginning  and  the  end  of  our  Lord's  history  being  excepted. 
A  comparative  harmony  may  be  very  serviceable  as  it  regards 
these.  Here  St  Matthew,  who  gives  us  in  his  eighth  and  ninth 
chapters  a  selection  of  the  earliest  and  most  remarkable  miracles 
arranged  on  the  whole  in  strict  order,  but  while  doing  so  is  pre- 
paring the  way  for  the  mission  of  the  Twelve  in  ch.  x.  (hence  ch. 
ix.  9),  gives  us  in  connexion  two  solemn  sayings  of  our  Lord 
concerning  the  following  of  Himself,  which  contain  a  most  highly 
significant  contrast.2  This  is  exhibited  in  the  different  treat- 
ment of  the  different  cases,  as  the  Lord's  wisdom,  in  the  most 
impressive  manner,  speaks  to  each  what  His  all-seeing  eye  dis- 
cerned to  be  necessary.  For  to  this  we  may  refer  Jno.  ii.  24, 
25.  The  enthusiastic  one,  who  offers  himself  at  once  and  with 
so  much  alacrity,  is  repelled  almost  abruptly :  the  considerate, 
reflecting,  lingering  one  is  quickened  to  his  duty  by  a  word  of 
power  which  in  his  case  dispenses  with  every  other  permitted 
and  bounden  duty. 

1  It  is  our  unbiassed  judgment  that  according  to  the  express 
words  of  both  Evangelists  the  former  of  these  examples  occurred 
twice. 

2  See,  generally,  the  contrasts  in  St  Matthew,  as  they  are  shewn  in 
Lange's  biblischen  Dichtungen,  second  part.  We  cannot,  however, 
discover  with  him  any  dispositions  or  preparations  for  the  Apostolic 
office ;  or  find  Judas  Iscariot,  Thomas,  and  Matthew,  in  the  three  candi- 
dates for  following,  though  Rothe  too  (Ethik  iii.  419)  appears  to 
take  such  a  view.  It  was  not  thus  in  the  selection  of  the  Apostles  : 
and  the  Lord  had,  moreover,  other  close  followers  besides  the  Twelve. 

23 


354  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MA.TTHEW. 

Scribes  do  not  offer  themselves  in  great  numbers,  and  this  St 
Matthew  seems  to  intimate  in  the  unusual  et?.  But  nothing 
was  less  aimed  at  by  our  Lord  than  to  have  followers,  unless  they 
were  genuine  and  sound :  He  is  as  far  from  desiring  this,  as  it 
would  have  been  easy  to  attain  it.  He  tests  the  Scribe  severely, 
whether  this  was  a  matter  of  solemn  earnestness  to  him.  That  he 
did  not  offer  himself  as  tempting  Christ  is  manifest :  for  in  such 
instances  it  is  generally  either  stated  in  the  account,  or  detected 
immediately  and  exposed  by  the  Lord.  The  man's  speech  sounds 
honest  and  decided,  like  Ithai's  word  to  King  David  (2  Sam.  xv. 
21),1  yea,  as  if  he  was  prepared  to  reap  the  reward  promised  in 
Rev.  xiv.  4.  But  it  springs,  probably,  from  a  momentary 
paroxysm  of  feeling  not  uncommon  at  that  time,  and  is  not 
without  a  certain  affectation  of  promising  much :  he  by  no  means 
understood  (like  Thomas  afterwards,  Jno.  xi.  16),  whither 
matters  would  tend  with  the  Lord  and  his  followers.  Therefore 
the  Lord  tells  him  the  rugged  and  naked  truth  which  he  little 
expected,  that  with  Him  it  would  be  otherwise  than  might  have 
been  usual  in  the  case  of  a  Teacher  so  honoured.  This  presses  upon 
him  the  unexpressed  question — Wilt  thou  still  go  with  me  I  Hast 
thou  understood  and  pondered  all  this  !  Probably  the  conse- 
quence was  as  in  ch.  xix.  22.2 

The  Lord's  accompanying  word  has  all  the  terseness  and 
strength  of  a  proverbial  saying,  and  is  in  the  highest  degree 
vivid.  Every  thing  living  upon  earth,  even  among  its  wild 
beasts,  has  its  home,  its  secret  place  of  rest  and  protection  :  not 
thus  provided  for  am  I !  Places  of  abode  are  generally  upon 
the  earth  ;    but   the   Lord    designedly   makes   the   variation  : 

1  With  which  we  may  compare  Ruth  to  Naomi  (Ruth  i.  16,  17). 
Thus  the  expression  "  Whithersoever  thou  goest "  assuredly  does  not 
refer  to  the  various  roads  the  Lord  may  journey  in  !  (according  to  the 
great  Schleiermacher' s  very  small  interpretation.) 

2  "The  book-learned  are  generally  fastidious  and  love  warm  housing  : 
Thus  on  this  account  as  well  as  on  account  of  their  burrowing  in  dia- 
lectical subtilties  and  the  dust  of  books,  they  are  least  useful  for  the 
practical  work  of  life,  and  for  labouring  in  the  Lord's  vineyard — hence 
is  the  first  immediately  rejected  as  unfit !"  So  Sepp  after  his  manner, 
rather  too  express  in  his  anachronism  about  book-dust,  yet  with  some 
ground  of  truth.  As  to  the  general  sentiment  Braune  says  excellently, 
M  Many  would  be  pious,  but  would  keep  their  nests — houses,  riches, 
honour,  and  respectability." 


MATTHEW  VIII.  20 — 22.  355 

even  under  the  earth  and  above  it  the  animals  are  cared  for. 
The  foxes  are  set  against  the  more  familiarly  and  proverbially 
used  birds  of  the  air,  with  this  distinction,  that  while  the  former 
are  among  those  beasts  of  the  earth  which  are  most  secret  and 
native  under  it ;  the  latter  are,  on  the  contrary,  free,  unrestricted, 
and  apparently  homeless  and  unsettled.  Nevertheless,  just  as 
the  foxes  have  their  cunningly  prepared  and  secure  holes,  so 
have  (and  on  this  word  the  emphasis  lies)  even  the  birds  their 
/caTao-fcr)vcbo-€L<;  at  least,  and  this  contains  the  general  idea 
which  was  appropriate  to  the  occasion  :  nests  are  not  meant,  as 
such,  but  some  little  branch  on  which  they  may  sit,  or  some  tree 
or  shrub  under  the  shade  of  which  they  may  find  refuge.  See 
ch.  xiii.  32  ;  Mar.  iv.  32 ;  and  Ps.  civ.  12 ;  Dan.  iv.  18  Sept. 
But  the  Son  of  Man — and  here  first  occurs  in  St  Matthew  that 
name  of  deep  meaning  by  which  the  Lord  is  wont  to  designate 
Himself,  and  which  has  already  been  found  in  Jno.  i.  51.  That  it 
is  a  name  which  indicates  and  avows  the  Messiah,  is  certain  from 
Daniel's  prophecy :  but  it  is  equally  manifest  that  it  is  most  im- 
mediately a  name  of  humiliation,  of  humble  self-renunciation,  (a 
lowly  Son  of  Man)  :  which  meaning  holds  also  in  Daniel,  where 
it  is  used  (as  in  Jno.  i.  51)  in  contradistinction  to  the  angelic  nature 
(ch.  vii.  10) :  as  the  invocation  "  O  Son  of  Man, "  Dan.  viii. 
17  shows,  and  the  repeated  use  of  it  in  Ezekiel.  Other  signifi- 
cations are  not  excluded,  as  further,  the  Universal  Man,  the 
Second  Man,  the  Son  of  God  who  yet  has  become  man,  and  for 
man's  sake  will  ever  be  such.  Now  the  one  meaning  and  now  the 
other  is  prominent,  according  to  the  ever-varying  connexion. 
Here  we  have  the  identity  of  the  Messiah-name  with  the  name 
of  a  lowly  neglected  son  of  man,  and  the  second  meaning  holds 
good — men  usually  are  better  and  more  commodiously  sheltered 
than  beasts,  but  I  am  one  of  them  of  whom  even  this  cannot  be 
said  !  Again  in  strong  and  proverbial  expression — not  a  place 
where  He  may  lay  his  head,  no  pillow  for  his  weary  sleep.  Is 
there  here  allusion  to  Jacob's  stone  for  a  pillow,  as  in  Jno.  i., 
Bethel  had  been  referred  to  ?  Certainly  the  Lord  does  not 
merely  say — I  know  not  even  for  the  coming  night  where  I  shall 
lay  myself  down.  (Herder.)  He  speaks  of  His  entire  homeless 
and  needy  life,  and  lodgment,  and  wanderings  since  he  entered 
upon  His  ministry  :  and  if  in  His  abode  at  Capernaum,  or  any 


356  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

where  else  for  a  short  time,  this  expression  might  appear  too 
strong,  it  was  a  great  truth  on  the  whole,  and  was  even  more  and 
more  literally  working  out  its  full  accomplishment,  till  He  bowed 
His  head  on  the  cross.  This  has  the  Lord  most  distinctively  in 
view  when  he  gives  the  answer  to  the  avowal,  I  will  follow  thee 
whithersoever  thou  goest — Thither  go  I,  that  is  my  way  and  my 
goal !  Wilt  thou  still  go  with  me  ?  If  we  take  St  Luke's 
chronology,  this  would  have  a  yet  deeper  significance,  see  vers. 
51 — 53.  But  the  Lord  could  well  have  said  the  same  at  an 
earlier  period,  fore-conscious  of  the  whole  course  of  His  career : 
and  would  do  so,  doubtless,  when  necessary  in  order  fundamen- 
tally to  repel  all  Jewish  expectation.  Not  improbably  the  Scribe 
or  others  who  heard  these  words  would  say :  Is  this  language 
for  one  who  assumes  to  be  Messiah !  Is  this  Daniel's  Son  of 
Man? 


The  second  belonged  already  to  the  disciples,  as  St  Matthew 
expressly  remarks ;  that  is,  in  the  more  comprehensive  sense  to 
those  who,  coming  and  going,  attached  themselves  to  the  Lord ; 
with  this  St  Luke's  account  that  the  Lord  uttered  to  him  a 
special  "  aicoXovdei  /jlol"  perfectly  agrees,  for  this  summons  might 
in  its  higher  and  additional  meaning  be  repeated  a  second  time, 
as  we  find  in  the  case  of  the  Apostles.  The  hitherto  disciple  is 
required  to  attach  himself  yet  more  entirely  and  inseparably  to 
his  Lord,  and  probably  it  was  His  intention  to  include  him 
among  the  seventy.  (Lu.  x.  i).  Even  in  St  Matthew's  account 
a  second  summons  of  our  Lord  is  evidently  presupposed,  since 
the  words  of  ver.  21  can  only  be  understood  as  an  answer  to 
such  a  summons :  suffer  me  first —  /  The  Lord,  however,  quali- 
fies not  His  a/coXovOei  fioc,  and  speaks  to  this  wavering  lingerer 
who  was  in  a  danger  that  he  knew  not  of  failing  to  return,  with 
such  keenness  and  urgency  as  He  would  not  have  been  likely  to 
use  in  the  case  of  an  entirely  new  disciple.  For  the  rest,  it  is 
entirely  inconceivable  that  the  meaning  of  the  request  was  simply 
— let  me  first  go  and  await  my  aged  father's  death  and  burial. 
This  is  contradicted  less  by  the  letter  of  the  petition,1  than  by 

1  Yet  as  Alford  well  remarks  (against  Theophylact) :  irpwrov  dneXdelu 
<al  Bafyai  must  refer  to  a  specific  act  to  be  previously  performed. 


matthew  viii.  20 — 22.  357 

the  spirit  of  our  Lord's  refusing  answer,  which  lays  the  stress  of 
the  emphasis  upon  the  burying.     The  entire  meaning  of  the  ex- 
pression, as  we  shall  unfold  it,  would  be  then  entirely  displaced : 
and  an  incomprehensible  severity  unnecessarily  infused  into  it, 
by  refusing  the  attentions  of  an  affectionate  son  to  a  yet  living 
father.     The  man  could  not  have  thus  come  to  Jesus  from  a 
house  of  death,  the  affliction  and  legal  uncleanness  would  have 
forbidden  this  i1  but  having  recently  come  to  him,  he  received 
the  intelligence  of  the  death  which  summoned  him  home,  while 
the  Lord  required  him  to  remain.      By  this  obvious  supposition 
alone  the  whole  is  disengaged  of  difficulty,  especially  the  com- 
mand of  Jesus — Therefore  go  not,  but  follow  me !     The  man 
thought  indeed  that  he  might  with  propriety  ask  to  perform  the 
duties  which  nature  and  religion  exacted,  especially  as  in  Jewish 
law  the  obligation  of  burying  released  from  most  other  engage- 
ments.    Hence  it  is  with  modest  submission  that  he  says — suffer 
me  first !     Or  should  we  rather  say,  with  a  wavering  tendency  ? 
Certainly  the  position  of  this  man's  conscience,  vibrating  at  that 
critical  moment  between  return  to  his  old  relations  and  a  perse- 
vering, yet  closer  adhesion  to  the  Lord,  manifestly  betrays  itself 
here :  if  he  did  not  suspect  danger  in  returning,  would  he  have 
put  the  question — May  I  go? — 1  Kings  xix.  20  is  generally 
compared,  but  this  still  more  closely  applies  to  Lu.  ix.  61.     And 
in  connection  with  that,  the  difference  between  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  is  referred  to,  between  the  relaxation  of  requirement 
and  its  strong  enforcement :  but  that  does  not  apply  here,  since 
our  Saviour  also  can  in  fit  cases  relax  His  demand,  even  as  Elias 
did  to  Elisha.     His  expression  has  primary  reference  to  the  indi- 
vidual instance  before  Him,  and  only  applies  in  all  its  rigour  to 
those  who  shall  be  found  in  the  same  precise  position  of  mind. 
That  is,  He  makes  available  in  its  literal  significance  a  truth  and 
a  principle  which,  though  in  themselves  perfectly  general,  are  not 
always  applied  in  a  manner  so  directly  interfering  with  human 
life.3 

1  Such  left  not  the  house  of  mourning  before  the  entombment. 

2  Very  true  and  discriminating  is  GoscheVs  observation,  that  Lu. 
ix.  61,  62,  explains  the  foregoing,  and  that  the  Lord  in  both  cases 
condemns  the  looking  back.  (Zur  Lehre  von  den  letzten  Dingen  S. 
70.   Onthe  other  hand  what  follows  in  pp.  61,  62  concerning  reference 


358  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW.      ' 

There  is  at  first  sight  a  tone  of  rigour  and  of  harshness  in  this 
word  of  the  Son  of  Man,  who  ordinarily  is  very  far  from  breaking 
in  upon  any  human  ordinance,  and  certainly  is  at  the  utmost  dis- 
tance from  a  condemnation  or  violation  of  the  most  natural  exhi- 
bitions of  human  love.  The  dead  must  be  buried,  according  to 
the  very  ordinance  of  God,  (Gen.  iii.  19).  If  it  be  said  that 
burial  is  a  matter  which  affects  not  the  dead,  and  therefore  that 
it  is  immaterial  who  performs  it,  whether  a  son  or  any  one  else  ; 
such  a  cold  thought,  which  our  Lord  has  not  in  his  view,  is  con- 
tradicted by  the  recognized  and  universal  right  feeling  of  man. 
Is  it  not  a  duty  of  love  which  a  son  might  be  supposed  to  have 
permission  to  discharge  without  asking  for  it  at  all  I  And  yet 
He  who  directed  the  cleansed  lepers  to  the  priests,  refuses  to 
concede  to  a  son  the  duty  and  the  right  of  burying  his  own 
father !  Assuredly  it  is  because  He  had  said  Follow  me  !  and  to 
the  same  extent  goes  that  other  word — Whosoever  loveth  father 
or  mother  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me.  We  may  be 
tempted  to  regard  this  requirement  as  being  too  high  and  strained 
for  humanity,  we  may  find  it  difficult  to  reconcile  this  saying  of 
our  Lord  with  His  ordinary  manner  of  speaking.  But  this 
should  lead  us  all  the  more  diligently  to  seek  that  hidden  mean- 
ing which  is  concealed  under  the  intentional  paradox  :  and  if  we 
seek  it  we  shall  find  it. 

We  set  out  with  the  proper  burial  of  the  properly  dead,  for 
the  request  referred  to  this,  and  the  refusal  must,  first  of  all,  have 
referred  to  it  likewise.  But  that  the  dead  who  are  to  be  buried 
must  be  figuratively  understood,  admits  of  no  doubt,  and  needs 
no  proof,  for  it  can  occur  to  no  man  to  impute  so  meaningless  a 
saying  to  the  Lord  as  that  the  burying  must  be  deferred,  till  one 
dead  man  shall  bury  another — let  the  already  dead  care  for  the 
companions  who  join  them  !  Who  then  are  the  dead  ?  Not  those 
who  are,  being  only  mortals  and  soon  to  die,  reckoned  as  being 
dead,  for  then  the  contrast  here  would  be  lost.  The  disciple  to 
whom  it  is  forbidden,  is  himself  one  of  such.  No,  the  Lord 
speaks  here  as  in  Jno.  v.  24,  25,  of  spiritual  death,  according  to 

here  to  the  mutual  care  of  the  dead  in  the  church  beyond — to  the  per- 
formance of  obsequies  in  the  name  of  Jesus — may  be  set  down  as  in- 
genious wanderings  beyond  the  letter  of  the  text). 


MATTHEW  VIII.  20 — 22.  359 

the  Spirit's  usage  throughout  the  whole  New  Testament.  Thus 
the  "  burying,"  as  an  external  work  belonging  to  the  things  of 
this  world,  should,  in  regard  to  persons  and  circumstances  where 
the  doing  of  something  more  important  is  involved,  be  left  to  the 
children  of  the  world,  who  can  perform  such  matters,  are  good 
enough  for  them,  and  are  in  their  generation  better  adapted  for 
their  performance.  Thus  far  we  have  light  arising  in  this  dark 
word,  and  observe  by  this  increasing  light  that  the  Lord  goes 
still  further,  and  taking  the  present  circumstance  as  a  similitude, 
designs  that  we  should  also  understand  the  burying  itself,  and 
even  the  dead  to  be  buried  in  their  figurative  meaning.  Here  we 
discern  Himself  and  His  manner  of  teaching  once  more.  How 
often  do  we  find  in  studying  His  words,  that  His  penetrating  glance 
beholds  the  most  internal  and  general  significance  of  individual 
occasions  and  circumstances :  and  then,  elevating  the  particular 
circumstance  into  an  example  and  emblem,  connects  with  it  say- 
ings of  sublimest,  and  most  far-reaching  application.  It  is  not 
otherwise  here.  When  one  called  to  be  His  follower  has  men- 
tioned a  u  burial "  which  he  must  first  take  charge  of,  which, 
however,  may  very  probably  lead  to  the  withdrawal  from  Him  of 
this  called  disciple,  the  profoundly  wise  Master  gives  him  as  an 
answer,  not  fore- thought  on,  but  issuing  at  once  from  the  depths 
of  His  Spirit, — an  answer  which  at  the  same  time  opens  up  a 
wide  field  of  thought. 

But  to  perceive  this,  we  must  think  of  the  still  more  harsh 
and  mysterious  saying  :  Let  those  who  are  dead  in  sin,  perform 
their  burial-work  one  for  another !  This  may  appear  to  sound 
like  what  many  loveless  ones  in  their  pride  say  in  their  thoughts 
or  with  their  lips — let  the  evil  world  perish,  let  it  remain  in  its 
ruin  !  For  a  moment  it  may  so  sound,  till  we  reflect  Who  thus 
speaks.  Did  He  then  leave  the  dead  in  their  death  and  burial  % 
Did  He  not  come  for  the  very  purpose,  that  whosoever  believeth 
on  Him,  should  not  remain  in  death  I  and  is  it  not  for  this  very 
object,  that  the  great  work  of  revivification  should  proceed  upon 
earth,  that  He  called  His  disciples,  and  sent  them  forth  among 
the  dead  as  His  witnesses,  with  the  word  and  spirit  of  life? 
and  here  we  remark  that  His  words  to  the  disciple  whom  He 
called,  contain  a  very  impressive  contrast  between  the  work  to 
be  left  to  others,  and  the  work  which  he  himself  must  with  his 


3  GO  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

utmost  diligence  engage  in.  We  should  find  this  antithesis 
in  the  occasion  and  in  the  person,  even  if  it  was  not  expressed 
in  word,  but  it  is  so.  In  St  Matthew  we  have  the  Follow 
thou  me,  that  is,  hear  the  words  of  eternal  life  which  will  give 
life  to  thy  soul :  and  again  in  St  Luke — But  go  thou  and  preach 
the  kingdom  of  God,  that  is,  arouse  those  who  are  dead,  being 
called  to  this,  leave  burying  to  others,  who  alas  do  it  naturally 
enough,  as  long  as  they  themselves  are  as  dead  as  their  dead 
(AidyyeWe,  cry  aloud  everywhere,  far  and  wide,  as  in  Rom.  ix. 
17).  The  dead,  indeed,  are  not  to  be  thus  left,  but  to  them  the 
true  word  of  life  is  to  be  preached.  The  very  reverse  holds  here. 
The  Lord's  stern  saying  is  one  which  springs  from  the  con- 
suming zeal  of  his  love  for  the  world's  salvation.  He  will 
have  the  one  thing  pursued  without  distraction  and  intermission. 
He  holds  fast  His  messenger  of  life,  that  the  life-giving  work  may 
take  no  harm  through  his  attention  to  the  "  burying."  As  in  a 
great  hospital,  where  many  are  hourly  dying,  the  physicians' 
sole  concern  is  healing  and  saving ;  others  may  charge  them- 
selves with  burial,  they  have  no  time  for  that.  So  is  it  with  the 
followers  of  the  Lord  in  this  world  !  When  separation  to  this 
great  calling  is  concerned,  everything  else  must  give  way.  The 
proper  burial  of  a  father,  even,  is  not  excepted :  although  gene- 
rally it  is  fit  and  right  that  a  mourner  should  bury  his  own  dead 
out  of  his  sight  (Gen.  xxiii.  4,  as  here — their  dead),  and  the 
Lord  Himself,  Matt.  xxvi.  12,  gives  us  proof  j  in  what  estimation 
he  held  such  a  service  rendered  by  love  to  its  object.  Much  more 
must  all  that  give  place  which  the  Lord  likens  to  such  burying. 
Luther  says  very  appropriately  on  this  place :  "  some  there  be  who 
alledge  good  works,  for  their  not  following  and  believing,  but 
Christ  regards  them  as  only  dead  and  lost  works."  Oh  how 
much  of  such  lost  and  valueless  work  is  there  under  all  kinds  of 
forms  and  names,  and  with  very  specious  pretension,  but  which 
bring  no  service  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  bring  no  dead  to  life, 
and  from  which  the  Lord  not  simply  by  permission  but  by 
express  commandment  gives  His  people  dispensation  —  leave 
these  things  to  others  !  Much  of  such  mere  burial-work  passes 
under  the  title  of  political  or  generally  human  obligations,  yea  is 
to  be  found  in  the  holy  ceremonies  of  an  ecclesiastic  death. 
These  things  not  only  make  no  dead  soul  live,  but  bury  the 


MATTHEW  VIII.  20—22.  361 

dead  yet  more  deeply  in  their  death,  (Rom.  vi.  4).  Thus  do  the 
dead  bury  each  other  !  For  all  things  in  men's  mutual  commerce 
have  the  effect  and  influence  either  of  burying  or  of  raising  from 
death  But  this  difference  does  not  so  much  lie  in  any  external 
act  as  such,  as  in  the  manner  and  spirit  of  its  performance.  The 
burying  may  be  so  ordered,  as  to  conduce  to  awakening  from 
death :  men  may  so  "  preach  the  kingdom  of  God,"  as  that  the 
people  who  hear  be  preached  into  death. 

This  is  the  far-reaching,  universally  applicable  meaning  of  the 
word,  in  which  it  has  its  truth  and  force  for  all  His  disciples 
everywhere  :  Ye  are  called,  as  the  living,  to  diffuse  life,  leave 
everything  else  as  burying-work  to  the  dead  I1  "  Take  with  you 
who  is  fit  to  go :  but  miss  not  a  step  of  your  own  way,"  (Zinzen- 
dorf).  But  when  does  this  general  principle  lay  hold  of  the  soul 
in  its  full  severity,  and  cut  off  from  us  by  an  unconditional  pro- 
hibition, things  otherwise  permitted,  and  even  demanded  by  the 
very  instinct  of  life,  such  as  the  burying  of  a  father  in  the  pre- 
sent case  ?  In  cases  of  collision  and  critical  times  of  decision, 
known  to  be  such  by  the  Lord's  inward  monition  in  the  con- 
science. This  man  was  in  actual  danger  of  burying  himself 
again,  while  burying  his  father ;  and  the  third  example  in  Lu. 
ix.  61,  Q29  is  an  explanatory  parallel  of  the  second.  He  who  felt 
in  himself  while  he  put  the  question  the  waverings  of  his  spirit, 
perceived  in  his  spirit  more  clearly  than  many  expositors  have 
done,  the  true  meaning  of  the  Lord's  stern  answer.  Suppose  it 
thine  own  case,  should  any  the  holiest  obligation  of  life,  even 
that  of  showing  thy  filial  affection  at  the  dying  bed  or  the 
grave  of  thy  father,  call  thee  away  at  the  critical  moment  when 
thy  Lord's  seirvice  most  imperatively  claims  thee,  tell  it  to  Him 
in  the  sincerity  of  thine  heart :  Lord,  suffer  me  first  to  go  and 
discharge  this  obligation  !  and  if  this  first  should  not  be  approved 
of  by  Him,  as  involving  danger  to  thyself :  then  art  thou  released 
from  all,  hold  thyself  bound,  to  follow  Him  I  What  thou  thoughtest 
thyself  bound  to  do  will  be  done  by  others,  and  no  more  will  harm 
result  from  thine  omission,  than  the  dead  will  fail  to  bury  their 
dead. 

1  As  typically  the  consecrated  Nazarite  might  not  defile  himself  even 
at  the  death  of  his  father,  mother,  &c,  though  the  High  Priest  was  not 
forbidden  to  do  so.  (Num.  vi.  7  ;  Lev.  xxi.  1 — 4.) 


362  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

THE  STILLING  OF  THE  SEA. 

(Matt.  viii.  26  ;  Mark  iv.  35—39,  40;  Luke  viii.  22—25). 

The  significance  of  this  history  belongs  not  simply  to  the  place 
where  we  find  and  expound  the  words.  The  whole  human  life 
of  the  Son  of  God  isv  in  all  its  circumstances  and  details  alto- 
gether symbolical,  because  He  who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible 
God  in  the  flesh  appears  in  commerce  with  the  world,  with  nature, 
and  with  men  :  and  this  symbolical,  typical,  prophetical  character 
meets  us  with  special  significance  on  some  most  striking  occa- 
sions. The  passage  over  the  sea  is  human  life  generally,  disciple- 
life  in  particular  :  the  ship  in  which  He  protectingly  and  savingly 
voyages  with  them,  as  it  is  the  heart  of  His  disciple,  so  it  is  also 
His  Church,  the  antitype  of  the  Ark.  The  three  Evangelists  note 
three  sayings  of  our  Lord  in  connexion  with  this  event :  St  Mat- 
thew only  records  the  central  and  most  important  word,  to  the 
right  understanding  of  which  belongs  the  right  understanding  of 
the  whole  narrative,  inasmuch  as  in  that  word  the  Lord  regards 
the  occurrence  prophetically  and  symbolically.  He  stills  the 
storm,  in  order  to  teach  by  signs,  how  He  could  and  He  will  still 
all  storms :  He  rebuked  the  little  faith  of  His  disciples,  in  order 
to  speak  in  doing  so  a  permanent  word  for  all  similar  conjunc- 
tures and  circumstances  in  all  time  to  come.  The  Spirit  secretly 
teaches  this  in  the  concise  and  measured  words  of  vers.  23,  24,  in 
St  Matthew.  The  disciples  followed  Him,  when  He,  evening 
being  come  (according to  St  Mark),  summoned  them  to  the  voyage 
by  entering  the  ship,  and  announcing  His  will.  And  behold, 
where  He  voyages  with  His  disciples,  there  arises  the  storm  ! 


The  first  word  (in  St  Mark  and  St  Luke)  is  the  Lord's  purely 
human — let  us  pass  over  unto  the  other  side  !  On  which  we  have 
only  to  remark  that  the  Lord  who  so  often  is  under  the  necessity 
of  opposing  His  majestic  I  to  all  other  men,  all  the  more  con- 
descendingly on  that  account  speaks  of  the'  We  and  the  Us  in 
the  external  things  of  ordinary  life  i1  yet  as  the  whole  tenor  of  the 

1  Compare  2  Kings  iv.  13  (especially  in  the  original)  with  ver.  9. 
Just  so  do  the  Apostles  speak,  in  the  same  spirit  mingling  themselves 


MATTHEW  VIII.  26.  363 

Gospels  evinces,"  the  Lord  in  His  own  pre-eminent  dignity  only 
thus  speaks  in  such  relations.  All  the  more  impressively  does 
the  third  word  follow,  with  which  He,  the  only  one,  and  concern- 
ing whom  the  question  is  for  ever  rising  anew — HoTairo?  iariv 
ovto<; — rebukes  the  winds  and  the  sea ! 


The  word  of  main  importance,  however,  is  that  central  word 
to  the  terrified  disciples,  which  the  Evangelists  remarkably  enough 
give  us  in  variety  of  literal  expression,  but  with  the  same  mean- 
ing.     The  power  and  force  of  such  words  must  ever  leave  the 
mere  letter  behind,  and  fasten  upon  the  heart  as  the  immediate 
speech  of  spirit  to  spirit.      "  He  rebuked  us  that  our  faith  was 
little,  that  we  were  not  ready  with  our  faith,  that  we  had  no 
faith" — this  was  the  never-erased  impression  of  words  which  in 
the  perturbation  of  the  moment  were  not  distinctly  heard,  but 
profoundly  understood.      One  thing  was  beyond  all  else  plain  ; 
that  he  pointed  to  faith  as  the  principle  through  which  fear  is 
overcome.      There  was,  indeed,  great  peril  according  to  human 
appearance,  in  a  ship  already  filling  with  water :  St  Luke  kcl\ 
ifciv&vvevov.     Four  fishermen  familiar  with  the  sea  were  there. 
But  the  Lord,  whose  office  and  work  was  not  to  row  the  ship, 
knowing  no  care  as  to  the  passage  (critical  from  the  beginning), 
slept,  laying  his  weary  head  upon  the  wooden  railing  of  the  ship.1 
Slept  so  sound  and  tranquil,  that  the  storm  and  uproar  around 
did  not  awake  him,  but  only  the  hands  and  cry  of  the  disciples. 
(All  three  Evangelists  mention  distinctively  the  awaking  Him, 
before  they  spoke  to  Him).      And  how  does  the  awakened  wake 
up  ?     In  the  same  majestic  tranquillity  with  which  he  had  sunk 
to  sleep,  in  the  most  perfect  self-possession  and  power  of  His 
spirit.      Let  any  man  reflect  how  one  suddenly  roused  with  out- 
cries of  distress  and  danger  of  death  around  him,  would  in  the 
weakness  of  humanity  comport  himself  :  and  it  will  help  him 
to    perceive  and  estimate  the  unapproachable  dignity  of  this 
Being,  even  while   one  with  us  He  is  paying  His  tribute  to 

and  their  attendants,  ministers  and  servants  together,  even  in  spiritual 
things — though  not  with  so  much  condescension  as  Elisha  showed  when 
he  spoke  of  respect  shown  towards  him  and  Gekazi. 

1  For  even  though  Trpoo-icetydkaiov  may  signify  ordinarily  a  second 
pillow  or  cushion,  yet  the  article  in  Mark  iv.  38  seems  to  indicate 
something  belonging  to  the  ship,  which  might  serve  as  a  cushion  or 
support. 


364  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTIIEW. 

the  infirmity  of  our  flesh.  Yea,  verily,  Hiis  Son  of  Man  sinks 
into  sleep,  and  wakes  again  even  like  ourselves,  and  yet  not  like 
ourselves.  This  gives  His  word,  spoken  at  this  critical  moment, 
its  foundation  of  majesty,  and  must  be  considered  in  its  exposi- 
tion. That  the  Lord  thus  speaks  and  thus  can  speak,  is  at  least 
as  wonderful  as  that  He  in  Adam's  primeval  authority  and  domi- 
nion controls  the  element :  rather  this  latter  is  to  be  understood 
by  the  former.  The  Son  of  Man  slept,  the  Son  of  God  in  Man 
awakes  and  speaks.  For  Himself  exhausted,  for  others  almighty. 
St  Matthew  gives  the  words  of  the  disciples  in  their  simplest 
expression,  St  Luke  indicates  more  strongly  the  urgency  of  their 
feeling  by  the  twice  uttered  "  Master  !  Master !" — St  Mark  adds 
their  reproachful  appeal,  "  Carest  thou  not  that  we  perish  f ' ' 
Canst  thou  sleep  tranquilly,  while  we  are  in  anguish  and  straits  ? 
He  utters  no  reproach  for  the  violent  awakening,  but  perceiving 
instantly  the  whole  significance  of  the  occasion,  He  penetrates 
to  the  very  heart  of  the  matter,  by  speaking,  as  the  great  Master 
a  great  word  of  instruction  for  all  who  are  so  terrified.  Why  are 
ye  so  fearful  f  So  fearful  ?  This  St  Mark  also  places  first.  He 
never  entertains  fear  of  any  creature ;  there  is  no  trace  of  any 
such  feeling  in  Him  throughout  the  Gospels.  When  anxiety, 
fear,  or  grief  falls  upon  Him,  it  springs  from  quite  another  prin- 
ciple. To  fear  is  human,  belongs  to  fallen  human  nature  in  its 
sin  and  fear  of  death  :  but  faith  in  God  should  again  expel  this 
fear.  This  is  the  great  thought  in  the  mind  of  our  Lord  :  it  is 
only  He  who  can  speak  to  the  terrified,  in  perfect  fearless  com- 
posure, concerning  fearing  and  believing,  as  opposite  one  to  the 
other.  The  Holy  Ghost  revives  in  the  Apostle  the  remembrance 
of  the  word,  as  if  it  had  been  :  0  ye  of  little  faith  !  as  in  ch.  vi. 
30.  The  disciples  were  also  in  unbelief,  which  cried  out — we 
perish  !  Yet  were  they  at  the  same  time  sufficiently  believing  to 
awake  and  call  upon  him — Lord  help  us  !  Even  weak  faith  is 
faith  still,  the  trembling  hand  yet  holds  fast  the  Deliverer.  If 
others  among  the  people  had  called  upon  the  Lord  in  such  a 
storm  to  help  them,  in  them  it  would  have  been  a  stronger  faith. 
Thus  the  idea  of  little  faith  is  relative  :  the  disciples,  more  inti- 
mately familiar  with  the  power  of  their  Master,  should  not  have 
allowed  themselves  so  lightly  to  be  whelmed  in  distress  and  deadly 
fear  by  the  mere  appearance  of  danger  :  to  Peter  already  walking 
on  the  sea,  the  rebuke  is  yet  stronger — O  thou  of  little  faith? 


MATTHEW  VIII.  26.  365 

wherefore  didst  thou  doubt !  St  Mark  and  St  Luke  give  us 
another  form  of  expression  :  how  is  it  that  ye  have  no  faith,  just 
now,  when  ye  should  have  been  able  to  trust  ?  Hence  equivalent 
to  where  is  your  faith  ?  for  there  is  in  truth  no  difference  of 
meaning.  More  depends  upon  another  difference  :  viz.,  that  the 
Evangelists,  not  Apostles,  relate  first  the  rebuking  of  the  storm, 
and  then  the  word  of  the  disciples ;  while  St  Matthew,  on  the 
other  hand,  tells  us,  and  with  a  literal  and  express  Tore,  that  the 
Lord  spoke  first  the  word  of  admonition  to  the  disciples  and 
stilled  their  disquieted  souls,  before  He  turned  to  the  winds  and 
the  waves.  In  this  lies  the  sublimest  trait  of  the  whole :  He 
looks  not  round  on  the  uproar  of  the  elements,  before  He  has 
discharged  to  His  disciples  in  severity  and  love  His  accustomed 
function  of  Master.1  Further  it  is  Tore  iyepOek, — still  sitting, 
the  awakened  one  in  the  midst  of  all  the  tempest  remaining  un- 
perturbed. 

But  then  follows  the  act  which  sets  its  seal  to  the  word.  And 
just  as  this,  so  also  does  that  carry  its  own  meaning  with  it.  And 
yet  this  empire  over  nature  is  a  new  thing  which  St  Matthew  has 
to  record  concerning  Jesus.  His  narrative  of  selected  miracles 
in  chs.  viii.  and  ix.,  rises  through  a  gradation  of  importance  : 
cleansing  of  the  leper  (a  great  thing  even  to  begin  with) — healing 
at  a  distance  by  His  word,  Be  it  done  ! — commanding  the  wind 
and  the  sea — saying  to  the  devils;  go ! — forgiving  the  sins  of  the 
paralytic  (more  indeed  than  saying  arise !  or  go  hence  !  more  than 
ruling  the  sea) — and  finally  giving  life  to  the  dead !  St  Matthew 
and  St  Luke  both  give  us  to  understand  that  the  Lord  addressed 
the  excited  elements,  as  we  speak  to  living  and  conscious  beings  ; 
St  Mark  gives  us  the  two  words  of  His  invocation  :  Xtdma  I 
Il€(j)L/Mi)ao  !  If  we  are  to  seek  in  the  repetition  any  thing  more 
than  mere  emphasis,  that  additional  meaning  is  not  to  be  found 
by  referring  (as  Bengel  does)  the  former  to  the  sonus,  and  the 
latter  to  the  impetus,  but  by  regarding  the  previous  words  of  St 
Mark :  He  rebuked  the  wind  and  spoke  to  the  sea.  This  is  so  signi- 
ficantly echoed  in  the  subsequent  exclamation  of  the  astonished 
men,  as  recorded  by  all  the  three  Evangelists,  that  we  may  even 

1  "  If  they  had  awaked  Him,  to  restore  their  disorder  and  presence 
of  mind  scared  away  by  danger,  He  would  have  entered  on  His  function 
without  rebuking  them."  Braune. 


366  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

on  that  account  readily  believe  that  the  Lord  literally  spoke,  as 
St  Mark  records  it : — that  he  uttered  one  word  of  authority  to  the 
storm  raging  above,  and  another  to  the  waves  below.  It  surprises 
us  to  read  in  Lange  that  as  the  wind  and  the  billows  were  no 
"  spiritual  power"  opposed  to  Him,  the  invocation  was  not  "  pro- 
perly such,"  but  a  "prophetic  announcement  with  a  mysteriously 
symbolical  design,"  and  to  find  that  with  a  diluted  rationalism  he 
traces  the  "  immediate  causes  of  the  stilling  of  the  air  and  of  the 
sea  to  the  atmosphere"  Oh  no,  there  is  an  authoritative  word  of 
God's  Spirit's  power,  which  can  speak  into  the  atmosphere  more 
than  was  before  latent  in  it  according  to  the  harmonia  prwstabu 
lita.  This  word  of  authority  was  not  a  manner  of  speaking  which 
meant  only  a  knowledge  that  it  would  become  still !  It  is,  more- 
over, generally  true,  as  von  Gerlach  understands  the  passage, 
that  "  the  destructive  powers  of  creation  are  for  the  sin  of  man 
in  the  service  of  evil  spirits."  That  profound  thinker  Daub,  for 
example  (Jud.  Ischar.  II.  353),  has  referred  to  this  history  in 
connection  with  his  views  of  the  demon-element  in  the  terrors  of 
nature  and  the  war  of  the  elements,  and  of  the  authority  of  God 
which  can  alone  command  them  to  be  still.  Whether  the 
Gergesene  devils,  whose  history  presently  follows,  were  the  spirits 
who  raised  this  tempest  against  Jesus  (according  to  an  old 
opinion),  and  thus  their  ordnance  is  spoken  to  instead  of  the 
beings  who  directed  it,  is  very  much  to  be  questioned :  and  the 
invocation  will  certainly  admit  of  no  application  to  the  inter- 
mediate agency  in  nature  of  angels,  according  to  the  opinion  of 
many.  We,  for  our  own  part,  are  not  at  all  disposed  to  rest  the 
simple  truth  of  this  history  upon  any  such  inappropriate  and 
needless  conceits :  it  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the  whole  exhibi- 
tion of  the  character  of  God's  power,  thus  to  exert  authoritv  over 
nature.  Job.  xxxviii.  11 ;  (Ps.  lxv.  8,  lxxxix.  10).  What  that 
mysterious  question  in  Prov.  xxx.  4  attributed  to  the  "  Son"  of 
whom  the  Old  Testament  prophesied,  now  receives  its  manifest 
realization.  Here  is  something  much  beyond  Elijah's  dividing 
the  waters  of  the  Jordan.  We  have  no  need  too  elaborately  to 
work  out  the  picture,  and  refer  (with  Pfenninger)  to  the  impera- 
tive form  of  the  Lord  seen  reflected  in  the  instantly  still  water  (it 
was,  indeed,  evening  or  night) :  we  have  ample  foundation  already 
for  the  amazed  exclamation  of  the  men  (of  the  disciples  themselves 


MATTHEW  VIII.  32.  367 

also  according  to  St  Mark  and  St  Luke)  concerning  this  Son  of 
Man  :  What  manner  of  man  is  this  !  But  He  remains  Himself 
in  His  high  dignity  amid  such  an  outcry  of  astonishment,  the 
same  as  when  He  heard  it  later  from  the  lips  of  Pilate — Behold, 
what  a  man  is  this  !  ( IBe  6  avOpoairo^  Ecce  homo !  Eng.  Behold 
the  man  !  Gen  Welch  ein  mensch ! — Tr.) 


THE  DEVILS  IN  THE  SWINE. 

(Matt.  viii.  32 ;  Mark  v.  8,  9,  19 ;  Luke  viii.  30,  39). 

One  single  word  of  the  Lord  does  St  Matthew  set  within  the 
margin  of  a  wonderful  narrative,1  which,  amid  all  the  wonders  to 
which  we  have  been  accustomed,  stands  alone  and  distinct  in  its 
kind.  Thus  much  is  by  it  clearly  designed  to  be  taught,  that  this 
Jesus  who  commanded  the  wind  and  the  sea  to  be  still,  rules  also 
in  His  unapproachable  dignity  over  the  devils,  to  whom  His 
vTrdyere,  mighty  in  its  tranquillity,  points  the  way  of  departure, 
and  permits  them  to  go  :  just  as  in  ver.  16  it  had  been  already 
said  in  general  that  He  cast  out  spirits  with  His  word.  There 
is  a  simple  grandeur  in  the  account  of  St  Matthew,  who  brings 
forward  no  part  of  the  circumstance  which  is  not  absolutely 
necessary  for  its  right  understanding.  To  the  other  three  Evan- 
gelists there  remain  the  individual  and  more  exact  details,  and 
three  other  words  of  our  Lord  in  connexion  with  them.2  The 
records  agree  perfectly  in  all  essential  points,  and  particularly 

1  The  geographical  investigations  about  Gadara,  Gerasa,  Gergesa, 
we  gladly  hand  over  to  the  learned. 

2  But  it  is  no  part  of  this  greater  exactitude,  that  they  speak  only  of 
one  possessed.  We  cannot  agree,  either  with  Olshausen  who  says, 
generally,  that  Matthew  has  confounded  the  accounts  ;  or  with  Ebrard, 
who  regards  the  second  as  taken  from  Mark  i.  23 — 27,  and  connected 
with  the  first.  We  adhere  to  the  simple  conclusion,  that  according  to 
St  Matthew  there  were  two,  while  St  Mark  and  St  Luke,  without 
denying  that,  speak  more  especially  of  one.  We  have  only  to  add  that 
the  one  might  very  naturally  be  prominent  throughout  the  whole  pro- 
ceeding. He  who  would  investigate  further,  forgets  in  subordinate  and 
useless  questions,  the  main  point.  Schleiermacher  repudiates  the  second 
as  false,  because  madmen  never  affect  such  close  friendship  and  fellow- 
ship, but  there  are  answers  enough  to  that  observation. 


3G8  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

concur  in  placing  the  incident  immediately  after  the  stilling  of 
the  sea. 

That  truth,  which  had  only  been  testified  in  St  Matthew's 
Gospel  by  the  Father  from  heaven  (ch.  iii.  17),  and  which  Satan 
had  in  vain  endeavoured  to  assail,  viz.,  that  this  Jesus,  the  Vir- 
gin's son,  Emmanuel,  is  truly  the  Son  of  God — the  devils  have 
since  understood,  earlier  and  better  than  men.  But  while  they 
know  it  they  tremble  before  Him  !  St  Mark,  ch.  i.,  has  already 
announced  similar  testimonies  of  the  spirits  in  the  possessed. 
"We  understand,  with  all  our  science,  so  little  of  the  natural  his- 
tory of  hell,  and  of  that  interference  of  its  spiritual  powers  with 
the  affairs  of  human  life  which  is  ever  being  exerted,  but  was 
specially  intense  in  our  Saviour's  time,  that  it  might  well  be 
accounted  the  most  infatuated  of  all  imaginable  folly  to  hazard 
the  rash  assertions  of  our  ignorance  against  the  plain  declara- 
tions of  Holy  Writ,  which  have  their  thousandfold  confirmation 
in  our  consciences,  in  history,  and  in  religious  science.  '  These 
Gadarenes  or  Gergesenes  disclose  to  us  a  dark  and  awful  pro- 
vince of  humanity,  as  lying  under  the  ravages  of  the  devil,  the 
counterpart  of  which,  at  least  in  moral  life,  if  not  in  such  horrible 
manifestations  of  bodily  possession,  may  be  found  in  Christen- 
dom to  the  present  day — to  say  nothing  of  its  full  analogies  in 
Heathenism.^  But  over  this  region  also  Jesus  rules,  the  Son  of 
God  !  To  believe  and  to  understand  this  is  the  main  concern, 
and  we  would  not  bury  or  obscure  this  fundamental  truth  by 
any  irrelevant  discussions ! 

St  Matthew's  expression,  ver.  29,  gives  us  at  first  to  under- 
stand that  the  possessed  called  out  upon  Jesus,  but  it  is  after- 
wards made  plain  that  the  devils,  ver.  31,  spake  through  their 
mouth,  especially  that  of  the  one.  The  incident  is  made  more 
vivid  by  the  additional  information  of  the  two  other  Evangelists, 
that  the  men,  in  their  frenzy,  rushed  towards  the  Lord,  as  they 
did  towards  all  who  were  in  the  way,  but  that  in  His  near  presence 
there  came  a  change  upon  them  suddenly.  The  one  devil  who 
united  together  many  in  them,  marks  the  great  Ruler  and 
Judge  ;  hence  the  falling  down  before  Him,1  the  cry  of  horror 
against  Him  who  is  come  to  torment  them,  who  has  power  to 
bid  them  go  away  into  their  abyss. ;  And  how  came  this?  For 
(thus  both  Evangelists  add  in  explanation)  He  had  commanded 


MATTHEW  VIII.  32.  3G9 

the  unclean  spirit  to  come  out  of  the  man,  had  uttered  a  word 
which  arrested  the  mad  attack  upon  Him :  Come  out  of  the  man, 
thou  unclean  spirit !  I  am  He  who  can  utter  this  command, 
who  am  come  first  of  all  to  deliver  men  from  the  power  of  Satan. 
Unclean  spirit — this  was  the  ordinary  phrase,  used  by  the  Lord 
because  it  has  in  His  use  a  profoundly  true  significance.  Did 
He  address  in  these  words  the  ruler  of  the  host  "  Legion  P  He 
was  in  His  humiliation  by  no  means  omniscient,  but,  unless  in 
cases  when  the  Father  gave  Him  special  and  instant  revelation, 
subjected  to  the  successive  perceptions  of  observation,  like  huma- 
nity in  general.  He  appears  here  to  have  seen  in  effect  at  the 
beginning  only  an  ordinary  instance  of  demoniacal  possession. 
But  His  first — come  out  of  the  man  I1  not  indeed  impotent,  rather 
efficient  to  bring  down  the  spirits  to  entreaty,  was  not  instantly 
obeyed,  as  we  often  read,  e.g.  in  Mar.  i.  26,  ix.  26*  Then  does 
the  Lord  discern  a  possession  of  an  aggravated  kind  (Matt.  xvii. 
21),  and  maintaining  the  sublimest  composure  in  the  midst  of 
the  raging  fury  of  the  demons,  condescends  as  his  king  and  judge 
to  the  being  thus  brought,  as  it  were,  before  his  tribunal ;  and 
enters  into  a  most  marvellous  and  mysterious  colloquy  with  the 
unclean  spirit. 

What  is  thy  name  ?  (St  Mark  rl  col  ovo/na,  St  Lu.  tl  goi  £gti 
ovofta).  It  is  marvellous  and  quite  peculiar  (the  only  instance 
recorded)  that  the  Lord  should  ask  the  unclean  spirit  concerning 
His  distinctive  name.  For  that  this  spirit  is  intended,  and  not 
the  man  of  whom  he  had  taken  possession,  is  most  decidedly 
shown  in  the  context,  according  to  the  two  other  Evangelists. 
It  has  been  well  urged,  that  a  question  which  would  have  been 
otherwise  quite  inappropriate  and  unmeaning,  might  in  this  case 
be  regarded  as  quite  useful,  inasmuch  as  it  would  help  to  bring 
the  confused  madman  to  sober  recollection.     But  the  frenzy  of 

1  By  no  means,  as  Neander  thinks,  a  mere  remark  of  a  subsequent 
compiler,  in  order  to  find  a  motive  for  the  words  of  the  demons. 
Worse  still,  we  find  Schleiermacher  deeming  it  incomprehensible  "  that 
the  spirits  are  so  considerate  and  thoughtful  for  themselves,  and  like 
children  who  have  no  inclination  to  obey,  make  their  proposals  and 
subterfuges  " — and  therefore  that  the  7rapr)yyei\e  yap  is  an  incorrect  ad- 
dition. rThat  the  devils,  indeed,  have  no  wish  instantly  to  obey,  is 
their  very  nature — and  in  that  they  are  actually  worse  than  mere 
headstrong  and  obstinate  children,  who  are  full  of  cunning  reasonings. 

24 


370  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

possession  is  not  to  be  treated  thus,  and  we  perceive  at  once  that 
the  conversation  is  not  opened  up  between  the  man  and  Jesus, 
but  between  the  devil  who  usurps  the  man's  mouth,1  and  His 
Lord  and  Judge  who  commands  him  to  stand  and  render  account. 
That  the  devils  as  spirits  are  individual  persons,  and  that  grada- 
tions and  kinds  obtain  among  them,  we  already  know  r  and  can 
understand  the  object  of  our  Lord's  real  question  :  what  devil 
art  thou  !  The  name  which  he  may  have  uttered,  was  indeed 
only  intelligible  to  Jesus :  for  what  we  find  in  the  Talmud  or  in  any 
other  books  of  ancient  or  modern  times  concerning  the  names  of 
fiends,  may  be  regarded  as  containing  a  little  truth  mingled  with 
much  fable.  But  expositors  should  be  content  to  stand  apart 
while  the  Son  of  God  speaks  to  a  being  out  of  hell;  well 
assured,  however,  that  they  perfectly  understood  each  other.  The 
malicious  spirit,  we  further  mark,  made  bold  by  the  unlooked 
for  condescension,  evades  the  proper  meaning  of  the  question, 
and  gives  an  answer  which  is  in  the  genuine  devilish  manner, 
by  a  name  which  is  only  a  disguise,  and  says  proudly,  impu- 
dently, and  half-mockingly,  as  though  a  prisoner  on  defence — my 
name  is  Legion,  for  we  are  many.  All  this  St  Matthew  passes  over, 
and  hastens  on  to  the  request  of  the  devils  founded  upon  it,  for 
permission  to  enter  into  the  swine.  This  is  the  turning  point  of 
the  whole  narrative.  The  Lord  who  has  not  hitherto  exhibited 
to  us  merely  "a  kind  disposition  to  enter  into  the  disordered 
fantasies  of  a  maniac"  ( Weiss),  nor  His  wisdom  in  the  gentle, 
gradual,  accommodating  treatment  of  a  sick  man,  (as,  alas,  most 
of  even  orthodox  expositors,  down  to  Lange  and  JBraune,  would 
have  us  believe),  but  who  has  shown  us,  in  this  the  first  direct 
and  violent  inckrsion  of  hell  upon  Him,  the  sublime  tranquillity 
of  the  Son  of  God  in  the  Son  of  Man — at  this  critical  moment 


1  Not  however  as  if  the  notions  and  manner  of  speech  of  the  possessed 
man  were  mingled  with  those  of  the  possessing  subject.  This  has 
been  discovered  in  St  Mark's  '*  adjuring  by  God"  but  incorrectly. 
For  Dr  Bauer's  question  :  When  was  the  devil  so  devout  as  to  take 
the  name  of  God  into  his  mouth  ?  is  answered  most  pointedly  and  well 
by  Ebrardj  when  he  writes  "  die  Posaune  des  jiingsten  Gerichts  gegen 
Hegel  1"  Von  Gerlach  observes  generally  that  the  "manifold  abuse 
of  the  name  of  God  among  wicked  men,  shows  how  false  the  ideas 
of  former  times  were,  which  conceived  that  the  devil  could  not  utter 


MATTHEW  VIII.  32.  371 

knows,  through  the  full  revelation  of  the  Father  shining  through 
His  spirit,  what  the  whole  occasion  is,  and  what  it  becomes  Him 
in  this  conjuncture  to  do.  The  trial  and  hearing  are  broken  off 
abruptly,  the  request  even  of  the  devils  is  granted,  and  sound- 
ness is  imparted  to  the  men  through  the  majestic  and  decisive 
decree — go  !  Here  the  whole  narrative  finds  its  consummation, 
and  just  at  the  point  where  Jesus  is  revealed  as  their  absolute 
Ruler*  and  Lord,  our  curiosity  concerning  the  mysteries  of  the 
devil's  kingdom  and  subjects  is  left  ungratified,  and  for  ever 
silenced.  Whether  there  lay  in  the  request  merely  the  appe- 
tency for  the  unclean,1  with  a  superadded  disposition  to  destroy, 
or  whether  it  was  a  malicious  scheme  to  bring  the  Lord  into 
evil  repute  through  the  death  of  the  swine— sublime  over  all 
rises  His  calm,  sovereign  word  of  permission — Go!  What  calm 
supremacy,  what  mysterious  depth  is  there  in  this  one  word ! 
Latent  within  it  is  an  answer  to  the  question  before  put,  ver. 
29.  It  is  not  yet  time  for  your  final  judgment.  How  much  is 
there  intimated  yet  not  spoken,  and  which  we  dare  not  trust 
ourselves  to  penetrate,  concerning  the  influence  of  unclean  spirits 
even  upon  animal  life,  the  only  example2  of  which  in  Biblical 
history  here  meets  us.3  We  do  not  read  that  the  man  or  the  men 
rushed  upon  the  two  thousand  swine,  to  drive  them  into  the  sea  : 
it  is  only  said,  that  the  devils  went  out,  and  entered  into  the  swine. 
Even  Neander  here  recognizes  the  improbability  and  inappropri- 
ateness  of  the  demoniac's  being  let  loose  upon  the  swine — although 

1  u  The  ancient  affinity  between  the  serpent  and  swine,  the  union  of 
which  is  exhibited  in  the  dragon,  the  affinity  of  the  demon  nature  for 
swine,"  as  Lange  labours  to  express  his  idea.  The  mere  "inclination 
to  the  external,  towards  flesh,  or  towards  a  bodily  dwelling"  {von 
GerlachJ,  does  not  seem  precisely  to  explain  the  desire  to  enter  the 
swine  in  particular. 

2  The  inhabitants  of  the  destroyed  Babylon  in  the  prophetic  de- 
scription might  have  been  made  to  illustrate  this,  where  animals  and 
devils  are  in  mysterious  fellowship:  Isa.  xiii.  21,  22,  xxxiv.  11 — 15  ; 
Bar.  iv.  35  ;  Rev.  xviii.  2. 

3  Even  the  English  Trench  (Notes  on  the  Miracles)  refers  us  to  the 
Tellurismus  of  our  Kieser,  and  Passavant's  Unterss.  uber  das  Hell- 
sehen,  for  the  susceptibility  of  animals,  to  demoniac  influence. /  Afford' s 
subtle  observation  goes  to  shew  that  the  same  animal  soul,  which 
man  has  in  common  with  animals,  and  through  which  the  demon  exerts 
influence  upon  him,  may  undergo  the  same  influence  in  them.u 


';< 


372  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

he  then  ventures  to  suppose,  in  explanation  of  this  H  obscure 
point "  of  the  narrative,  that  the  entering  of  the  spirits  into  the 
swine  has  been  inferred  from  their  rushing  down  into  the  sea, 
and  that  the  permission  of  Christ  as  it  is  recorded  here  has  been 
fabricated  in  consequence.  We  altogether  protest  against  such 
dealing  with  the  Scripture,  Braune  ventures  his  doubtful  remark, 
that  the  swine  were  seized  with  this  madness  from  some  "alto- 
gether undefined,  and  unknown  cause,"  but  we  must  read  it  las  we 
find : — it  was  the  simple  result  of  the  devils  entering  into  them. 
Not  indeed,  only  to  possess  them,  but  to  destroy  them,  that  going 
out  of  the  men  they  may  yet  accomplish  some  work  of  destruc- 
tion. The  whole  record  shows  that  this  was  the  sole  object  of  their 
request. j  Nor  were  they  in  any  special  sense  "  stupid  devils" — 
as  Dr  Paulus  ironically  solves  the  mystery  of  their  so  soon  for- 
feiting the  transitional  bodily  homes  which  they  had  just  obtained: 
— they  were  more  cunning  than  this  Paulus  ! 

But  now  come  forward  the  silly  expositors,  orthodox  and 
heterodox  of  every  shade,  and  think  they  have  a  right  to  ask, 
whether  the  Lord  Jesus  could  have  spoken  this — Go  !  Many 
fly  from  this  narrative,  as  if  the  spirits  had  entered  into  them, 
and  driven  them  into  the  sea  of  unbelief;  they  enter  upon  all 
kinds  of  uncalled  for  apologies  for  the  swine  and  their  owners, 
forgetting,  or  seeming  to  forget,  what  the  apologies  of  ages  have 
testified  on  behalf  of  Jesus.  Others,  with  better  views,  adduce 
many  ingenious  reasons  for  the  act  :  as  that  the  Lord  would 
hereby  give  the  most  convincing  evidence  of  the  entire  depen- 
dence of  all  spirits  upon  His  word  ;  and  with  this  to  give  palpable 
assurance  to  all  Sadducees  of  the  existence  of  such  spirits ;  so  also 
to  punish  the  probably  Jewish  owners  of  these  swine  (which  we 
cannot  think  of)  ;  further,  to  test  the  Gadarenes,  how  they  would 
receive  the  destruction  of  their  property ;  finally,  to  teach  the 
value  of  the  spirit  of  man,  his  healing  being  well  worth  some  two 
thousand  swine;  or  what  else  has  ever  been  suggested.  We 
have  no  need  whatever  o  f  any  of  these  remarks,  true  or  other- 
wise,  concerning   this  sublime   transaction,   the   atcavhakov   of 

1  Sepp  (ii.  393  seq.)  gives  us  some  interesting  and  learned  notices 
of  the  Jewish  greediness  of  gain  which  was  shown  in  the  breeding  of 
swine,  and  the  employment  of  Gentile  labourers  therein,  for  traffic 
among  the  Gentiles. 


MATTHEW  VIII.  32.  373 

which  all  three  Evangelists  have  ruthlessly  placed  right  in  the 
centre  of  their  several  accounts :  for  we  fix  our  eyes  upon  the 
plain  fact,  that  the  deed  itself  is  its  own  justification.  They  did 
not.  then  sue  our  Lord  for  any  loss  they  suffered  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  swine  ;  no  more  will  we — we  will  not  indeed  dare  to 
speak  boldly  concerning  it.  The  question,  why  our  Lord  per- 
mitted the  devils  to  enter  the  swine,  is  already  answered  by 
another  question — Why  had  the  Lord  permitted  them  to  enter 
the  men  ? 

rBut  far  more  fearful  than  the  hearing  of  this  devilish  request, 
is  the  Lord's  granting  to  the  Gergesenes  their  supplication^ 
(They  dare  not,  however,  cast  any  reproach  on  him  concerning 
the  swine).  He  who  does  not  desire  Him,  as  He  is  and  as  He 
acts,  the  Ruler  of  hell,  the  Lord  of  nature,  the  Physician  and 
Healer  of  men,  may  beseech  Him  to  depart,  whether  courteously 
or  ungraciously,  and  have  his  request  granted,  j  Yet  is  his  depar- 
ture softened  by  the  word  which,  according  to  both  St  Mark 
and  St  Luke,  He  uttered  to  the  men  who  were  healed.  It  is  not 
now,  as  sometimes,  when  it  was  forbidden  to  make  it  known : 
here  upon  the  very  outskirts  of  the  Jewish  land  there  was  no 
danger  to  be  obviated.  The  poor  people  of  AeicamoXis  shall 
have,  though  against  their  will,  a  testimony  and  living  monu- 
ment of  His  power — one  who  had  lived  among  themselves.  Not 
indeed  to  publish  abroad  everywhere  (as  he  actually  did)  is  the 
healed  man,  with  his  brother  not  mentioned,  sent  back :  but  the 
command  is, — Go  home  to  thine  house,  viroaTpefa,  to  thy  people, 
from  whom  thou  hast  been  so  long  estranged  !  Not  indeed  with 
a  prudent  care  against  relapse,  and  in  order  to  his  full  recovery, 
which  would  be  prevented  by  his  being  alone  :  for  he  wished  to 
go  with  Jesus,  and  the  devils  were  clean  gone  from  him.1  But 
this  springs  from  the  gentle  graciousness  of  our  Lord,  which 
h  desires  the  return  home  of  this  man,  thus  restored  to  his  family.  j 
It  is  in  accordance  with  this  universal  ordinance  that  the  avay- 
r/eXkecv  and  the  hL^elaOat  should  take  its  beginning  from  the 
social  circle,  and  sound  out  from  the  home.  It  evinces  also  His 
constant  humility,  for  He  here  speaks  of  His  great  miracle  as 

1  As  it  regards  the  "  inner  and  moral  healing,"  the  remaining  with 
Jesus  would  have  been  the  most  effectual  guarantee,  as  von  Gerlach 
remarks,  in  defence  of  the  immediate  bodily  healing. 


374  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

what  the  Lord1  hath  done  for  thee.  St  Mark  adds,  "and  hath  had 
compassion  on  thee."  The  miracles  of  Jesus  are  ever  God's  acts 
of  compassion  towards  men.  This  is  one  such  instance,  stand- 
ing alone  in  its  kind,  and  takes  its  place  among  the  rest,  with  a 
word  at  its  close  which  contains  an  exhortation  which  applies  to 
this  day  to  all  who  have  received  God's  compassion  in  Christ. 


THE  PARALYTIC  AND  THE  SCRIBES. 

(Matt.  ix.  2,  4—6 ;  Mark  ii.  5,  8,  8—11 ;  Luke  v.  20,  22—24) 

The  chronological  order  of  this  occurrence  is  not  to  be  obtained, 
with  full  certainty  from  the  separate  accounts :  St  Mark's  oY 
fiixepwvy  and  St  Luke's  iv  yua  tcov  fjfjuepwv^  however,  allow  lati- 
tude enough  to  permit  our  following  St  Matthew — as  is  always 
the  most  obvious  and  natural — and  to  view  his  ica\  Ihov  as  imme- 
diately hanging  upon  his  preceding  narrative.  The  three  Evan- 
gelists entirely  agree  in  the  matter  itself,  although  the  accounts 
of  the  two  others  are  more  detailed  and  vivid.  The  words  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  are  repeated  by  them  all  in  nearly  the  same 
terms.  We  read,  first  of  all,  in  all  three,  that  Jesus  saw  their 
faith,  ISdov.  It  is  generally,  but  very  improperly,  supposed  to  be 
that  of  the  bearers,  and  of  him  who  is  borne — as  it  were  "  the 
united  believing  efforts  of  the  sick  man  and  his  friends."  For 
not  only  is  the  latter  distinguished  from  the  former  in  the  pas- 
sage itself,  but  it  was  obviously  the  faith  of  those  who  brought 
him  to  the  healing  power  of  the  Lord  that  made  itself  so  mani- 
fest in  the  painstaking  and  zealous  means  which  they  adopted  ;2 
and  finally,  the  Lord's  word  to  the  sick  man,  so  unlooked  for  and 

1  This,  and  ch.  xiii.  20,  both  in  St  Mark,  are  the  only  places  in 
which  Jesus  speaks  of  God,  His  Father,  as  Kvpios ; — supposing  that 
he  is  literally  exact.  (For  Matt.  xi.  25  has  not  Kvpie,  absolutely). 
The  demoniac  was  not  "  probably  a  heathen  "  (as  Braune  thinks),  in 
which  case  Kvpios  would  have  been  to  him  just  Jehovah,  the  God  of 
Israel.     The  sayings  are  altogether  Jewish  in  their  structure. 

2  Schleiermacher  would  explain  "  the  uncommon  and  almost  tumul- 
tuous excitement  about  a  home-born  (?)  sick  man,  whose  case  would 
have  been  no  Avorse  for  delay,"  by  a  festival  near  at  hand.  But  how 
much  else  is  to  be  thought  and  said  about  that  I 


MATTHEW  IX.  2, 4 — 6.  375 

striking  as  it  was,  finds  its  explanation  in  this,  that  He  saw  in 
him  a  state  of  mind  and  feeling  different  from  theirs,  aiming  at 
an  object  distinct  from  that  of  the  bearers  who  only  sought  for 
his  bodily  healing.  It  may  be  understood,  therefore,  as  a  paradox 
and  by  way  of  opposition — although  He  perceived  their  believing 
desire,  He  did  not  immediately  gratify  it,  but  spoke  first  a  word 
quite  different  from  what  they  had  desired: — or,  it  may  be  re- 
garded as  giving  a  profoundly  significant  reason  : — when  He  per- 
ceived that  their  strong  faith  would  well  bear  the  test  of  delay.  In 
any  case  the  key-note  of  the  narrative  is  this,  that  he  acted  in  a 
manner  unexpected :  but  the  secret  reason  of  our  Lord's  dealing  is 
left  concealed  in  the  narrative,  even  as  it  first  revealed  itself  in 
the  transaction  in  the  concluding  reference.  The  Lord  perceived 
in  the  soul  of  the  paralytic  a  sentiment  more  akin  to  despair  than 
faith,  rather  a  doubt  whether  his  healing  would  correspond  with 
his  friends'  confidence :  for  he  was  greatly  troubled  on  account  of 
his  sins,  which  probably  had  a  particular  connexion  with  his  sick- 
ness. This  penitent  state  of  mind,  on  the  one  hand,  was  more 
than  the  confidence  of  the  others  which  had  reference  to  bodily 
healing,  and  the  Lord,  rejoicing  more  over  his  penitence  than  their 
faith,  does  not  fail  first  of  all  and  immediately  to  invigorate  the 
troubled  spirit  with  the  best  consolation.  On  the  other  hand, 
although  their  faith  might  have  availed  for  the  healing  of  the  man, 
the  Lord  prefers  to  excite  within  his  own  heart  the  spirit  of  faith, 
that  so  he  might  come  to  experience  a  greater  healing  than  that 
which  would  have  been  imparted  through  the  faith  of  others. 
When  preachers  on  the  eighteenth  Sund.  after  Trinity  lay  down 
faith  as  a  presupposed  condition  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  they 
forget,  in  their  dogmatising,  that  the  encouraging  word  must  be 
uttered  first,  which  then  faith  lays  hold  of  and  appropriates. 

A  gracious  and  most  affectionate  word  of  consolation  to  the 
dejected  man  precedes  the  utterance  of  the  great  and  express 
word  of  absolution.  St  Luke  has  only  retained  the  dvOpcoire, 
which  marks  an  address  to  the  person  himself:  and  that  only  in 
general  terms,  while  the  other  two  Evangelists  mention  more 
exactly  and  literally  riicvov,  which  is  more  affectionate  even  than 
Ovyarep  (Matt.,  ver.  22),  and  the  same  word  which  our  Lord 
afterwards  used  in  addressing  His  disciples.  St  Matthew  only 
adds  ddpaei,  and  we  feel  it  to  be  quite  natural  that  the  Lord  should 


376  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

utter  just  such  a  word :  while  the  other  two  Evangelists,  presup- 
posing that,  give  only  in  full  prominence  the  assurance  of  the  for- 
giveness of  sins. 

We  might  now  go  on  to  exhibit  and  expound  the  testimony 
given  in  this  narrative,  so  as  to  bring  out  its  reference  to  that 
which  is  of  the  highest  moment,  of  infinitely  greater  importance 
than  bodily  help.  We  might  make  some  remarks  upon  the 
interval,  however  short,  which  the  Lord  permits  in  this  case 
between  the  taking  away  of  the  guilt  of  sin,  and  the  removal  of 
its  punishment ;  and  show  how  that  in  the  counsels  and  plans  of 
the  Most  High  many  must  be  contented  with  hearing  the  first 
essential  word  of  grace,  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee!  while  they  must 
still  continue  to  lie  on  the  beds  on  which  those  sins  have  laid 
them.  This,  however,  must  be  guarded,  by  bearing  in  mind, 
that  when  forgiveness  is  received,  the  punishment  is  in  reality 
taken  away  ;  what  remains  of  suffering  is  no  more  punishment. 
All  this  instruction,  however,  lies  in  the  matter  of  the  narrative 
itself:  it  was  scarcely  the  Lord's  conscious  design  to  express  all 
this  Himself,  or  to  give  any  testimony  directly  on  these  subjects. 
It  was  so  natural  to  Him  to  greet  a  penitent  sinner  with  His 
immediate  ddpo-ec,  it  was  so  great  and  so  rare  a  joy  to  His  own 
heart,  that  in  the  sublime  simplicity  of  His  full  authority,  He 
uttered  the  words  which  we  find,  without  any  oblique  or  subordi- 
nate reference  in  them  whatever. 

But  since  no  prophet,  no  son  of  man  had  ever,  with  power  and 
confidence  like  this,  spoken  to  men  this  word  of  absolute  conso- 
lation, astonishment  and  prejudice  are  excited  against  the  Divine 
voice  of  His  authority,  and  this  its  authoritative  utterance.  Not 
among  those  who  brought  the  sick  man,  but  among  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  who,  though  they  were  not  now  gathered  together 
as  a  "  first  inquisitorial  assembly,"  (according  to  Sepp's  fancy), 
yet  occupy  there  their  seats  of  pre-eminence,  and  now  take  occa- 
sion to  vent  upon  the  Lord  the  enmity  of  which  their  hearts  were 
already  full.  They  might  have  used  opposite  language,  and 
said  : — such  a  word  of  spiritual  consolation  is  very  easily  uttered, 
He  only  feeds  thus  the  sick  man's  confidence,  but  He  can  do  no 
more !  But  they  give  it  a  far  more  malicious  turn,  and  say  that 
He  blasphemeth.  Christ  has  not  said : — I  forgive  thee  thy 
sins ;  but  His  simple  word  contained  this  latent  within  it,  and 


MATTHEW  IX.  2,  4 — 6.  £77 

their  spirit  of  opposition  did  not  engender  in  them  an  incorrect 
suspicion ;  they  rightly  understood  His  meaning.  They  do  not 
say  it,  but  they  think  it,  every  one  regarding  his  neighbour  with 
looks  which  said,  as  St  Matthew  tells  us,— 5i/to?  fiXacr^rjfjLet. 
The  others  filled  up  what  they  intended,  by  adding  the  obvious 
position — who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  only  ?  a  perfectly  true 
proposition  in  itself,  and  the  inference  from  it,  that  "  he  who 
assumes  this  power,  being  no  more  than  man,  blasphemes"  was 
more  correctly  deduced  by  these  Scribes  in  the  reasoning  of  their 
hearts,  than  by  the  rationalists  of  our  time  who  leave  the  Son  of 
Man  all  His  full  honours  as  Son  of  Man,  but  are  not  so  scrupu- 
lous about  His  claims  of  Divine  power  and  authority. — -The  Lord 
saw  the  reasonings  of  the  Scribes,1  just  as  He  had  seen  the  faith 
of  the  bearers,  and  the  penitence  of  him  whom  they  bore :  for  in 
relation  to  His  spirit,  the  penetration  through  the  conduct  or 
countenance  to  the  internal  heart  of  man  was  one  and  the  same 
with  His  knowledge  of  that  which  was  in  man,  as  man's  great 
Archetype  and  Head.  It  was  not  with  the  omniscience  of  God 
that  He  pierced  the  thoughts  of  all  men's  hearts,  though  nothing 
could  remain  concealed  from  Him,  and  nothing  could  deceive 
Him,  when  His  spirit  in  the  Spirit  of  God  entered  into  relation 
with  man.  And  thus  He  here  exhibits  Himself,  first  as  the 
Possessor  of  all  grace  for  the  penitent  sinner,  and  then  imme- 
diately as  the  Searcher  of  hearts  and  Judge,  for  the  proud  and 
reprobate  and  self-blinded. 

He  most  impressively  lays  bare  the  secret  language  and  mur- 
muring of  their  hearts,  by  a  piercing  question  which  referred  the 
origin  of  their  thinking  to  their  evil  heart?  St  Mark  has  only  ravra 
expressed,  St  Luke  still  briefer,  only  rl,  but  St  Matthew  is  here 
as  before  more  precise  :  as  is  seen  in  the  conscience-stirring  [part, 
as  well  as  in  the  addition  of  Trovrjpa.  This  latter  would  probably 
refer  the  Scribes  to  Zech.  viii.  17  (although  the  Sept.  does  not 

1  Whether  we  read  this  second  time  cl&us  or  lbd>v  in  St  Matthew,  does 
not  affect  the  case,  for  compare  ch.  xii.  25.  St  Luke  has  emyvovs,  and 
St  Mark  in  the  most  express  and  pregnant  words  has  tmyvovs  t© 
nvevfiart  avrov. 

2  "  A  proof,  how  far  unenlightened  reason  may  lead  us,  when  child- 
like simplicity  of  heart  is  wanting !"  (Von  Gerlach).  In  this  sense 
the  emphasis  in  St  Luke  has  been  laid,  with  ironical  meaning  :  "  and 
they  began  to  reason." 


378  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

accord).     Their  application  of  these  remarks  to  the  Person  of  our 
Lord  was  as  wicked  as  their  conclusion  in  thesi  was  sound ;  so 
that  we  may  regard  them  rather  as  having  blasphemed  in  charging 
Him  with  blasphemy.     For  first  of  all,  they  exhibit  no  sense  and 
feeling  for  His  gracious  consolation  of  a  dejected  sinner,  which 
every  right-minded  person  would  in  its  first  impression  have 
sympathised  with  and  understood.     Then  there  is  the  malicious, 
unprincipled,  wilful,  presupposition  that  Jesus  is  no  more  than 
any  other  man,  which  stands  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  em- 
phatic and  distinctive  words  of  His  consolation,  and  which  those 
very  words,  addressed  in  supreme  dignity  to  the  paralytic,  were 
quite  sufficient  to  have  confuted.      Yet  the  Lord  does  not  leave 
them  to  their  folly,  as  they  had  deserved.    He  would,  in  any  case, 
have  effected  the  healing,  but  it  is  for  their  sakes  also  that  He 
utters  the  other  word  of  authority  which  all  are  waiting  for  and 
desiring.     To  put  their  perverted  reasonings,  however,  to  shame, 
and  profit  them,  He  puts  an  enigmatical  question  concerning  the 
relation  of  the  two  words  which  He  has  spoken.   It  is  a  light  thing 
to  Him  to  cast  down  all  the  folly  and  wickedness  which  exalts  itself 
against  His  acts :  but  He  condescends  to  their  weakness,  in  that 
Divine  wisdom  which  knows  how  to  accommodate  its  teaching  to 
the  follyof  men.  He  entersmore  deeply  into  those  thoughts  of  theirs, 
which  He  has  just  condemned  in  their  wickedness.      Are  ye  not 
now  thinking,  that  it  is  easier  to  say  (with  baseless  assumption, 
without  authority  and  without  effect),  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee! 
than  to  say  (what  would  immediately  convict  itself  of  impotence), 
Rise  up  and  walk  t  This  is  manifestly  the  immediate  connecting 
meaning,  with  which  the  Lord  condescends  to  their  imaginings. 
He  does  not  directly  express  Himself  thus,  but  leaving  the  ques- 
tion indefinite  and  in  suspense,  intimates  that  the  answer  should 
be  very  different  from  what  he  presupposes  in  them.      In  effect, 
the  converse  is  to  be  understood  in  his  question: — Many  have  per- 
formed miracles  of  healing,  prophets  and  apostles,  as  well  as  false 
wonder-workers,  but  to  forgive  sins  with  the  authority  of  God  is 
greater,  nay  the  greatest  of  all.    Or  to  apprehend  it  in  another 
way : — To  God  in  Heaven,   and  His  Representative  on  earth 
who  is  now  speaking  and  acting,  both  are  one  and  the  same  : 
the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  not  consummated  without  the  certain, 
though  subsequent,  removal  of  all  their  punishment;    and  the 


MATTHEW  IX.  2,  4—6.  379 

bestowment  of  health  is  not  truly  making  whole  without  its  accom- 
panying and  essentially  blended  communication  of  forgiving  grace. 
However  we  take  it,  there  is  much  to  be  pondered  in  the  question 
of  our  Lord,  and  a  very  different  answer  to  be  found  than  that 
which  was  presupposed  in  the  general  thoughts  of  men.  He 
intimates  this  Himself  in  this  enigmatical  and  sacredly  ironical 
manner,  before  He  proceeds,  in  accommodation  to  their  foolish 
thoughts,  to  give  the  evidence  they  need. 

We  have  here,  consequently,  in  a  particular  example,  a  gene- 
ral explanation  of  the  significance  of  the  external  miracles  of 
Jesus.  The  immediate  self-evidencing  clearness  and  truth  of  His 
word,  spoken  in  the  power  of  His  spirit,  should  have,  in  strict 
propriety,  required  no  further  evidence.  When  a  soul  like  Na- 
thanael's  heard  from  His  own  holy  lips, — I  came  forth  from  the 
Father  !  or  a  sinner  truly  poor  in  spirit  heard  His  great  invita- 
tion, Come  unto  me  all  who  are  heavy  laden  !  such  souls  needed 
no  further  evidence,  before  they  would  believe  and  follow  Him. 
The  paralytic,  who  embraced  with  a  ready  heart  the  first  word  of 
comfort,  did  not  put  the  doubtful  question — By  what  authority 
does  thou  thus  assure  me  ?  Heal  my  frame,  that  I  may  believe 
in  thee  !  and  so  all  Israel  would  have  needed  no  more  than  to  hear, 
— I  am  come  to  bring  you  grace !  if  all  Israel  had  been  found 
in  true  repentance.  But  the  less  must  become  evidence  for  the 
greater,  to  their  hardness  and  folly  of  heart :  although  by  an 
inferential  reasoning  which  has  not  always  and  to  all,  absolute 
validity ;  for  the  word  of  the  Holy  One  which  testifies  the  for- 
giveness of  sins  is  just  as  much  a  proof  of  the  divinity  of 
His  miracles,  as  these  again  are  the  authentication  of  the 
truth  of  His  word.  By  this  we  may  understand  the  only 
sense  in  which  the  Lord  might  say — But  that  ye  may  know 
or  perceive,  that  not  without  power  and  authority  to  do  so,  I 
forgive  sins !  To  the  sick  man,  on  the  present  occasion,  such 
evidence  was  not  necessary :  he  was  already  comforted,  and 
thought  less  than  before  of  the  healing  of  his  body.  Let 
preachers  upon  this  text  beware,  also,  of  a  perilous  varepov 
irporepov  into  which  a  false  spirit  of  allegorising  has  led  many : 
as  if  the  words,  rise  up  and  walk  !  were  spoken  first  to  the  soul, 
(renewing  unto  holiness),  and  an  evidence  to  it  of  justification. 
That  would  be  to  reverse  the  evangelic  order  of  grace,  since  in 


380  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

a  spiritual  sense  the  rising  up  and  walking  can  only  result  from 
an  appropriated  forgiveness.  It  is  not  so  much  for  the  paralytic 
as  for  the  others  that  the  act  of  healing  follows :  this  is  as  evi- 
dently declared  in  the  whole  narrative,  as  it  is  that  forgiveness  of 
sins  is  essentially  the  greater  thing,  and  sufficient  for  itself.  Let 
it  be  further  observed,  how  meekly  the  Lord  veils  His  Divine 
majesty,  even  while  He  must  testify  and  assert  it.  The  fully 
developed  answer  to  their  evil  thoughts  might  have  been  : — 
That  ye  may  know  that  I  do  not  as  man  invade  the  prerogative 
of  God,  but  as  the  Son,  one  with  the  Father,  forgive  sins  in 
My  own  Divine  right  and  dignity.  He  says  not  this,  that  He 
may  not  cast  a  stumbling-block  in  their  way :  just  as  throughout 
His  whole  testimony  He  ever  kept  back  the  simple  declaration 
— I  am  God !  in  order  to  avoid  the  provocation  of  unbelief. 
(Let  Jno.  v.  17,  &c,  x.  33 — 36  be  noted,  for  example).  He  calls 
Himself,  also,  here  the  Son  of  Man,  while  he  appropriates  a  pre- 
rogative of  God,  and  the  son  of  man  upon  earth,  which  was 
equivalent  to  saying,  the  fully  authorized  representative  of  God 
in  heave?!.1  Quite  correctly  Bengel  remarks :  cmlestem  ortwn 
hie  sermo  sapit.  It  is  not  admissible  to  construe  here  eirl  tt}? 
7%  with  the  following  afyikvai  afxaprias  (as  at  Matt,  xviii.  18 
in  a  lower  degree)  ;  although  certainly  (as  Richter  says)  the  earth 
is  essentially  the  proper  place  where  He  does  forgive  sins.  And 
now  He  turns  in  the  concluding  sentence  from  the  Scribes  to 
the  paralytic,  lets  the  immediate  word  of  His  power  speak 
in  act,  and  utters,  without  further  preface,  the  command  which 
He  had  prepared  them  for — Stand  up  and  walk  !  In  this  change 
of  His  word  without  drawing  the  conclusion,  there  is  a  sublime 
breviloquence :  the  Lord  does  not  first  say :  I  will  then  speak 
what  ye  require— but  He  speaks  it !  This  is  proved  by  the  Sol 
\e7ft)  of  St  Mark  and  St  Luke,  in  which  (as  Alford  fails  not 
to  observe)  the  emphasis  lies  on  the  croi.  To  connect  with  this 
the  \eyec  in  St  Mark,  as  being  part  of  the  Lord's  own  words,  is 
an  unskilful  forcing  of  His  language  and  meaning  ("  That  ye 

1  Neander :  "  God  forgives  the  sins  in  heaven,  but  Christ,  as  man, 
announces  to  the  sinners  the  divine  forgiveness.  Son  of  Man  and  on 
earth  are  correlative  ideas."  This  is  at  the  same  time  directed  against 
the  Pharisaic-catholic  doctrine,  that  there  must  ever  remain  uncer- 
tainty among  men  concerning  God's  forgiveness  in  heaven. 


MATTHEW  IX.  9—13.  381 

may  know,  that  the  Son  of  Man  hath  power,  He  saith  now  in 
your  presence  to  this  paralytic,  /  say  unto  thee  /")  Besides 
which,  this  construction  is  not  admitted  by  elire  in  St  Luke,  nor 
by  tot6  X&yec  in  St  Matthew,  which  is  an  insertion  of  the 
Evangelist,  as  we  infer  by  the  use  of  the  same  narrative  \eyei 
afterwards  in  ver.  9. 

It  is  immediately  obvious  in  this  as  in  all  similar  instances, 
that  the  taking  up  of  the  bed,  and  going  to  the  house,  was^ 
designed  as  convincing  evidence  of  perfect  soundness  instanta- 
neously imparted.  What  the  Lord  bestows,  he  bestows  with 
full  hand  and  in  unrestricted  measure  :  when  He  condescends  to 
attest  His  power  in  the  sight  of  man  He  will  have  it  worthily 
esteemed  and  magnified.  And  more  worthily  by  us  who  believ- 
ingly  read  than  by  the  astonished  people  of  that  time,  who  in  all 
probability  when  they  glorified  i^ovaiav  rotavrrjv  in  His  hands, 
rested  upon  the  lesser  instead  of  the  greater  manifestation  of 
power.  But  the  Lord  restored  soundness  to  the  paralytic  man, 
in  order  that  we  might  apprehend  Him  as  One  who  could  also 
say  to  us — Thy  sins  be  forgiven  !  This  word  may  neither  be 
criticised  nor  wondered  at,  but  experienced. 


THE  THYSICIAN  FOR  THE  SICK. 

(Matt.  ix.  9,  12,  13 ;  Mar.  ii.  14—17  ;  Luke  v.  27,  31,  32). 

This  is  another  example  how  various  is  the  meaning  which 
we  should  attribute  to  our  Lord's  Follow  thou  me  !  according  to 
the  development  of  circumstances.  In  Lu.  vi.  we  find  that  St 
Matthew  had  been,  suddenly  to  himself,  chosen  into  the  number 
of  the  Twelve  before  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It  does  not- 
follow  because  he  himself  relates  his  final  call  from  his  public 
office  two  chapters  after  the  Sermon,  that  therefore  that  final 
call  must  have  occurred  later :  but  a  comparison  of  the  Evange- 
lists indisputably  proves  it,  since  otherwise  the  parables  of  ch. 
xiii.  must  also  have  occurred  before  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
which  is  not  to  be  supposed.  St  Matthew  appears  to  have 
returned  more  or  less  to  the  business  of  his  office,  just  as  Peter 
had  returned  to  his  nets ;  and  the  Lord  who  in  His  wisdom 


382  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

regulated  all  things  according  to  their  respective  conditions, 
allowed  this  to  be  so  ;  until  the  critical  moment  came  when  He 
saw  fit  to  repeat  that  first  call,  strengthening  it  into  an  unquali- 
fied command  to  follow  Himself  permanently.  The  very  artless 
manner  in  which  St  Matthew  records  this  final  summons,  omit- 
ting the  former  choice  of  him  altogether  (in  which  the  two  other 
Evangelists  follow  him,  according  to  the  established  tradition), 
proceeded  on  the  one  hand  from  a  most  amiable  modesty,  on  the 
other  from  a  deep  consciousness  in  his  own  memory  that  it  was 
the  last  "  Follow  me  !"  which  came  to  him  at  the  critical  moment 
of  release  from  all.  This,  however,  we  deny,  that  his  conversion 
had  been,  as  Sepp  says,  the  work  of  a  moment.  We  hold  against 
Ebrard  with  the  profound  Bengel,  whose  harmony  is  not  to  be 
lightly  and  superficially  rejected.  (See  his  §  55.  "  Peter  and 
Andrew,  James  and  John,  had  been  followers  before  they  became 
Apostles :  Matthew  is  called  to  be  an  Apostle,  before  he  has  be- 
come a  daily  follower  of  Christ.") 

But,  without  any  argument,  such  an  apparently  sudden 
summons  from  office  and  function  presupposes  some  previous 
acquaintance  and  connexion.  It  is  nowhere  written  that  no  one 
of  the  Twelve  left  the  person  of  our  Lord  after  having  been  first 
called  :  but  the  remarkable,  and,  in  its  kind,  singular  procedure 
in  the  case  of  St  Matthew,  affords  us  much  subject  of  thought, 
which  however  here  we  may  not  speak  of  more  particularly. 
His  "  rising  and  following  Him"  is  not  to  be  understood  as  if  he 
left  everything  as  it  then  was,  according  to  the  mere  letter  of  the 
narrative.  It  is  to  be  understood  that  he  set  everything  in  order 
pertaining  to  his  house  and  office,  and  the  text  itself  allows  us  to 
think  that  he  even  made  a  parting  feast  for  his  former  com- 
panions, at  which  he  might  introduce  to  them  his  new  master 
and  his  other  fellow-disciples.  He  only  intimates  that  this 
occurred  in  his  own  house,  because  that  must  be  mentioned  in 
order  to  explain  the  following  sayings  of  the  Lord,  so  memorable 
to  himself.  We  may  doubt  whether,  as  Menken  has  it,  "  before 
long,  some  Pharisees  added  themselves  to  the  company,"  for  the 
Pharisees  were  not  wont  thus  to  mingle,  at  least  unbidden,  with 
the  Publicans.  We  only  understand  by  the  Ihovres  of  St  Matthew 
(even  in  connexion  with  St  Mark's  eaOlovra)  that  they  saw  it,  or 
became  acquainted  with  it,  it  may  be,  as  they  departed  again,  or 


MATTHEW  IX.  9 — 13.  383 

sometime  afterwards.  (St  Luke  designates  by  ol  ypap^Tew 
avToov  the  Scribes  belonging  to  the  place,  where  Jesus,  always 
watched  closely  by  this  kind  of  people,  participated  in  such  a 
meal).  They  do  not  venture  to  address  themselves  directly  to 
the  Lord,  just  as  we  saw  in  the  foregoing  history.  In  ch.  xii.  2, 
xv.  2,  they  do  indeed  address  the  Master,  but  only  alleging  as 
against  the  disciples,  what  their  Master  did  or  approved :  here 
they  mockingly  attack  the  disciples  on  their  Master's  account. 
At  furthest  they  only  proceed  once  to  utter  their  murmurings  in 
the  third  person,  as  in  Lu.  xv.  2. 

The  Lord  is  immediately  ready  with  His  answer,  to  deliver 
His  disciples  from  their  embarrassment,  and  to  inflict  salutary 
shame  upon  the  questioners.  His  answer  and  vindication  con- 
sists, according  to  St  Matthew,  in  three  propositions,  which  indeed 
are  one  in  their  fundamental  meaning,  but  advance  in  a  three-fold 
progression  of  conviction  in  their  expression.  He  begins  in  a 
popular  and  gracious  style  with  a  well-known  proverb,  figura- 
tively to  set  forth  a  principle,  applicable  in  this  case,  which 
they,  in  their  perversion,  utterly  forgot.  He  then  attaches  to 
this  a  word  of  Scripture  for  the  scripturally  learned  Scribes, 
which  neither  the  wisdom  of  the  market  place,  nor  the  wisdom 
of  the  sanctuary,  had  yet  understood  and  learned.  His  con- 
clusion gives  a  most  penetrating  and  direct  answer,  in  an  utter- 
ance  of  the  Lord  himself,  concerning  Himself  and  the  design  of 
His  coming,  which  at  once  explains  the  proverb  and  expounds 
the  Scripture  which  He  had  quoted,  as  fulfilled  in  Himself.  St 
Matthew  alone  gives  us  the  passage  of  the  prophet  which  mediates 
between  the  figurative  and  direct  expression,  partly  because  of 
its  immediate  interest  as  occurring  at  his  repast,  and  partly 
because  he  especially  has  preserved  the  reference  to  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures. 

The  proverb  concerning  the  physician  for  the  sick,  and  not 
for  the  sound,  which  occurs  as  well  in  the  Talmud1  as  in  pro- 
fane authors,  and  is  of  universal  use,  is  given  by  St  Luke  in 
the  most  simple  form,  with  the  an  thesis  of  vyiai'vovTes  and  Kaicus 
e^oi/Te?.  The  other  two  Evangelists  have  the  more  exact  la^- 
vovres,  which  probably  made  the  contrast  still  more  emphatic,  as 
we  should  say,  the  robust,  who  are  of  radically  and  permanently 

1  Thalm.  Babyl.  tit.  Bava  Kama  fol.  46.  col.  2,  as  Antisthenes  in 
Laertius,  Diogenes  in  Stobseus,  Pausanias  in  Plutarch,  Ovid  de  Ponto. 


384  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

sound  constitution.  (Although,  indeed,  to  be  strong  and  grow 
strong  is  a  scriptural  expression  for  recovery  and  healing  after 
sickness,  as  in  Isa.  xxxix.  1 ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  16.)  Apart  from  the 
confirmation  of  the  common  practice  to  send  the  sick  to  the 
physician,  which  lies  already  in  the  use  of  the  proverb,  its  appli- 
cation here  has  a  further  two-fold  reference.  First  of  all,  being 
spoken  to  the  teachers  and  spiritual  guides  of  Israel,  it  puts  them 
to  shame  as  bad  physicians,  who,  although  called  to  strengthen 
the  diseased,  and  heal  the  sick  (Ezek.  xxxiv.  4),  yet  in  their 
loveless  selfishness  acted  perversely  as  the  physician  would  act, 
who  should  avoid  the  sick  man  ivho  needs  his  help,  in  order  to 
escape  the  danger  of  infection !  But  then  the  Lord  announ- 
ces Himself  as  the  true  Physician  for  the  sickness  of  the  soul, 
using  thus  an  expression  wide  and  deep  in  its  meaning,  which 
contains  at  the  same  time  an  interpretation  of  the  miracles  which 
He  performed  on  the  bodily  sick.  The  Lord  speaks  here  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  Evangelist  had  already  given  that  interpreta- 
tion by  a  prophetic  passage  (ch.  viii.  17),  and  it  is  for  the  sake  of 
this  that  St  Matthew  appends  these  sayings  of  our  Lord,  with 
their  occasion  (and  its  continuation  in  vers.  14 — 17)  to  the  record 
which  He  had  given  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  chapters  of  bodily 
healing  of  all  kinds.  It  may  indeed  be  said,  with  some  propriety 
as  far  as  regards  the  first  of  His  expressions,  that  the  Lord  uses 
the  language  of  humility,  and  appears  to  place  Himself  only  in 
the  ranks  of  physicians  in  general ;  yet  we  cannot  but  perceive 
immediately  afterwards  an  intenser  and  peculiar  meaning  in  the 
sing.  Icnpoi)  as  spoken  by  our  Lord  in  the  person  of  Him  who  has 
come  (ver.  13).  It  is  no  other  than  if  He  had  said :  I  am  the 
Physician,  the  one  and  only  Physician  for  the  souls  of  men  ;  just 
as  He  had  said,  I  am  the  good  shepherd,  and  as  He  presently 
afterwards  in  ver.  15  distinguishes  Himself  as  the  bridegroom. 
These  are  nothing  but  names  of  God  and  His  Christ  through  the 
whole  prophetic  Scripture.  Even  in  Ex.  xv.  26  more  than  merely 
bodily  sickness  is  intended. 

How  wonderful  is  the  union  of  gracious  tenderness  and  supreme 
dignity  in  this  as  in  every  other  word  of  the  Great  Physician 
who  is  come  into  the  world  :  assuring  every  one,  who  will  receive 
it,  of  forgiveness  of  sins  in  God's  authority,  and  of  the  healing 
of  all  his  iniquities  by  the  Divine  power !  In  uncharitable  per- 
version they  criticise  and  condemn  the  peculiar  exercise  of  His 


MATTHEW  IX.  9 — 13.  385 

function  :  He  only  and  simply  answers  that  this  is,  nevertheless, 
His  office  and  work.  It  is  the  voice  of  that  compassionate  love 
which  brought  him  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  that  is  heard 
in  the  XP^ICLV  ^X0V<Tlv'  ft  *s  tne  graci°us  riew  which  Divine  com- 
passion takes,  to  pass  by  the  idea  of  guilt  and  to  regard  our  sin 
as  sickness,  which,  though  it  does  not  deserve  yet  needs,  to  be 
healed  : — it  is  thus  often  represented  in  the  Old  Testament ;  e.g. 
Jer.  iii.  22,  and  more  particularly,  Isa.  liii.  How  deep  and 
grievous  our  injury  is,  we  learn  indeed  from  this,  that  God  only 
can  repair  it,  and  that  only  by  the  wounds  of  His  dear  Son.  But 
who  are  the  whole,  who  need  no  physician  1  We  shall  hear  in 
this,  with  Calvin,  an  ironica  concessio,  if  we  rightly  consider  the 
subsequent  explanation  of  our  Lord,  which  goes  beyond  the  mere 
literal  meaning  of  the  proverb,  and  tells  us  plainly  that  the  Lord 
never  recognizes  upon  earth  any  "  righteous"  and  "  sound  "  but 
such  as  think  themselves  to  be  so.  This  is  opened  up  to  us  by 
the  quotation  from  Scripture,  to  which  the  Lord  refers  the 
Scribes  with  a  keenly  penetrating  hint : — Go  ye  and  learn,  what 
that  often  read,  but  never  yet  understood  Scripture  meaneth. 
(In  the  Talmud  the  Rabbins  frequently  say  to  their  disciples  : 

Let  us  also  go  and  read  the  words  in  their  connexion  in  Hosea, 
in  order  that  we  may  read  and  expound  them  aright.  Not  read- 
ing and  expounding  them,  however,  as  the  modern  Scribes  of 
our  day  do,  who  allow  the  Prophets  to  say  no  more  than  what 
dim-sighted  investigation  of  the  present  age  thinks  reconcilable 
with  the  history,  and  the  views,  and  the  range  of  thought  in  the 
times  of  the  Prophets  themselves  ;  and  who  thus  remain  at  the 
utmost  distance  from  that  one,  only  exegesis,  according  to  which 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  Himself  who  spake  by  the  Prophets,  expounds 
and  opens  to  us  by  the  mouth  of  Jesus  and  His  apostles,  His  own 
fore-written  word ;  and  bears  witness  to  it  as  now  first  fulfilled, 
and  now  first  accessible  in  its  full  and  consummate  meaning,  to 
our  understanding.  We  cannot  penetrate  too  deeply  into 
the  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  specially  cannot  we  hold  too 
firmly  by  the  principle  that  the  quotations  and  expositions  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  the  New,  give  to  us  the  right  key  for  their 
interpretation. 

Misapprehending  this,  even  orthodox  expositors  have  missed 

25 


386  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  inmost  and  fundamental  meaning  of  the  impressive  eXeov 
0i\co,  which  the  Lord  has  appropriated  out  of  Jehovah's  word  to 
Hosea,  at  the  same  time  carrying  it  on  to  its  development,  in  the 
person  of  Him  who  was  to  come.  It  is  almost  universally  under- 
stood, as  von  Meyer's  note  upon  St  Matthew  expresses  it :  "  as  a 
gracious  condescension  to  teach  sinners,  and  not  a  rigid,  external 
separation  of  Himself  from  them,"  thus  referring  to  that  mercy 
and  love  which  man  should  exercise  towards  man,  according  to 
God's  good  pleasure.  Though  this  seems  at  the  first  glance  to 
suit  the  connexion,  yet  might  we,  penetrating  deeper,  already 
mark  that  the  Lord  who  has  proclaimed  Himself  the  Physician 
of  sick  humanity  in  the  power  of  the  grace  of  God,  in  the  follow- 
ing words  refers  rather  to  God  in  heaven,  and  must  mean  the 
mercy,  which  God  exercises  towards  sinners  for  their  healing  and 
salvation ;  and  in  effect,  this  is  the  first  and  only  true-meaning  of 
the  word  in  the  prophecy  quoted. 

The  great  theme  of  the  fourteen  chapters  of  Hosea  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  is  generally,  as  in  all  the  Prophets,  an 
annunciation  of  punishment  in  order  to  subsequent  mercy,  a 
prediction  of  the  dispersion  and  return  of  Israel.     His  whole  dis- 
course passes  from  threatening  to  promise,  and  is  arranged  in 
four  sections,  ever  strengthening  its  hold,  and  widening  its  view, 
as  it  goes  on.     The  second  of  these  sections  embraces  ch.  iv.  to 
ch.  vi.      After  long  rebuke  and  threatening  there  is  a  sudden 
transition  in  ch.  v.  15  to  that  healing  mercy,  which  will  survive 
the  judgments,  be  prepared  for  by  them,  and  even  effectually 
work  in  and  through  them.      That  God  only,  as  His  people's 
physician,   can    heal    them    and   will,    is    a  fundamental    idea 
which   runs   through    the   whole   of    Hosea's   prophecy:    and 
our  Lord's   citation   therefore   seizes  the   central  idea  of  the 
Prophet.     The  Assyrian  could  not  heal  them,  nor  cure  them  of 
their  wound,  ch.  v.  13.     When  I  would  have  healed  Israel,  then 
the  iniquity  of  Ephraim  was  discovered  (ch.  vii.  1)— finally  I 
will  heal  all  their  backslidings,  ch.  xiv.  5.     But  how  is  this  to  be 
effected  ?      They  must  acknowledge  their  offence,  and  seek  my 
face :  this  they  will  do,  they  will  in  their  penitent  affliction  say- 
Come,  and  let  us  return  unto  the  Lord  ;    for  he  hath  torn  and 
he  will  heal  us  ;  he  hath  smitten  and  he  will  bind  us  up,  (ch.  v. 
15,  vi.  1).     The  Spirit  of  Christ  in  the  Prophet  here  glances 


MATTHEW  IX.  9—13.  387 

forward  into  the  new  covenant,  the  covenant  of  grace ;  and  in  the 
reference  ver.  2,  to  the  third  day,  after  two  days,  as  in  its  most 
obvious  meaning,  the  critical  time  of  God's  speedy  turning  from 
judgment  to  mercy,  we  discover  a  latent  typical  under-meaning, 
such  as,  despite  of  all  modern  exegesis,  the  Old  Testament  abounds 
in,  by  which  the  resurrection  of  the  Redeemer  on  the  third 
day  is  foreshadowed.1  Then  is  the  future,  New  Testament  grace 
further  commended  and  set  forth  in  vers.  3,  4 ;  where,  assuredly, 
DDIDn  (comp.  Jon.  ii.  9  DIDn)  can  mean  no  otner  tnan? tne 
mercy,  which  I  will  manifest  to  you,  entirely  as  ^ptSQIDtt  m  ver# 
3,  signify  my  judgments  against  and  upon  thee.  That  other  in- 
terpretation which  is  generally  preferred,  and  which  von  Meyer's 
note  also  approves  as  "  the  most  immediate  and  obvious,"  is  alto-, 
gether  to  our  thinking  inapplicable  here  :  for  the  passage  from 
the  first  to  sixth  verse  has  no  tone  of  rebuke,  but  is  full  of  promise 
and  encouragement.  The  coming  of  the  Merciful  One  to  heal 
and  make  alive  js  foretold  in  ver.  3,  as  the  full  preparation  of  the 
morning  dawn,  and  as  a  fructifying  rain  :  and  presently  after- 
wards it  is  testified  in  ver.  5,  that  through  judgments  and 
after  them  light  should  break  forth.  How  then  could  we 
suitably  interpose  a  rebuke  that  "  your  goodness  is  as  a  morning 
cloud,  and  as  the  early  dew  that  goeth  away,  that  is,  fleeting  and 
transitory"  We  must  not,  therefore,  be  misled  by  the  passage 
in  ch.  xiii.  3,  which  designedly  applies  the  expression  in  another 
meaning,  but  take  the  decisive  conclusion  of  ch.  xiv.  6  as  a  strict 
parallel:  I  will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel!  Comp.  Mic.  v.  6« 
The  only  true  exposition  of  ch.  vi.  4  is  that  of  Burk,  Gnomon  in 
xii.  prophetas  minores,  who  says  :  "  Iram  comminantem,  in  quam 
nonnuli(omnes  fere  hodie)  in  terpreteshsec  verba  vertereconati  sunt, 
totus  tenor  textus  et  connexio  cum  antecedentibus  et  consequenti- 
bus  plane  excludit.  Sicut  nubes  mane,  quae  aurorce  correspondet, 
et  in  qua  radii  aurorse  eo  magis  conspicui  sunt.  Tj^n  D'Otfe — 
cito,  tempore  matutino,  summo  mane  ros  venit.  Mox  ubi  effica- 
ciam  et  virtutem  suam  terrse  communicavit  reliquitque,  iterum 

1  According  to  the  Scripture — says  St  Paul  1  Cor.  xv.  4.  But  where 
shall  we  find  it,  save  here  and  in  the  typical  history  of  Jonah  ?  This 
latter  does  not  seem  to  us  enough  of  itself  to  sustain  the  emphatically 
asserted  "  on  the  third  day." 


388  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

abit  videturque  evanuisse  ;  revera  vero  prodesse  non  posset,  nisi 
abiret,  et  dum  evanuisse  videtur,  quam  maxime  adest  et  in  effecti- 
bus  lsetissimis,  in  pratis  virentibus,  in  herbis  celeriter  sucerescen- 
tibus,  novo  habito  indutus,  splendide  prodit."1 

We  have  been  constrained  to  discuss  all  this  beforehand,  in 
order  to  found  upon  it  our  protest  against  the  ancient  and  modern 
misapprehension  of  our  Lord's  citation  of  the  sixth  verse.  The 
fifth  verse  forms  the  transition  from  the  gracious  promises,  ver. 

1 4,  to  this  all-comprising  conclusion  of  the  whole  discourse ; 

and  indicates  the  aim  and  object  of  the  prophetic  threatenings,  of 
the  word  which  rebukes  and  kills,  and  of  the  chastising  and  puri- 
fying judgments,  to  be  that  light  should  break  forth  upon  the 
people  thus  humbled  and  prepared.    For,  saith  the  Lord,  I  desired 
mercy,  to  show  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice.      This  does  not  imme- 
diately mean— I  am  well    pleased,  when  ye  shew  mercy  one 
jboward  another,2  but  there  is  a  twofold  contrast  between  God  and 
■men.      Israel  would  give  to  God  in  sacrifice  and  offering :  this  is 
4;]ie  leading  mistake  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  it  is  here  once 
More  protested  against  :  I  will  take  nothing  from  you.       (See 
fHosea  v.  6).     I  will  rather  give  to  you,  it  is  for  you  before  and 
$foove  all  things,  first  and  last,  to  seek  and  to  find  my  compassion 
fenid  my  love!     This  is  the  true  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  pjn 
ijg^^  which  ver.  3  had  spoken  of,  and  which  eh.  ii.  19,  20  con- 
'firins.  *:  Taking  this  sentence,  which  forms,  as  it  were,  the  central 
^o'tfit  of  our  Lord's  discourses  out  of  Hosea,  let  us  look  backwards 
•imtf  forwards  through  the  prophecy,  and  see  how  the  mercy  and 
tybmfassion  of  the  Lord  is  testified  to  be  the  only  source  of  heal- 
tfn^tom  the  beginning  to  the  end.      Ch.  i.  7,  Drny~"cn'  "*  ^ 

#ff\--cn-  &  21  (19)  dww  Terror- cn-  xi-  fy  w?— 

"especially  the  sublime  conclusion,  ch. 'xiv.  3— 5,  which  shows 
'InaHnat  is  the  true  sacrifice,  when  sinners  confessing  their  sin 

— Sue* 

-R-Mfteichel  also,  from  whom  I  extracted  in  my  commentary  on  Isaiah, 
waavff  y  vehement  for  Luther's  translation  and  interpretation.  In  an 
unprinte'd  manuscript  upon  the  twelve  minor  Prophets,  which  I  have 
looked  through,  he  complains  much  of  the  damaging  and  disfiguring 
^@iVerM©n  of  this  passage  into  a  threatening  sense. 
fci^As^fte  Chal.  ^IDn  "Hl^n—and  tbe  Rabbins  who  indeed  thl 

vllfioftflllq:  t  :  •        •• :  t  : 

directly  of  their  npWl  TDStBD  Hit??. 


MATTHEW  IX.  9 — 13.  389 

seek  forgiveness,  when  the  fatherless  find  mercy  of  God,  and  He 
heals  their  backsliding. 

This  then  is  the  first  and  most  essential  meaning  of  the  word 
which  the  Lord  bids  the  Pharisees  study,  in  order  that  they 
might  discern  the  healing  mercy  of  God  as  now  having  appeared 
unto  sinners  :— your  God  had  ever  in  the  Old  Testament  testi- 
fied, as  the  end  and  aim  of  all  His  revelations  to  His  people  and 
dealings  with  them,  that  He  alone  is  the  true  Physician  for  the 
healing  of  His  sick  people.  He  will  impart  mercy,  not  take 
sacrifice}  We  do  not  deny,  for  it  is  perfectly  obvious,  that  on 
the  foundation  of  this  meaning,  a  further  hortatory  application  is 
intended : — he  who  has  found  mercy,  should  be  merciful,  affec- 
tionate, and  full  of  kindness  towards  sinners.  Hosea  himself 
speaks,  ch.  iv.  i.  and  xii.  7,  of  -jEn  among  men,  just  as  Mic.  vi. 

V    V 

8,  and  Zee.  vii.  9.  But  in  this  fundamental  passage  he  discloses 
the  foundation  of  the  Divine  compassion,  which  must  and  will 
itself  prepare  the  sacrifice  which  is  well  pleasing  to  Him,  that  is, 
the  living  sacrifice.  Unless  we  err,  the  Apostle  in  Rom.  xii.  1 
makes  allusion  to  this  same  passage  of  the  prophet,  as  would 
appear  from  the  conjunction  of  his  three  fundamental  ideas  :  the 
mercies  of  God,  the  sacrifice  offered,  and  acceptable  to  God. 

And  now  observe,  farther,  how  profoundly  and  sublimely  the 
Lord,  continuing  His  words  with  yap,  connects  them  with  the 
words  of  God  in  Hosea  !  I  have  had  pleasure  in  showing  mercy, 
saith  God — I  am  come  to  call  sinners,  saith  the  Son  of  God,  in 
whom  the  God  of  Israel  comes  and  manifests  Himself  as  the  pro- 
mised morning  dawn  of  righteousness  and  grace.  As  Jesus  had, 
in  the  previous  healing  of  the  paralytic,  called  Himself  the  Son 
of  Man,  while  assuming  to  Himself  a  prerogative  of  God ;  so 
now  He  directly  speaks  in  the  person  and  name  of  God,  when 
His  human  action,  which  is  also  Divine,  is  measured  by  a  false 
standard  and  judged  by  man.  He  now  gives  full  utterance^ 
having  prepared  the  way  by  the  quotation  from  Scripture,  to  His 
interpretation  of  the  previous  proverb :  but  His  interpretation 
and  application  of  it  must  go  beyond  its  ordinary  meaning. 

1  Lange,  whose  opposition  cannot  lead  us  astray,  says  himself  "  that 
God  only  rejects  sacrifice,  when  it  is  offered  to  him  in  contradistinction 
to  mercy,  and  quite  correctly,  scilicet  the  mercy  of  God,  that  alone  is 
the  true  and  deep  contrast  here. 


390  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

The  proverb  presupposes  some  who  are  whole,  who  need  no 
physician,  but  now  the  great  Physician  who  is  come,  the  revealed 
God  of  Israel,  who  will  heal  all  sin  and  backsliding,  finds  none 
but    the   sick  or   sinners,  none   who   are   whole   or  righteous. 
Therefore  the  article  is  now  omitted  which  had  been  prefixed  to 
Uryvovrei  and  *«*&>?  e^re?,  and  this  has  a  critical  significance. 
The  Lord  knows  no  class  of  men,  whom  He  might  term  tou? 
hueakvs,  whom  He  is  not  come  to  call.      That  great  "  I  am 
come  !"  which  He  so  often  repeats,  thereby  indeed  testifying 
Himself  to  be  the  Messiah,  has  its  application  for  all.    His  calling, 
which  sounds  forth  to  all,  regards  all  as  sinners,  not  as  righteous. 
If  they  had  not  needed  such  a  Physican,  He  would  not  have 
come  at  all !     This  is  the  final  and  full  answer  to  the  question  of 
ver.  11,  in  words  which  correspond  to  it — It  is  for  sinners  that  I 
am  here ! 

Yet  does  this  simple  expression,  which  knows  nothing  of  the 
righteous,  assume,  when  connected  with  the  preceding  proverb, 
a  severe  tone  of  irony  against  the  proud,  who  think  themselves 
sound,  just  as  in  Luke  xv.  7,  there  are  righteous  referred  to,  who 
think  they  need  no  repentance,  but  there  is  no  joy,  but  sorrow 
rather  in  heaven  over  them.  That  He  speaks  of  a  righteousness 
of  the  Pharisees,  which  availed  before  Him,  no  rational  person 
will  admit.  But  because  they  perceive  not  and  feel  not  them- 
selves to  be  sinners,  in  this  particular  sense  not  needing  the 
physician,  not  /ea/ew?  e'xoz/T69,  the  gracious  Physician  can  only  say 
to  them,  in  His  angry  sorrow— For  you,  such  as  you  are  it  is 
as  if  I  had  not  come  at  all,  for  ye  receive  me  not,  although  I  call 
you  too  as  sinners— ye  are  not  such,  ye  are  the  strong  and  the 
righteous !  And  in  the  very  fact  of  uttering  this  in  their  pre- 
sence, He  does  nevertheless  call  them,  and  they  might  have 
known  it.  It  is  as  much  as  if  He  had  said — rjkOov  KaXeaai 
iravTas  (ek  ekeov,  ek  fierdvoiav),  oi>x  <*>?  Sttfatov?  aW  a>?  dfiaprco- 

The  question  whether  ek  fierdvoiav  is  the  right  reading  in  St 
Matthew  and  St  Mark,  as  well  as  in  St  Luke,  does  not  affect  the 
case  :  for  on  any  supposition  St  Luke  has  rightly  completed 
what  must  be  included  in  the  full  meaning  of  the  icaXeaai.  To 
what  does  the  Lord  call  sinners  but  to  mercy,  and  how  can  this 
be  obtained  but  in  the  way  of  conversion  from  sin  to  God,  that 


MATTHEW  IX.  15 — 17.  391 

is,  of  repentance  ?  We  should  regard  it  as  more  probable  that 
the  Lord's  words  were  uttered  as  we  find  them  in  St  Luke.  He 
thus  manifestly  referred  to  the  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist, 
continued  as  it  was  by  Himself,  whose  cry  Repent  ye !  went  forth 
to  all  without  exception. 

Jesus  does  not  merely  eat  with  publicans  and  sinners,  He 
sanctifies  this  eating  and  commerce,  as  He  sanctifies  His  whole 
life  and  work,  by  the  testimony  and  call  which  pervades  it.  And 
not  only  so  :  His  graciously  condescending,  never-repelling  fellow- 
ship with  them,  is  itself  a  call,  and  an  invitation  and  an  attraction 
most  powerful. 


ANSWER  CONCERNING  FASTING. 

(Matt.  ix.  15—17  ;  Mar.  ii.  19—22 ;  Lu.  v.  35—39.) 

St  Matthew's  tot€  irpoaep^pvTa^  which  will  not  admit  of  a  ref- 
lation of  anything  past,  indicates  a  close  connection  between  this 
and  the  preceding  discourse.  The  conversation  with  the  disciples 
of  John  must  certainly  be  conceived  of  as  having  first  taken  place 
after  the  answer  given  to  the  Pharisees ;  and,  consequently,  the 
chronology  indicated  in  Mar.  v.  21,  must  not  be  so  far  pressed, 
as  to  leave  no  room  for  all  that  St  Matthew  relates  as  having 
transpired  before  the  request  of  Jairus.  St  Mark,  who  has  related 
these  circumstances  earlier,  places  the  discourse  concerning  fast- 
ing immediately  after  that  concerning  eating  and  drinking,  though 
with  but  slight  bond  of  connexion  :  St  Luke,  however,  connects 
the  one  directly  with  the  other,  as  if  the  subsequent  objection 
had  been  urged  by  the  same  circle  surrounding  the  Lord,  from 
which  the  previous  one  had  sprung.  (01  Be  elirov  irpo^  clvtov). 
It  seems  nearly  certain  from  the  whole,  that  the  two  conversa- 
tions, closely  related  in  their  matter,  should  be  placed,  according 
to  St  Matthew's  Tore,  not  merely  in  relation  as  facts,  but  in  strict 
chronological  conjunction :  with  which  it  will  well  accord,  if  we 
perceive  in  the  second  discourse  a  reference  to  the  former,  which 
was  still  in  our  Saviour's  thoughts. 

The  disciples  of  John,  too,  who  now  came,  according  to  St  Mat- 
thew, to  our  Lord,  (that  is,  certain  of  them,  as  Luther  expresses  it  in 


392  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

St  Mark,  whom  the  article  indicates  as  representatives  of  their 
kind),  present  themselves  to  our  Lord  and  His  disciples,  with  their 
objections  and  scruples,  just  as  the  Pharisees  had  already  done. 
For  even  they  stand  in  part,  if  not  for  the  most  part,  on  that  foot- 
ing of  the  old,  which  will  not  comprehend  the  new  as  revealed  in 
Christ.  This  is  the  general  fundamental  idea,  which  our  Lord's 
discourse  makes  prominent.  They  themselves,  with  great  sim- 
plicity, indicate  this  their  position :— we  and  the  Pharisees} 
Whether  they  were  incited  to  bring  forward  their  objection  by 
the  Pharisees,  may  be  left  to  conjecture:  we  may  very  well  suppose 
the  impulse  to  have  sprung  from  within  themselves,  without  any 
such  external  stimulant.  We  are  very  far  from  saying,  with 
Schleiermacher,  that  "such  a  question  from  John's  disciples  them- 
selves would  have  savoured  of  simplicity" — -many  as  wise  as  he, 
might  in  their  case,  have  shown  only  the  same  wisdom.  We  fast 
so  oft  (St  Matt.  7roXXa,  St  Lu.  irvKvd,  teal  SerjaeLS  7roLOvvrai)9  does 
not  mean  that  they  thought  it  too  much,  and  would  rather  have 
it  lightened  like  the  disciples  of  Jesus:  it  is  rather  the  proud  zeal 
of  their  righteousness  which  expresses  itself  thus,  upon  which 
they  value  themselves.  Thy  disciples  fast  not :  a  slightly  ironical, 
euphemistic  expression  for  eating  and  drinking  as  St  Luke  has  it, 
which  is  now  made  objectionable  in  itself,  as  before  it  had  been 
objected  to  for  being  in  company  with  publicans  and  sinners — 
almost  in  the  spirit  of  sympathy  with  the  invidious  meaning  of 
Matt.  xi.  19.3 

We  have  then  here  to  do  with  the  contrast  between  that  dis- 

1  In  St  Mark,  they  speak  of  the  practice  of  the  two  discipleships  in 
the  third  person,  just  as  (according  to  Ebrard)  a  Lutheran  might  say 
to  a  Roman  Catholic: — the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed  do  not 
keep  Corpus- Christi-day.  We  may  very  well  conceive,  (with  Von 
Gerlach,)  that  after  the  imprisonment  of  the  Baptist  many  of  his  dis- 
ciples would  rather  attach  themselves  to  the  better  kind  of  Pharisees 
than  to  Jesus.  The  opinion,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Pharisees 
proposed  this  question  to  Jesus,  only  referring  to  John's  disciples ;  and 
that  St  Matthew's  Gospel  derived  the  account  from  a  misunderstand- 
ing and  transposing  tradition,  is  one  more  of  the  petty  shifts  of  Scrip- 
ture-dishonouring modern  theology. 

2  They  speak,  however,  as  Boos  says,  with  simple  hearts,  and  hold 
probably  the  disciples  of  Jesus  only  in  suspicion,  as  being  an  undis- 
ciplined people,  who  would  not  so  readily  acquiese  in  their  Master's 
enforcement  of  prayer  and  fasting,  as  they  had  acquiesced  in  John's. 


MATTHEW  IX.  15 — 17  393 

tinctively  and  entirely  new  thing  which  the  Lord  brings  in, 
exhibited  in  Himself  and  His  disciples,  and  both  the  entirely  old, 
to  which  Pharisaic  Judaism  adhered,  and  that  intermediate  posi- 
tion of  John's  disciples,  which,  vibrating  between  the  old  and 
the  new,  had  rather  a  preponderance  of  the  old  element.  We 
have  it  clearly  recorded,  how  the  Lord  openly  and  decidedly 
opposed  himself  to  both.  If  this  collision  is  confined  to  the 
special  point  of  fasting,  all  who  were  susceptible  of  faith  might 
have  perceived  in  His  words  a  token  that  the  Messiah  was  come  : 
for  it  was  the  Jewish  teaching,  as  we  find  in  Maimonides,  that 
"  all  fasting  should  cease  in  the  days  of  the  Messiah,  and  that 
there  should  be  then  only  holidays  and  festivals,  as  it  is  written  in 
Zech.  viii.  19."  Resting  on  this  our  Lord  utters  in  His  first 
response  the  great  contrast,  openly  and  decisively  expressed ;  thus 
proclaiming  Himself  as  the  giver  of  joy  now  come,  and  present 
among  his  disciples,  and  designating  the  period  of  His  presence 
among  them  as  the  marriage  time.  He  had  already  declared 
Himself  to  be  the  Physician,  and  this  gives  additional  emphasis  to 
a  second  title  :  I  am  also  the  bridegroom  !  But  the  weighty  signi- 
ficance of  this  Messiah-name,  pointing  as  it  does  by  the  definite 
article  to  the  prophecy  and  its  fulfilment,  would  be  altogether 
weakened  if  we  should  limit  that  article  to  its  mere  use  in  the 
figure,  instead  of  deriving  the  figure  itself  from  the  prophetic 
name ;  and  interpret  it  as  only  meaning — so  long  as  the  bride- 
groom is  with  them — that  is  he  who  is,  as  it  were,  a  bridegroom 
to  them,  as  being  the  source  of  their  joy.  It  is  incontrovertibly 
obvious  that  the  Lord  here  refers  the  disciples  of  John  to  the 
testimony  of  their  own  master,  as  we  find  in  Jno.  iii.  28,  29.2  In 
that  passage  6  ^/d^ctto?  and  vu/x^to?  are  strictly  parallel.  There 
the  Baptist  named  himself  the  friend  of  the  Bridegroom,  mapaf 
vvfi<jio$  or  7rapavvfi(j)io<;}  vvfMpayayyos,  Talm.  fc^^p'to  ne  wno 

1  Which  we  find  here  "  in  a  marvellous  union  which  is  perfectly 
natural,  but  on  that  account  full  of  instruction  and  warning."  It  is 
thus  Seyler  preaches  :  see  his  Mittheillungen  iiber  die  zehnte  Ver3amm- 
lung  in  Gnadau. 

2  Subordinately  a  not  unimportant  example,  how  the  contents  of  the 
fourth  Gospel  are  presupposed  by  the  Synoptical  Gospels,  and  are  con- 
firmed by  them. 


394  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

demands  and  leads  the  bride  to  the  bridegroom.     He  does  not 
indeed  there  say  6  Wfjufos,  but  the  Messianic  reference  in  the 
preceding  rrjv  vvfi^-qv  is  even  yet  stronger  than  that  would  have 
been,  when  we  consider  the  whole  meaning  of  John's  demonstra- 
tive discourse.      (All  men  come  to  Him,  the  bride,  the  church 
the  people  of  God  turn  towards  Him  :  and  this  is  as  it  should  be, 
for,  as  this  proves,  He  is  indeed  the  bridegroom  of  this  bride:  I 
have  no  other  function  than  to  lead  her  to  Him).    But  the  Lord's 
words  here  have  a  more  extended  reference :  all  His  disciples 
generally  appear  as  viol  rod  vv/xcjiabvos,  friends  of  the  Bridegroom  : 
and  with  this  we  may  compare  ch.  xi.  11.     This  expression,  in- 
deed, indicates  something  much  more  intimate  than  marriage- 
company  or  wedding  guests  generally,  since  wfujxov  signifies  the 
bridal-chamber,  and  not  merely  the  hall  of  the  wedding-feast.    It 
refers  already  to  the  calling  of  the  Apostles  to  be  the  bringers  of 
the  bride,  in  the  same  sense  as  the  Baptist  had  intimated  :  for  in 
such  indefinite  parables  as  these,  which  hint  more  than  they  say, 
the  narrower  and  the  wider  meaning  pass  one  into  the  other. 

It  remains,  however,  clear  and  important,  that  the  Lord  here, 
by  a  general-citation  of  the  Old  Testament,  terms  Himself  the 
Bridegroom.  That  was  according  to  a  general  Orientalism,  which 
thus  exhibited  the  relation  between  ruler  and  people,  and  with  a 
much  deeper  meaning  it  was  applied  to  the  sacred  relation  of 
Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel.      But  the  Prophets  testified  clearly 
that  the  true  betrothal,  the  true  marriage  (which  Ps.  xlv.  and  the 
Canticles  predict)  would  take  place  when  God,  the  King,  the 
Husband  of  Israel,  should  come  as  his  Messiah.     Thus  are  given 
first  of  all  the  great  promises  in  Isa.  lii.  6,  7,  12  :— I  myself,  who 
now  speak,  will  be  He  !     Thy  God  reigneth  !     The  Lord  will  go 
before  you ;  and  the  God  of  Israel  will  be  your  rereward  !  Then 
is  interposed  the  marvellous  prophecy  concerning  the  Servant  of 
the  Lord :  but  immediately  after  follows  again  in  ch.  liv.  the  pre- 
diction of  the  fruitful  marriage,  ver.  5  :   For  thy  Maker  is  thine 
Husband,  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  His  name;  and  thy  Redeemer  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel ;  the  God  of  the  whole  earth  shall  he  be 
called.     Hence  are  to  be  understood  the  subsequent  marriage 
parables  of  our  Lord,  which  are  already  prepared  for  in  this 
discourse  to  the  disciples  of  John.     It  is,  finally,  a  very  striking 


MATTHEW  IX.  15 — 17.  395 

circumstance  that  the  same  Hosea  to  whom  the  Lord  had  re- 
ferred the  Pharisees,  as  he  testifies  of  the  Physician,  so  also  testi- 
fies of  the  Bridegroom,  For  in  Hos.  ii.  19,  20  (which  is  to  be 
regarded  as  an  interpretation  of  the  typical  conduct  of  the  Pro- 
phet, with  an  allusion,  at  the  same  time,  to  a  meaning  of  the 
idol-name  ^^)  we  find  it  said :  I  will  betroth  thee  unto  me  for 

ever :  yea,  I  will  betroth  thee  unto  me  in  righteousness,  and  in 
judgment,  and  in  loving-kindness,  and  in  mercies.  I  will  even 
betroth  thee  unto  me  in  faithfulness ;  and  thou  shalt  know  the 
Lord.  Now  this  is  the  true  explanation  of  -]Qr\  and  qij-j^N  H^l 
(Hos.  vi.  6),  which  the  Lord  Himself  supplementarily  brings, 
while  he  blends  in  His  answer  a  reference  to  that  testimony  of 
the  Baptist  with  the  thoughts  of  His  own  mind,  which  still 
linger  in  Hosea's  prophecy.  Thus  by  means  of  both  the  Pro- 
phet's predictions,  that  of  the  Physician  and  that  of  the  Bride- 
groom, uniting  in  strict  harmony  and  concert,  the  Lord  declares 
with  ample  clearness  for  all  who  have  ears  to  hear,  who  Him- 
self is. 

Where  I  thus  am  present,  the  Bridegroom,  there  can  be 
nothing  but  joy  for  my  chosen  disciples  especially,  who  are 
elected  to  be  Paranymphs,  Friends  of  the  Bridegroom.  To  fast 
now  would  be  a  plain  self-contradiction,  for  fasting  pertains  to 
sorrow  and  not  to  joy.  But  these  are  glad,  and  rightly  so, 
because  the  long-expected  is  come  at  last,  and  are  conscious  of 
nothing  but  this.  The  Bridegroom  is  come,  the  marriage  must 
and  will  now  go  on !  The  presence  of  the  Bridegroom  is  already 
to  them  the  beginning  of  the  marriage.  Interrupt  them  not, 
they  will  soon  enough  discover  that  an  interval  must  take  place  : 
yea,  these  and  my  future  disciples  shall,  during  many  a  dreary 
season,  find  cause  to  fast — for  the  actual  marriage  is  yet  far  in 
the  distance.  Such  generally  is  the  meaning  of  this  prophetic 
discourse,  though,  alas,  most  Bible  readers  accept  it  with  diffi- 
culty, for  Luther's  word,  without  explanation  derived  from  ori- 
ental biblical  customs,  misleads  them  to  think  of  the  actual 
marriage  at  once. 

The  Bridegroom  is  taken  from  them,  just  as  the  king  first 
takes  his  journey,  in  order  to  receive  his  kingdom  (Lu.  xix.  12  ; 
Matt.  xxv.  14).   The  very  generally  announced  prediction  which 


396  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  Lord  gives1  concerning  this,  refers  immediately  and  first  of 
all  to  the  days  of  His  sufferings  and  death :  for  the  disciples  of 
John,  whose  Master  according  to  every  correct  harmony  was 
now  in  prison,  the  words  would  contain  a  latent  analogy,  which 
the  Lord  more  fully  utters  in  Matt.  xvii.  12,  "  Your  Master,  for 
whose  imprisonment  ye  would  mourn  and  fast,  is  not,  however, 
the  true  Bridegroom,  who  will  similarly,  yet  quite  otherwise,  be 
taken  away!  "  The  first  presence  of  Jesus  among  His  disciples, 
however  full  of  joy  it  might  make  them,  was  nevertheless  quite 
transitory;  there  stood  the  cross  before  Him,  by  which  the 
Bridegroom  would  become  the  Physician,  and  lead  the  truly 
healed  through  deep  affliction  to  perfect  joy.  (Jno.  xvi.  20 — 22). 
All  this  the  Lord  knew  from  the  beginning,  and  in  the  midst  of 
His  gracious  acknowledgment  and  approval  of  the  joy  which 
surrounded  Him  in  His  own  disciples'  hearts,  He  alone  looks 
beyond  into  the  days  which  were  coming.  (Wizenmann  may 
well  cry :  "  What  man  ever  looked  down  so  tranquilly,  so  cheer- 
fully, from  so  great  a  height  into  so  profound  a  depth?") 
Indeed  the  e\evaovrai  he  rj/juepai  andthe  Tore  (which  St  Luke 
still  strengthens  by  iv  i/divacs  rat?  rjfMepai<;,  which  is  more  exact 
than  St  Mark's  singular)  stretches  the  prospect  far  into  the 
times  of  the  Church,  in  which,  as  well  for  the  whole  as  for  indi- 
viduals, there  will  be  a  manifold  and  perpetual  recurrence  of  the 
departure  of  the  Bridegroom,  and  the  pressing  through  the  sor- 
row of  the  cross  to  the  joy  of  the  resurrection. 

Nevertheless,  the  Lord  will  not  permit  any  to  disturb  the  pre- 
sent joy  of  His  own,  however  transitory  it  may  be,  in  Himself  and 
His  personal  presence  (icjf  oaov,  St  Mark,  and  St  Luke,  iv  w^er 
avrcov  iciiv — St  Mark  again  oaov  'xpovov  jjueO*  eavr&v  e-^ovai  rbv 
vvficpiov)  !  Although  the  most  fearful  suffering  was  at  hand, 
although  the  greatest  of  the  prophets  awaited  in  the  prison  his 
death,  yet  even  these  things  may  not  suppress  the  joy  of  the 
disciples,  and  make  them  fast,  so  gladdening  is  the  presence  of  the 
Bridegroom.  It  is  in  this  that  we  are  to  seek  the  peculiar  con- 
trast between  the  Old  and  the  New,  which  is  now  intimated,  and 
afterwards  expanded  more  fully :  not,  indeed,  merely  through 

1  Where  the  grammatically  unusual  aTrapdrj,  the  same  in  all  three 
Evangelists,  stands  alone  in  the  New  Testament. 


MATTHEW  IX.  15 — 17.  397 

the  presence  of  the  Bridegroom  (for  this  is  limited  by  an  ifi 
oaov,  and  fasting  even  in  the  new  time  is  plainly  contemplated), 
but  rather  in  the  distinction  between  fasting  as  genuine  and  cor- 
responding to  the  occasion,  and  fasting  as  enforced  and  legally 
imposed  as  an  external  obligation.  This  specific  point  of  the 
Lord's  saying  becomes  obvious  to  us  in  St  Matthew  (who  has 
here  the  exact  word  in  preference  to  the  other  two),  for  He  speaks 
first  of  all  of  mourning  instead  of  fasting,  and  with  a  frank  f^rj 
SvvavTcu  asks  if  it  be  befitting  and  right  to  enforce  fasting  in  a 
time  of  joy?  (St  Mark  strengthens  it  wath  a  repeated  ov  Bvvav- 
tcu  ;  St  Luke  expresses  this  fundamental  idea  through  a  less 
direct  tradition,  but  in  a  vigorous  manner  and  quite  consistent 
with  circumstances:  firj  SvvaaOe  iroir\crai  vrjareveiv).  What 
gives  truth  and  reality  to  external  fasting  is  the  internal  mourn- 
ing :  all  such  exercise  as  outwardly  imposed  and  enforced  belongs 
to  the  old  and  legal  position,  which  in  the  circle  of  our  Lord's 
discipleship  is  utterly  removed.  And  further,  what  was  all  the 
\2?M  Hi33fr  even  as  imPosed  m  tne  Old  Testament  by  God  Him- 
self but  a  preparation  for  coming  joy  1  It  was  never  an  end  in 
itself,  only  the  transitional  means.  And  when  now  He  that  is 
come  inspires  the  joy,  where  is  the  occasion  for  fasting  ? 

It  will  return,  but  never  again  in  the  legal,  Old  Testament, 
pharisaic  spirit  and  manner,  but  in  the  truth  and  reality  of  the 
fulfilment  of  its  design.  Tlien  shall  they  fast,  that  is  now  con- 
versely, they  shall  mourn  of  themselves,  naturally  and  truly  and 
necessarily  fast.  This  is  no  commandment,  but  a  prophecy  of 
those  Fast-days  which  God  Himself  will  appoint  to  souls,  and 
not  they  themselves  impose  voluntarily  upon  themselves.  That 
which  in  the  time  of  the  first  fulfilment  happened  symbolically 
to  the  disciples,  who  in  their  affliction  forgot  to  eat  and  drink, 
though  it  never  occurred  to  them  to  say,  "  we  must  appoint  our- 
selves a  fast,"  will  have  a  perpetual  realization  in  the  Church. 
It  might  indeed  in  a  certain  sense  be  said  that  the  whole  time  of 
the  Church  during  her  Lord's  absence,  the  whole  interval 
between  the  Ascension  and  the  Second  Coming,  is  a  time  of 
solemn  earnestness,  of  sorrow,  and  of  fasting.  Yet  there  is  a 
qualification  of  this,  since  for  the  Church,  as  well  as  for  its  indi- 
vidual members,  times  of  the  Lord's  presence  alternate  with  times 
of  His  absence,  the  one  profoundly  preparing  the  wayfor-'tfee 

»ua  euonofa  jj  oitd  jiniffj 


398  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

other.  There  freedom  and  truth  must  be  uninterfered  with  in  all 
their  conduct.  If  a  soul  has  found  its  Saviour,  let  no  one  dis- 
turb it  when  rejoicing  as  the  disciples  rejoiced  in  the  beginning : 
the  hard  ways  of  the  cross  will  come  afterwards,  let  them  be 
prophecied  that  they  may  be  provided  for,  but  nothing  more. 
The  final  end  and  consummation,  which  already  appears  to  our 
first  apprehension,  and  with  truth,  to  be  so  near,  is  the  marriage 
of  the  Bridegroom  with  His  own,  a  time  of  joy  and  delight,  in 
which  all  fast-days  are  lost. 

Ver.  16.  We  shall  now  be  better  able  to  understand  what" 
the  Lord  goes  on  to  say  concerning  the  old  and  the  new,  and 
indeed  in  marriage  similitudes  still,  for  garments  and  wine  may 
well  occur  to  our  thoughts  when  preparation  for  the  marriage  is 
spoken  of.     What  is  the  altogether  new  ?     That  freedom  and 
sincerity  of  deportment  which  ever  corresponds  with  the  reality 
of  the  inward  state,  and  which  should  henceforward  alone  avail : 
not,  assuredly,  a  mere  vain  joy,  as  before  a  mere  vain  sorrow, 
but  the  eating  and  drinking  when  man  is  glad,  the  fasting  when 
he  is  sorrowful ;  that  is,  as  we  are  wont  to  say,  the  government  of 
the  evangelical  spirit,  rule  of  life,  and  guidance.     What,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  the  old  which  the  Lord  thus  by  the  very  word 
emphatically  announces   already  as  done  away,  even   as   His 
apostle  afterwards   (Heb.  viii.   13)   must   do  again  ?    All  that 
pertains  to  the  legal,   Old  Testament,  imperfect,  preparatory, 
typical  relation,    as    it   opposes    itself,    in    the  Pharisees    and 
John's  disciples,  to  the  spirit  of  the  New.      What  then  is  the 
mixing  and  mending  which  would  put  a  new  patch  upon  an  old 
garment  I   It  would  have  taken  place,  if  the  Lord  in  His  instruc- 
tion of  the  disciples  whom  He  was  now  training  for  the  entirely 
New,  had  still  retained  the  pharisaical,  Old  Testament  spirit  as 
His  foundation  :  for  then  nothing  fundamentally  and  permanently 
new  would  have  resulted,  they  would  not  have  agreed  together.    No 
one  acts  thus,  who  will  provide  a  durable  garment,  that  is,  no 
practised  workmen,  for  of  this  unintelligent,  wretched,  and  indeed 
holding  to  the   external  figure,  necessitated  patching,  there  is 
abundance.      It  is  very  plain  that  here  as  elsewhere,  our  Lord's 
word,  which  in  its  dignity  condescends  to  the  meanest  details  of 
the  earthly,  and  common  realities  of  life,  enters  into  the  history  of 
a  mended  garment,  elevating  in  His  wisdom  the  most  trivial 
thing  into  a  glorious  similitude.      If  the  garment  itself  is  old, 


MATTHEW  IX.  15 — 17.  399 

worn  out,  and  holds  not  together  (and  the  whole  rests  upon  this 
supposition),  no  new  patch  inserted  will  do  it  any  service.  The 
i7rl/3\7]fia9  which  was  intended  to  be  a  TfKrjpay^a  avTov  ("  put  in  to 
fill  it  up"),  can  accomplish  that  purpose  only  for  a  short  time  and 
very  badly :  it  aipei  airb  rod  Ifiarlov,  that  is,  although  it  rends  not 
itself,  it  does  not  hold  to  the  seam  of  the  old,  the  new  piece  taketh 
away  something  from  the  old,1  the  consequence  is,  as  St  Luke 
expresses  it,  /cat  to  kclivov  o-%t%ei,  m  *ne  en(^  *ne  new  1S  thrown 
away,  inserted  in  vain,  no  better  than  rent,  like  the  old  itself. 
The  new  is  not  entire,  the  old  is  not  firm.  (Comp.  the  parallel, 
ver.  17).  St  Luke  gives  the  fundamental  idea  quite  correctly, 
whether  the  Lord  now  uttered  it  or  not,  ov  avfjucpcovet,  the  old 
and  the  new,  fit  not,  agree  not  together :  but  St  Matthew  and 
St  Mark  say  most  distinctively  and  decisively  %etpoz>  a^iafxa 
ylverai,  such  improvement  only  makes  the  evil  worse.  See  here 
in  the  history  of  an  unskilfully  and  vainly  patched  old  garment  the 
prophecy  of  many  injuries  and  schisms  made  worse,  in  souls, 
in  congregations,  and  in  whole  Churches !  Oh  that  wicked 
piecing  of  evangelical  patches  upon  the  old  ground  !  Oh  that 
it  were  in  the  thing  signified  as  it  is  said  to  be  in  the  figure 
— no  man  doeth  this  !2  Poverty  constrains  us  not  to  do  this, 
now  that  He  is  come  to  provide  us  the  new  wedding  garment : 
that  we  should  put  on  whole  and  new,  in  the  new  nature  of  the 
spirit  and  of  liberty,  the  old  nature  of  the  letter  and  of  bondage, 
being  entirely  cast  off.  Let  it  be  once  more  observed,  with  what 
far-reaching  wisdom  our  Lord,  passing  beyond  the  present  occa- 
sion which  gives  birth  to  His'  words,  makes  them  universal ;  and 
with  what  irresistible  conviction  the  thought  thus  clothed  in 
parable  teaches  us  to  hold  fast  His  doctrine. 

Ver.  17,  Are  we  to  suppose  that  the  Lord  is  saying  the  same 
thing  in  a  second  figure?  Many  are  of  this  opinion,  though  it 
runs  entirely  opposite  to  our  Lord's  manner  of  teaching.      It  is 

1  St  Mark,  according  to  the  correct  reading,  aipei  to  rfk^pwpa  to 
Kaivbv  tov  nakaiov,  see  Bengel,  and  on  the  construction  of  aipciu  with  a 
genitive,  Winer's  Grammatik  §  30.  6. 

2  *'  Christians  should  never  call  God's  work  upon  them  through 
Christ,  amending,  but  a  new  creation"  (von  GerlachJ.  But  there  have 
been  sad  times,  when  men  have  talked  about  "  moral  mending  and 
perfecting  of  our  nature." 


400  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

not  sufficient  to  say  that  He  views  the  subject  of  His  discourse 
under  two  distinct  relations :  as  if  He  first  condescends,  as  it  were, 
to  figure  the  new  "  only  as  a  subordinate  element,  repairing  the 
deficiencies  of  the  old,"  and  then  in  the  second  similitude  speaks 
more  definitely  and  strongly  of  the  new  spirit  and  nature,  for 
which  an  altogether  new  external  form  is  necessary.  For  if  the 
former  were  true,  the  Lord  could  not  have  blamed  the  coming  to 
the  aid  of  the  old  garment  with  a  new  patch :  whereas  He  already 
in  the  first  figure  requires  a  totally  new  garment.  The  difference 
between  the  two  ideas  is  certainly  not  to  be  sought  in  this,  for  the 
full  contrast  is  the  same  in  both.  What  then  is  it  ?  We  must 
not  take  the  old  and  new  bottles  as  corresponding  directly  to  the 
old  and  new  garment :  he  who  retains  this  notion,  must  misunder- 
stand the  whole  discourse.  Rather  that  which  the  Lord  has  com- 
pared to  a  garment,  He  now  in  the  second  instance  compares  to  a 
wine.  As,  in  the  first  instance,  starting  from  the  old  garment 
the  opposite  entirely  new  one  is  intimated  only  by  the  new  patch, 
which  is  not,  however,  the  new  garment  itself ;  so,  in  the  second 
instance,  the  contemplation  sets  out  from  the  new  wine  (for  so 
should  it  be  translated),  with  an  understood  contrast  with  the  old 
wine,  which  as  we  shall  see  in  St  Luke,  is  actually  mentioned. 
Thus  much  is  here  plain  :  a  garment  is  put  on  from  without,  but 
wine  is  received  from  skins  or  vessels  inwardly:  and  what  was 
.  first  viewed  rather  as  external  manner  of  life  or  even  doctrine, 
appears  now  as  a  spiritual  principle,  as  the  spirit  that  moulds  the 
habits,  the  life  within  which  shapes  the  life  without.1  The  new 
garment  is  the  New  Testament  freedom  and  truth  of  external  life, 
in  which  man  lives  and  moves,  the  new  wine  is  the  internal 
spirit  of  such  freedom  and  truth  itself.  And  what  are  the  bottles 
which  contain  and  hold  this  spirit  ?  They  must  necessarily  cor- 
respond to  the  men  who  wear  the  garment ;  consequently  that  is 
true  which  might  now  be  raised  as  an  objection,  that  neither 
"  the  ancient  Jewish  nor  the  new  forms  "  are  alluded  to,  but  the 
persons  who  may  or  may  not  be  capable  of  being  used.     The 

1  When  Seyler  suggests  that  .'5  g&foijfent  and  bottle  are  the  external 
forms i©f  ririfdJt  Ahqigaintewt^iisio^it^lthe'ibiiier  life  exhibited  in  outward 
fthiiigs^beJ&dftfe^a^e^  life  on  account  of  its 

Ifidf-greierai^idniand^efinen^rft^istlBBrjeifioilian  inharmonious  confusion 
between  the  bottle  and  its  contents  t  xxjgt\ 


MATTHEW  IX.  15 — 17.  401 

figure  is,  moreover,  scriptural  (see  Job.  xxxii.  19)  :  where  the 
"new  bottles"  are  either,  as  is  probable,  equivalent  to  bottles 
with  new  wine,  or  Elihu,  in  his  inflated  discourse  represents  the 
spirit  which  urges  him  as  so  mighty,  that  even  new  bottles 
would  be  burst  by  it. 

The  expression  of  our  Lord,  which  is  now  shown  in  its  com- 
pleteness, has  a  twofold  aim  :  that  the  new  must  not  be  mixed 
with,  or  inserted  into,  the  old ;  and  that  rigidly  disposed  people 
must  be  chosen  for  the  freedom  of  the  new  which  He  inculcates. 
But  in  the  nature  of  things,  the  similitude  will  not  absolutely 
suit  in  every  respect,  inasmuch  as  men  and  nations  in  themselves 
are  no  other  than  old  men  and  nations ;  it  suits,  nevertheless, 
relatively  at  least  for  the  relations  of  the  time  then  present,  and 
for  all  similar  relations ;  inasmuch  as  while  many  are  too  firmly 
rooted  and  fixed  in  the  old,  and  cannot,  like  old  bottles,  receive 
and  retain  the  new  wine  and  the  new  spirit,  many,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  found  susceptible,  unprejudiced,  prepared,  and,  as  it 
tcere,  already  corresponding  to  the  new.  Men  put  not  new  wine 
into  old  bottles; — the  Lord  by  this  justifies  at  the  same  time  the 
conduct  of  John,  who  treated  quite  rightly  his  disciples  who  were 
not  yet  ripe  for  the  evangelical  freedom  and  joy,  and  Mis  own 
conduct,  in  seeking  for  Himself  new  bottles ; — or  rather  He  justi- 
fies the  wisdom  of  God,  which  sent  to  the  men  of  that  generation 
in  near  connexion  and  succession,  both  the  severe  Elias  and  the 
benignant  Son  of  Man.  (Ch.  xi.  17 — 19).  The  Lord,  indeed, 
received  His  disciples  in  part  from  John  the  Baptist,  but  not 
those  of  them  who  were  pharisaically  narrow-minded  and  rigid, 
such  as  now  put  the  question  to  Him  ;  his  accepted  new  bottles 
were  publicans  and  sinners,  whom  He  immediately  called  to 
Himself.  John  indeed  predicts  the  new  wine,  but  not  many 
receive  it,  as  is  proved  by  the  very  fact  that  there  are  yet  fasting 
disciples  of  John,  even  long  after  their  master  had  pointed  them 
to  the  Bridegroom.  To  such  the  Lord  meekly  replies : — Remain 
ye  in  the  old,  and  leave  to  my  disciples  the  new !  Thus  it  is 
meet,  and  thus  will  we  for  a  while  be  separate. 

Finally,  wherefore  and  what  means  the  breaking  of  the  old 
bottles,  so  that  the  good  old  wine  is  spilled,  and  the  bottles  perish, 
and  thus  a  twofold  injury  arises  from  the  false  conjunction  of 
things  that  agree  not  together?     The  new  wine  ferments,  in 

26 


402  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

order  that  thus  it  may  out  of  must  become  true. wine :  Thus  the 
wine  bursts  the  skins ; — will,  as  it  might  be  foreseen,  burst  them,  as 
we  read  in  St  Mark  and  St  Luke.  As  St  Matthew  and  St 
Mark  condense  and  break  off  the  Lord's  expression,  it  seems  just 
to  hint  at  this  explanatory  fundamental  idea ;  but  St  Luke  in 
vers.  39  gives  it  plain  and  significant  utterance.  Yet  how  have 
short-sighted  expositors  on  all  sides  perverted  this  undoubtedly 
genuine  and  important  addition,  because  they  cannot  deal  rightly 
with  its  meaning:  and  yet  how  simple  and  clear,  how  entirely 
appropriate  to  what  precedes,  when  that  is  rightly  understood,  is 
the  thought  which  it  expresses !  The  emphasis  lies  in  the 
evOews,  for  the  genuine  new,  of  which  the  passage  speaks  (not  an 
externally  new  form  or  mode  as  such,  which  people  readily 
enough  seize,  as  they  do  new  garments,  but  a  new  and  free  and 
living  Spirit),  does  not  easily  and  immediately  take  possession  of 
people  who  are  accustomed  to  the  Old.  Not,  by  any  means,  as  if 
the  old  wine  were  actually  better :  but  he  who  has  hitherto  drunk 
it  (being  accustomed,  that  is,  not  merely  to  "  old  habitudes,"  but 
to  the  life  and  principle  stamped  upon  them,  the  Spirit  of  legal 
exercise  and  righteousness),  feels  that  to  him  it  tastes  better; 
he  says,  the  old  is  more  agreeable  and  pleasant.  The  Lord  in 
His  gracious  wisdom  says  this,  partly  in  blame  (for  men  cannot 
and  should  not  always  tarry  in  the  old,  the  years  as  they  roll  on 
bring  their  new  growth),  partly,  also,  in  gentle  apology  for  them.1 
Thus  it  must  be,  it  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  case.  I  know  well 
that  your  much  fasting  is  to  you,  with  all  its  severity,  preferable  to 
the  freedom  of  my  disciples.  Length  of  time  makes  the  old  habi- 
tual pleasant  to  us  ;  the  yoke,  otherwise  intolerable,  bearable  and 
even  easy.  Here  at  the  conclusion  our  Lord  is  also  answering 
the  first  part  of  the  question  :  Why  do  we  with  the  Pharisees  fast? 
He  teaches,  finally,  that  a  time  will  come,  when  the  new,  which  so 
few  now  relish,  will  better  commend  itself.  Vhen  the  new  wine  is 
old,  thou  shalt  drink  it  with  pleasure,  said  Sirach  anciently,  Ecclus. 
ix.  10.  TJiis  is  the  meaning !  Not  merely,  as  Schleiermacher  says, 
that  "he  wouldnot  find  fault  with  themfor  not  liking  the  newwine, 

1  Seyler  calls  it  emphatically  a  "  word  of  excuse,  inexpressibly  mild, 
and  almost  in  '  scherzender'  form,"  but  where  the  Lord  seems  to  speak 
almost  in  this  style,  He  is  only  giving  utterance  to  the  deepest  earnest- 
ness of  truth  in  the  most  affectionate  manner.     Compare  Lu.  x.  42. 


MATTHEW  IX.  22.  403 

but  holding  the  old  wine,  as  usual,  for  better :    the  value  of  the 
new  wine  would  come  out  in  the  taste,  but  this  would  be  the  case 
with  them  only  by  degrees."     It  is  not  our  taste  merely  which  is 
concerned  here,  but  the  actual  fermentation  and  clarification  of 
the  new  life  and  the  new  spirit,  which,  after  the  manner  of  new 
wine,  is  unready  and  imperfect  within  as  at  the  first.  The  figures 
proceed  with  each  new  turn  in  the  discourse  more  fully  and 
deeply,  into  the  reality,  and   its  whole  process.     The  bottles 
which  contain  the  new  wine,  but  should  not,  indeed,  retain  it  for 
themselves,  are  the  constantly  chosen  bearers  and  instruments  of 
the  new  spirit :  the  people,  who  should  drink  it,  are  all  others  to 
whom  then  and  thus  are  communicated  the  new  power,  doctrine, 
and  discipline.      This  distinction  must  be  well  seized ;    typified 
in  the  relation  of  the  Apostles  and  the  first  disciples,  it  finds  its 
ever-recurring  application  to  all  times.     Hast  thou,  for  thy  part, 
received  the  new  wine  of  grace  into  a  sincere  and  humble  heart, 
into  a  mind  which  lays  aside  all  that  is  past,  as  into  a  new  bottle ; 
then  take  good  heed,  that  thou  do  not  impetuously  pour  it  out 
before  all  people  to  drink,  and  complain  if  they  relish  it  not. 
Thus  does  the  circumspection  of  our  Lord's  word  fill  up  its 
meaning : — Rejoice  in  thyself,  no  man  shall  constrain  thee   to 
fast,  but  cry  not  out  too  soon,  Rejoice  all  with  me  as  I  rejoice ! 
The  Divine  spirit  in  the  spirit  of  man,  when  it  at  first  approves 
itself  a  fermenting  new  wine,  must  itself  become  ripened  and 
mild.1     But  when  it  is  so,  there  is  nothing  more  lovely,  more 
heart-rejoicing,  that  goeth  down  more  sweetly  (Cant.  vii.  9)  to 
every  unperverted   taste  and  conscience,  than  the  thoughtful, 
powerful,  affectionate  testimony  and  exhortation  of  such  disciples 
as  have  prepared  themselves  in  wisdom  and  patience  for  the 
Bridegroom's  will,  from  their  first  joy  through  all  succeeding 
mourning,  until  His  new  thing  in  them  is  fully  ready  to  be 
offered  to  the  world.      The  more  fully  this  testimony  of  the 
whole  apostolical  church  since  Pentecost  has  been  published  to 
Israel,  with  so  much  less  sincerity  of  excuse  can  they  allege  of 
their  old  wine,  that  it  is  better. 

1  A  Jewish  saying  (quoted  by  Sepp)  has  it :  he  who  seeks  instruc- 
tion from  the  young  and  inexperienced,  is  like  one  who  eats  unripe 
grapes,  or  drinks  new  wine  out  of  the  winepress  :  to  learn  from  the  old, 
is  to  taste  ripe  grapes,  and  old  wine. 


404  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

THE  ISSUE  OF  BLOOD. 

(Matt.  ix.  22  ;  Mar.  v.  30—34 ;  Lu.  viii.  45,  46—48). 

St  Matthew  records  in  the  most  concise  manner  in  three  verses, 
the  incident  which  was  interposed  on  our  Lord's  way  to  Jairus. 
As  his  recollections  rise  to  him  in  more  and  more  rich  profusion, 
the  Apostle  and  eye-witness  employs  in  His  Gospel  a  more 
pregnant  brevity  of  style  (that  the  book  may  not  become  too 
great,  Jno.  xxi.  25) ;  and  suffers  himself  not  to  be  diverted  to 
the  right  or  left  from  the  prescribed  design  of  His  plan.  In 
addition,  we  must  regard  as  coming  to  the  aid  of  this  as  foreseen 
and  provided  by  God  for  the  first  Gospel,  the  Apostle's  own  in- 
dividuality, which  is  less  adapted  for  sharply  denning  the  small, 
characteristic  traits  of  an  incident,  and  on  that  account  more  fitted 
to  arrange  and  combine  events  and  discourses  under  great  lead- 
ing aspects :  though  never,  however,  contrary  to  the  strictest 
truth  of  fact.  St  Mark  and  St  Luke  then  fill  up  many  things 
left  in  outline  by  St  Matthew  ;  in  perfect  consistency  with  their 
characteristic,  that  of  more  searching,  reflective,  accurate,  and 
most  exactly  faithful  reporters.  Yet  this  filling  up  must  also 
be  regarded  as  strictly  faithful  to  truth.  If  any  man,  for  exam- 
ple, would  regard  the  narrative  of  the  Ruler's  daughter  and 
the  woman  with  the  bloody  flux,  so  self-evidencing  in  their 
incomparably  artless  originality  and  living  freshness,  as  invented, 
or  either  with  or  without  design  elaborated  and  adorned,  we 
must  lament  his  critical  failing  and  account  him  fundamentally 
perverted. 

But  in  these  narratives  the  words  of  our  Lord  are  so  inter- 
woven with  the  circumstances  occurring,  that  without  under- 
standing these,  those  cannot  be  understood  :  yet  must  we  be  on 
our  guard  against  entering  into  the  history  too  much.  In  this 
view,  we  must  rather  reckon  upon  too  much  than  too  little  in  the 
reader  himself:  that  so  our  book  also  may  not  grow  too  large. 

Who  touched  me  ?  or,  more  properly :  Who  is  it,  who  was  it, 
that  touched  me  ?  This  question  the  Lord  asks  in  the  midst  of 
the  press  of  the  crowd:  the  disciples  marvel,  and  instead  of 


MATTHEW  IX.  22.  405 

answering  they  use  that  liberty  to  which  they  had  been  encou- 
raged by  His  lowly  intercourse  with  them ;  and  by  Peter's  ever 
ready  mouth  throw  out  a  kind  of  demur  as  to  His  putting  such 
a  question  at  all.  According  to  St  Mark,  who  may  here  be  the 
more  exact,  it  was,  Who  touched  my  clothes  ?  or  more  properly, 
Me  by  my  clothes  ?  A  well-meaning  but  incorrect  dogmatic 
prudently  remarks  here  that  the  Lord  had  well  known  all  from 
the  beginning,  but  that  for  the  sake  of  men,  and  because  He 
would  not  have  His  wonderful  power  thus  experienced  in  secret 
and  kept  hidden,  He  procured  its  disclosure  by  such  question  as 
this  :  but  this  springs  from  a  purely  human  mistake  as  to  the 
essentially  human  in  the  Son  of  Man,  and  plainly  opposes  the  most 
distinct  words  of  the  Evangelists.  First  of  all,  the  indefinite  masc. 
6  chjra/xez/o?  does  not  favour  this  view :  but  St  Mark  further 
reports  that  the  Lord  turned  round  to  find  him  who  had  done, 
6r,  as  he  speaks  in  relation  to  the  known  fact,  her1  who  had  done 
this  thing,  yea,  that  the  woman  came  and  told  him  all  the  truth. 
Consequently  He  did  not  yet  fully  know  her  from  the  beginning, 
rather  nothing  more  than  that  which  his  genuine  question  ex- 
presses, that  some  one  had  touched  Him  with  such  longing  of  faith 
,is  had  drawn  from  Him  His  healing  virtue.  St  Mark  selects  the 
words  very  carefully  and  with  exact  propriety :  the  woman  eyvco  tg> 
s-cDfiaTi)  marked  or  felt  in  her  body,  that  the  fountain  of  her  blood 
was  suddenly  dried  up  ;  but  Jesus  puts  his  question  iiriyvovs  iv 
kavTw  rr]v  ef  avTov  hvvafiiv  i^ekOovaav ;  as  He  not  merely  felt  in 
His  body,  but  at  the  same  time  knew  in  Himself  (rS  iw^v^an 
dvrov),  what  had  taken  place. 

According  to  St  Luke  the  Lord  Himself  testifies  this  by  a 
second  word,  which  we  should  have  been  required  to  supply  in 
St  Mark,  even  independently  of  this,  as  the  Lord's  explanatory 
answer  to  His  disciples'  demur.  Somebody  hath  touched  me,  and, 
as  I  think,  in  a  different  way  from  the  thronging  crowd  :  hath 
touched  Me,  and  not  merely,  like  them,  my  clothes :  thus  does 
the  Lord  defend  His  unintelligently  blamed  question,  and  ex- 
plains its  reason  by  the  same  word  which  St  Mark  has  woven 
into  his  narration :  for  I  perceive  that  virtue  hath  gone  out  of  me. 

1  Which  expression  narrating  post  eventum  (ttjv  rovro  nolrja-aa-av) 
should  not  be  urged  (as  e.g.  by  Alford)  as  a  proof  that  Jesus,  when  He 
put  the  question,  already  knew. 


406  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

'Eyco  first  and  emphatically  :  if  no  one  else,  I  at  least  must 
well  know.  "Eyvcov  in  the  same  proper  sense  as  St  Mark  has 
explained  it :  the  bodily  feeling  with  an  inward  consciousness  of 
the  internal  and  essential  import  and  reality  of  what  was  taking 
place.  The  h^ekOovaa  connected  with  the  Svpafus,  especially 
with  the  emphatic  rrjv  in  St  Mark,  teaches  us  that  it  signifies 
more  than  an  ordinary  miracle,  as  many  would  sophisticate  it. 
And  consequently  it  remains  undeniable  after  the  distinct  evidence 
of  this  narrative,  that  that  power  to  heal  (Lu.  v.  17,  vi.  19),  which 
was  there  inherent  in  Him,  and  went  forth  from  Him,  bears  some 
analogy  with  that  in  human  nature  of  which  we  know  some 
little  under  the  name  of  magnetism,  as  exerted  through  the 
medium  of  a  special  bodily  relation :  and  this  is  confirmed  by 
further  analogies,  such  as  that  of  the  Apostle's  handkerchiefs  in 
Ephesus.  But  then  the  whole  narrative,  with  the  words  that 
pertain  to  it,  is  especially  recorded  in  such  a  manner  as  to  show 
us  the  difference  between  the  higher  and  the  lower,  between  the 
healing  and  living  power  of  the  Godman,  and  the  influence 
exerted  by  magnetising  physicists  and  physicians.  The  imme- 
diate discussion  of  this,  however,  belongs  not  to  this  place. 
But  thus  much,  the  Lord's  word  which  we  are  expounding 
testifies,  that  to  the  efficacious  influence  going  forth  from  Him 
which  heals  the  body,  there  must  correspond  a  bodily  virtue  in 
Himself,  which  might  be  imparted  through  the  hem  of  His  gar- 
ment :  but  that  this  did  not  occur  in  a  physical  way  without  or 
against  the  intervention  of  His  conscious  will.  And  it  is  just  to 
refute  this  very  error  of  the  woman  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  confirmed  and  propagated,  that  He  speaks  and  will  not  keep 
silence ;  and  that  He  is  constrained  in  all  kindness  to  abash  still 
more  the  ashamed  woman,  by  bringing  her  into  prominence. 
The  physical  virtue  which  passes  over  does  not  go  from  Him 
without  His  will :  that  will  is  always  disposed,  stands,  as  it  were, 
always  open  and  prepared  for  approaching  faith,  and  this  is  the 
reason  why  that  which  occurred  could  take  place.  Further,  not 
without  His  knowledge,  as  is  immediately  shown ;  the  touch 
which  derived  the  virtue  from  Him,  was  assuredly  unexpected, 
but  He  marks  it  immediately,  knowing  it  within  Himself,  rejoic- 
ing over  the  faith,  by  which  he  is  well  pleased  to  allow  Himself 
even  to  be  thus  touched.     We  can  only  apprehend  this  spiritual- 


MATTHEW  IX.  22.  407 

physical  virtue  through  taking  into  account  this  spiritual  rela- 
tion :  the  people  generally  throng  and  press  Him,  without  that 
relation,  but  the  timid  touch  which  scarcely  laid  hold  of  His  gar- 
ment brings  healing  to  the  sick  woman,  because  she  has  faith  to 
be  healed,  A  striking  figure  for  the  preacher,  often  used  to 
distinguish  the  crowds  from  the  little  few  around  Jesus  I1 

It  is  this  Faith  which  touched  His  person,  that  the  Lord 
makes  prominent  in  His  last  word,  discerning  what  was  directly 
needful  in  this  unexpected  occurrence.  We  find  it  only  in  St 
Matthew,  who  thus  in  his  brief  narrative  retains  the  essential 
point  of  the  whole,  namely,  the  contrast  of  our  Lord's  word  with 
the  woman's  thought  as  given  in  ver.  21.  That  there  was  a  cer- 
tain admixture  of  an  improper,  and  in  the  gentlest  sense,  super- 
stitious notion  in  this  thought,  is  proved  by  the  circumstance  that 
she  thought  she  might  steal  away  unobserved  and  unknown  with 
the  healing  she  had  secured.  There  was  something  in  her,  as 
Grotius  on  this  occasion  profoundly  remarks,  of  that  idea  of  the 
Philosophers,  Deum  agere  omnia  <f>vo-ei,  ov  ftovXrjaei,  and  this 
our  Lord  could  not  allow  to  pass  current,  lest  wide-spreading 
error  should  arise  from  it.  Thy  faith,  thy  touch  in  faith  hath 
saved  thee  {ceawKe  ere — as  she  had  said,  acodrjao/xai,  and  St 
Matt,  adds  eacaOrj),  not  merely  thy  touch  or  My  garment!2 
It  was  indeed,  with  all  its  lack  of  perception  or  acknowledgment, 
which  does  not  affect  the  matter,3  a  strong  faith  which  trusted 
that  the  hem  of  His  garment  could  do  more  to  heal  her  than  the 
instrumentality  of  all  physicians  of  whom  she  had  for  twelve 
years  suffered  many  things,  and  was  nothing  bettered,  but  rather 
grew  worse.  The  Lord  now  as  ever  praises  such  faith,  and  com- 
pensates her  for  all  the  pain  and  shame  which  His  testimony  for 

1  Augustine  :  Sic  etiam  nunc,  est  corpus  ejus,  id  est,  Ecclesia  ejus. 
Tangit  earn  fides  paucorum,  premit  turba  multorum. 

2  St  Matthew  does  not  most  assuredly  design  to  report,  in  contra- 
diction to  St  Luke,  that  now  first  at  this  word  the  woman  was  made 
whole.  This  is  that  reading  of  a  modern  exegesis  which  beforehand 
expected  its  contradiction. 

3  Alford  refers  very  beautifully  to  this  as  being  a  miracle  full  of  tho 
highest  encouragement  to  all  who  might  be  "  disposed  to  think  despond- 
ingly  of  the  ignorance  or  superstition  of  much  of  the  Christian  world — 
that  He  who  accepted  this  woman  for  her  faith  even  in  error  and  weak- 
ness, may  also  accept  them." 


408  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

truth  had  required  that  He  should  not  spare  her,  by  His  gracious 
ddpaei,  Ovyarep  (St  Matthew  retains  only  the  paternally  affec- 
tionate Ovyarep),  which  was  immediately  uttered  in  anticipation 
of  the  word  which  praised  instead  of  blamed  her  act.  Oh  how 
His  love  rejoices  over  such  faith,  in  whatsoever  form  He  finds  it : 
that  love  which  delights  to  give  to  all,  rather  than  to  receive  !  It 
is  his  continual  manner  to  ascribe  all  that  His  virtue  effects  to 
faith,  since  notwithstanding  His  StW/zt?  always  ready  in  Him- 
self, 7r/crTi?  is  yet  the  conditio  sine  qua  non  of  its  e^ekOeiv :  comp. 
Matt.  ix.  29,  viii.  13 ;  Lu.  vii.  50,  xvii.  19,  xviii.  42.  Thus 
does  He  speak  in  every  new  instance,  to  encourage  others  that 
they  also  believe,  as  well  as  to  confirm  those  who  have  already 
believed.  St  Mark  and  St  Luke  add  here  His  usual  Go  in 
peace ;  St  Mark  besides  this  gives  the  assurance,  so  welcome  to 
this  poor  woman,  that  the  instantaneous  cure  of  this  twelve 
years'  disease  should  retain  its  permanence  : — thou  hast  believed, 
go  in  the  peace  which  this  faith  brings,  which  hath  healed  thee ; 
and  be  for  ever  healed  of  thy  sad  and  long-suffered  plague  ! 


JAIRUS'  DAUGHTER. 

(Matt.ix.24;  Mar.v.36,39,41[43];  Lu.  viii.  50,  52,  54 [5 5, 56]). 

Be  not  afraid,  only  believe  !  once  more  the  same  gracious  invi- 
tation and  excitement  to  faith,  and  the  same  contrast  between 
faith  and  fear,  which  we  have  already  seen  in  Matt.  viii.  26. 
All  that  is  to  be  held  as  true  in  the  doctrine  of  "  faith  alone"  is 
represented  to  us  by  this  fiovov  in  the  region  of  external  things, 
which  the  Lord  Himself  everywhere  regards  and  exhibits  as 
similitudes  of  things  internal.  In  St  Luke  we  have  the  promise 
connected  with  the  iricrTeveiv  of  Jairus  for  his  daughter:  /cal 
(TcodTjaerai.  This  does  not  indicate  that  our  Lord  doubted  the 
correctness  of  the  subsequent  intelligence  that  the  daughter  was 
now  actually  dead,  as  the  ordinary  language  of  man  terms  dead, 
for  the  mother  especially  would  not  send  the  sad  intelligence 
prematurely  to  the  father  on  the  way.  If  Jesus  had  hoped  or 
certainly  knew,  as  His  word  afterwards,  even  before  He  saw  the 
particulars,  might  seem  to  say,  that  the  maid  was  not  dead,  He 


MATTHEW  IX.  24.  409 

must,  to  preserve  the  truth,  have  contradicted  the  intelligence  at 
once  before  the  people,  and  could  not  have  allowed  it  to  pass 
current,  as  He  nevertheless  did.  His  promise  does  not  fully  and 
openly  announce,  for  so  it  seemed  good  to  His  humility,  that  He 
would,  because  He  could,  make  her  live  again  :  but  under  this 
veil  of  generality  it  contained  such  an  intimation.  Fear  not — 
be  not  disconcerted  by  even  this  message  of  death :  let  what 
may  take  place  or  have  taken  place,  thou  hast  summoned  me  to 
be  thy  Helper,  and  I  will  assuredly  help.  Only  believe — tu  contra 
audentior  ito. 

That  the  man  had  from  the  beginning  been  aware  of  his 
daughter's  death,  and  had  attributed  to  Jesus  the  power  even  to 
awake  the  dead,  is  inconceivable  in  itself,  would  be  unexampled 
in  'the  whole  evangelical  history,  •  and  is  opposed  by  the  re- 
signation to  the  event  of  even  Martha  and  Mary  when  their 
brother  had  actually  died.  The  rapid  condensing  brevity  of  St 
Matthew  at  the  commencement  of  his  narrative  might  lead  the 
unwary  reader  to  think  so,  but  to  prevent  such  inconsiderate 
reading  we  find  the  contrary  expressed  both  in  this  and  the  other 
Evangelists.  St  Matthew  passes  over  the  intermediate  message, 
which  was  certainly  not  unknown  to  him,  and  in  his  brief  and 
comprehensive  reference  to  it  throics  back  upon  the  former  part 
of  the  transaction  the  impression  and  feeling  of  the  latter.  This  is 
his  manner :  his  first  Gospel  delivers  its  narrative  in  this  un- 
studied style,  because  he  can  presuppose  a  living  tradition  of 
the  more  minute  details  of  important  occurrences,  before  the 
subsequent  Evangelists  had  rendered  them  permanent.  But  with 
all  this  he  ever  writes  the  truth  :  for  strictly  considered,  the  dpri 
erekevTwo-ev1  means  no  more  in  the  father's  mouth  than  St  Mark's 
lo-^aTcw?  ex6h — sne  ^es  now  *n  *ne  ar^c^e  °f  death,  there  is  the 
most  critical  danger,  all  haste  is  needful,  probably  she  may  be, 
while  I  am  calling  Thee,  already  dead.  Nothing  else  h  obvi- 
ously meant — and  this  is  decisive — by  St  Luke's  aTredvrjarcev,  (as 
dTToOvrjaKeiv  is  elsewhere  the  beginning  of  dying,  the  danger  and 
anguish  of  death,  e.g.  2  Cor.  vi.  9),  from  which  he  himself  in 
ver.  49  distinguishes  the  reOvvicev.      Consequently  ^qcreTat  is  not 


1  Which  is  no  false  supposition  of  the  reporter,  as  Schleiermacher 
thinks. 


410  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

directly, — she  shall  again  return  to  life,  but,  she  shall  continue  to 
live,  survive  the  immediate  peril  of  death.  St  Mark  quite  cor- 
rectly :  07TO)?  acodrj,  teal  ^aerat. 

And  now  between  the  hope  and  fear  of  struggling  faith,  the 
Ruler's  mind  is  agitated  by  a  new  thought.  He  who  at  first 
pleaded  for  the  healing  of  his  "only  daughter  suspended  between 
life  and  death,  has  now  to  ask : — if  she  should  be  now  dead,  can 
the  Master's  helping  power  help  me  then  I  The  people,  whose 
excitement  had  been  increased  by  the  incident  on  the  way,  were 
now  intent  upon  something  marvellous  which  would  take  place 
in  the  Ruler's  house :  for  the  circumstance  which  had  at  first 
vibrated  in  uncertainty  between  life  and  death,  has  now  reached 
its  highest  interest  in  consequence  of  our  Lord's  word  of  encou- 
raging prornise  in  reply  to  the  message  of  death.  Common 
curiosity  now  rules  all,  even  to  the  extent  of  irreverent  pressing 
and  thronging.  Our  Lord  submitted  to  this  as  to  the  customary 
pressure  of  His  great  work,  yet  no  longer  than  to  the  door  of  the 
house.  Entering,  He  beholds  the  scene  which  Jewish  custom 
exhibited  in  bewailing  the  dead  ;  even  there  where  He  has  deter- 
mined in  the  power  of  the  Father  to  bestow  life.  What  is  more 
natural  than  the  first  cry  with  which  He  arrests  their  lamenta- 
tion :  give  place  I  Ye  weepers  are  not  wanted  yet !  Thus  we 
have  it  in  St  Matthew :  St  Luke,  on  the  other  hand,  expresses 
it,  weep  not;  and  St  Mark,  why  make  ye  this  ado  and  weep  ?  The 
sense  in  all  is  the  same  :  it  is  the  indication  of  absolute  assurance 
that  He  was  bringing  help,1  as  well  as  the  deprecation  of  all  that 
tumult  which  too  commonly  mingled  itself  with  lamentation  for 
the  dead,  as  unbefitting  the  dignity  of  His  own  person  and  of  the 
present  solemn  occasion.  And  then  He  adds — let  it  be  remem- 
bered, before  He  had  entered  in  and  seen  the  child — that  word 
of  wonder  which  all  the  three  Evangelists  have  retained  alike ; 
— for  the  maid  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth  ! 

This  is  so  definite  and  precise  that  one  might  at  first  under- 
stand it  in  the  letter,  and  yet  with  but  few  exceptions  the  whole 
church  has  understood  it  otherwise  :  rightly  indeed,  for  the 
whole  connexion  constrains  us  to  do  so.  It  is  wTell  knowrn  that 
it   was    the    caprice   of   the   late    Olshausen   to    maintain   the 

1  Bengel:  certus  ad  miraculum  accedit. 


MATTHEW  IX.  24.  411 

literal  interpretation,  from  which  many  of  his  friends  in  vain 
endeavoured  to  dissuade  him.1  To  what  St  Matthew  and  St 
Mark  briefly  intimate  : — and  they  laughed  him  to  scorn,  St 
Luke  adds  decisively,  etSoVe?  ore  drredavev,  and  in  the  clearest 
manner  records  afterwards,  teal  iiriarpeyjre  to  iruev/jba  avrr}<;, 
just  as  it  is  written  in  1  Kings  xvii.  22,  She  was  thus  cer- 
tainly dead,  though  the  Lord  speaks  concerning  her  as  con- 
cerning Lazarus,  (Jno.  xi.  y. — 15).  This  is  His  first  raising 
from  the  dead,  the  only  one  which  St  Matthew  records,  which  could 
not  have  been  wanting  in  his  Gospel  because  of  his  testimony  to 
the  Lord's  saying  in  ch.  xi.  5.2  Three  awakenings  from  death 
the  Spirit  has  caused  to  be  recorded  for  us,  although  others  may 
well  have  taken  place ;  and  these  indeed  in  a  remarkable  and 
significant  progression,  which  is  in  itself  a  corroborative  testi- 
mony for  this  first : — the  maiden  is  here  dead  upon  her  bed,  the 
young  man  at  Nain  was  carried  forth  upon  his  bier,  Lazarus  had 
lain  four  days  in  his  grave. 

But  why  did  the  Lord  speak  thus  ?  His  word  has  a  sublime 
universal  meaning  as  it  regards  all  who  are  by  us  termed  tC  the 
dead"  generally,  and  specifically  with  atwofold  design  as  it  regards 
His  then  present  hearers.  To  the  tumultuous  people  without,  it 
.is  veiled  and  repulsive,  the  opposite  of  that  lofty  language  which 
would  not  have  suited  His  lowliness,  such  as — even  if  they  were 
dead,  I  nevertheless  can,  and  will  raise  her  up  !  But  to  the 
desponding,  wrestling  father  it  would  be  no  other  than  a  repeti- 
tion of — Be  not  afraid,  only  believe  !      Therefore  He  rejects  the 

1  Hase  indeed  in  his  Leben  Jesu  calls  the  maid  ''the  sleeper!" 
Braune  also,  unhappily,  will  unconditionally  contend  that  the  Lord 
literally  said  and  meant : — she  is  not  dead.  Even  Neander,  although 
"all  the  circumstances  make  it  probable  to  him  that  it  was  but 
the  condition  of  a  trance,"  yet  concludes  that  the  Lord  (who  does 
not  know  or  observe  that  ?)  spoke  with  reference  to  the  result  of  the 
awakening  rather  than  to  death.  Lange,  on  the  contrary,  rightly 
maintains  that  the  decisive  account  of  St  Luke  that  she  was  dead,  is 
the  only  supposition  on  which  the  conduct  of  Jesus  can  be  understood 
— quite  truly !  If  it  must  be  taken  literally,  it  would  be  sleep  merely, 
and  not  trance.  Even  von  Oerlach  acknowledges  that  St  Luke  gives 
it  as  his  view  that  she  was  dead — but  such  a  view  of  the  Evangelist 
ice  hold  for  undoubted  testimony. 

2  Which  we  find  in  St  Luke  had  been  just  preceded  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  young  man  at  Nain. 


412  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

word  of  fear  and  dismay — she  is  dead  !  and  substitutes  another 
which  promises  to  faith  a  re-awakening — she  sleepeth  !  One  whom 
it  is  His  will  to  awake  immediately  as  in  this  instance,  sleeps 
indeed  only  in  a  short  sleep  of  death.  Even  we  have  no  other 
way  of  speaking  of  it  than  to  call  it  a  re-awakening,  and  conse- 
quently thereby  confirm  the  right  of  Him  who  re-awakens,  to 
speak  of  it  as  a  sleep.  But  the  Lord  does  not  speak  now  with 
reference  only  to  the  present  occasiqn.  At  this  first  Resurrection 
which  the  Father  gave  Him,  there  rises  to  His  soul,  in  one  great 
comprehensive  view,  the  death  and  resurrection  of  all  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  and  He  speaks  in  language  of  sublime  and  majestic 
superiority  over  the  narrow  thoughts  and  limited  lamentations  of 
mortal  mind.  He  speaks  with  the  deep  meaning  of  His  subse- 
quent word,  in  which  he  says  concerning  the  God  of  the  living 
that  all  live  to  Him.  (Lu.  xx.  38).  Bodily  death  is  not  essentially 
death :  we  know  how  the  Lord  elsewhere  speaks  of  death  and 
destruction,  and  may  appropriately  call  to  mind  His  words  con- 
cerning the  dead  to  be  buried,  in  Matt.  viii.  22.  This  the  poor 
people  understand  not  now,  and  they  show  how  un sympathizing 
their  lamentation  had  in  reality  been,  how  untouched  their  hearts 
by  passing  at  a  bound  from  weeping  to  laughter,  only  seizing  the 
manifest  contradiction  between  His  assurance  and  what  they 
knew  to  be  true.  But  the  father,  prepared  beforehand  for  faith, 
may  well  in  a  certain  sense  have  felt  the  meaning  of  the  dis- 
guised words,  as  if  the  Lord  had  openly  said: — I  will  raise  her  up, 
as  one  that  sleeps,  so  that  she,  notwithstanding  all,  is  not  dead ! 
The  curious  and  the  laughers  must  all  be  put  out.  The  three 
alone,  whom  the  Lord  now  for  the  first  time  makes  prominent 
among  the  Twelve,  with  the  father  and  mother  who  will  receive 
from  His  grace  their  daughter  again,  may  be  witnesses  of  the 
deed  which  was  not  to  be  performed  for  idle  wonder.  Not  as 
Elijah  and  Elisha  in  old  time  enforced  his  prey  from  death  with 
effort  of  body  and  spirit,  does  the  Lord  awaken  this  dead  one  : 
He  utters  the  same  simple  word,  in  His  immediate  personal 
authority,  with  which  He  heals  the  sick ;  and  takes  her  by  the 
hand  (Matt.  viii.  15)  to  wake  her  up,  as  one  would  take  a  sleep- 
ing child.  He  addresses  the  dead  as  already  living,  so  that  they 
must  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  Man  (Jno.  v.  25,  28) ;  and 
utters,  with  perfect  confidence  in  the  Father  who  hath  given  Him 


MATTHEW  IX.  24.  413 

this  power,  that  incomparably  sublime  cry,  which  veils  the  loftiest 
dignity  in  the  most  tender  affection,  Talitha  cumi !  St  Mark, 
probably  from  St  Peter's  communication,  preserves  to  us  this 
most  distinctive  utterance  of  the  resurrection-word  from  the  all- 
holy  lips,  which  recurs  once  more  with  the  same  simplicity — 
Young  man,  I  say  unto  thee,  arise  !  (Lu.  vii.  14)  :  and  finally  in 
the  last,  Lazarus,  come  forth!  (J no.  xi.  43).  St  Mark  thus 
also  teaches  us,  as  by  the  "  Ephphatha,"  ch.  vii.  34,  that  in  the 
ordinary  intercourse  of  life  our  Lord  spoke  the  language  of  the 
country :  although  this  does  not  decide  the  question  as  to  the 
language  of  the  many  longer  discourses  which  were  uttered  before 
companies  composed  of  learned  and  unlearned,  Jews  mixed  with 
Gentiles.  But  the  Evangelist  does  not  translate  it  in  its  bare 
literality,  but  adds,  in  order  to  indicate  the  emphasis  of  the  in- 
vocation and  its  authority  abi  Xeyco  :  whence  we  learn  further, 
how  the  translation  of  our  Lord's  words  in  the  Spirit  of  their 
letter,  was  intended  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  two  other  Evangelists  report  two  further  expressions;  yet 
only  in  indirect  citation,  as  if  with  the  exquisite  feeling  that  no 
other  and  lesser  word  should  follow  upon  the  great  eyeipe.  The 
command  to  give  meat'  to  the  awakened  one,  is  not  so  much  a 
confirming  assurance  that  she  now  truly  lived  and  was  quite 
restored  (although  that  might  be  necessary  for  the  astonished 
people  who  were  unable  to  realize  it  at  all),  as,  if  we  mistake 
not,  an  indication  of  an  affectionate  care,  which,  even  in  the 
midst  of  the  greatest  things  forgets  not  the  least,  and  which 
would  provide  for  the  necessities  of  the  exhausted  child  on  her 
return  to  life.  This  word  springs  from  the  same  amiable  regard 
to  this  child  which  dictated  the  affectionate  Talitha.  He  has 
given  back  life  and  health,  and  thus  imparted  help  beyond  the 
father's  prayer  or  thought.  But  at  this  period  He  restrains  that 
miracle-working  power ;  it  had  restored  a  life  physically  healthy, 
of  which  the  surest  mark  was  the  ordinary  ability  to  eat  and 
drink ;  and  He  now  points  them  to  the  restored  functions  and 
ordinances  of  nature.  He  might,  indeed,  have  awakened  her  as 
already  nourished ;  but  that  would  have  gone,  as  we  feel,  beyond 
that  fitness  and  propriety  with  which  the  miraculous  energy  of 
Jesus  ever  adjusted  itself  to  the  circle  of  earthly  life. — The 
second  expression  is  that  well-known  prohibition  with  which  He 


414  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

interdicts  the  publication  of  what  had  taken  place,  and  thus 
would  prevent,  as  far  as  in  Him  lay,  all  mere  vain-glorious 
rumour  ;  yet  the  fame  thereof  went  abroad  through  all  that 
land  : — He  has  made  even  the  dead  to  rise  !  Had  this,  indeed, 
not  been  the  fact,  He  would  not  only  have  repeated  his  former  ovtc 
aireOavev  more  distinctly  to  prevent  error,  but  instead  of  the 
mere  prohibition  to  tell  tovto,  to  76701/0?,  He  would  have  given 
a  full  explanation  of  what  had  been  done,  and  what  had  not. 

She  who  touched  in  secret  was  constrained  to  avow  it  openly  : 
he  who  publicly  asked  his  request,  is  led  into  secret  and  exhorted 
to  stillness.  Let  this  be  pondered  well,  that  we  may  understand 
our  Lord's  meaning  in  all  His  wise  and  symbolical  discourses 
and  deeds. 


THE  TWO  BLIND  MEN. 

(Matt.  ix.  28—30.) 

Through  all  the  manifold  variety  of  the  ten  miracles  of  heal- 
ing which  St  Matthew,  placing  among  them  the  raising  of  the 
dead  and  the  stilling  of  the  sea,  relates  in  these  two  chapters, — as 
examples  of  what  is  generally  stated  in  ver.  35,  recurring  to  ch. 
iv.  23, — there  runs  one  idea,  which  our  Lord  three  times  dis- 
tincly  announces,  and  the  Evangelist  (ch.  ix.  2)  once  more 
testifies ;  viz.,  that  Faith  is  the  great  essential,  and  that  the  Lord, 
in  the  exhibition  of  His  power,  causes  it  to  be  done  to  his  peti- 
tioners "  according  to  their  faith."  The  word  to  the  two  blind 
men  is  the  same  as  that  to  the  centurion ;  it  was  His  chosen  and 
loved  expression — how  often  afterwards  uttered  by  Him  !  We 
observe,  however,  here  already  in  this  extract  of  the  history  of 
the  first  period  of  our  Lord's  public  life,  the  point  of  transition, 
by  which  He  passes  from  instantaneous  fulfilment  of  the  desire, 
to  the  keeping  of  his  petitioners  waiting,  in  order  to  the  trial  and 
exercise  of  their  faith.  The  foundation  of  this  is,  in  general,  that 
the  Lord  cared  not  so  much  for  the  acts  themselves,  as  for  the 
faith,  which  should  afterwards  seek  and  find  spiritual  help.  .  In 
this  particular  case  it  must  be  added,  that  our  Lord  is  fully 
aware  of  the  increasing  enmity  of  the  embittered  Pharisees  (ver. 


MATTHEW  IX.  28 — 30.  415 

34),  which  keeps  pace  with  the  progress  of  His  miracles,  and 
therefore  does  not  instantly  respond  to  the  cry  of  "Son  of  David" 
with  which  these  two  blind  most  movingly  address  Him,  as  if  He 
would  at  once  hasten  to  acknowledge  such  a  title.  He  kept  them 
waiting,  till  they  came  to  the  house.  And  now  the  question  does 
not  run,  Believe  ye,  then,  that  I  am  the  Son  of  David  ?  but,  that 
I  am  able  to  do  this,  that  is,  what  you  signify  by  your  iXirjaov 
?7yua9,  open  your  eyes  ?  Believe  ye  this  firmly  and  faithfully,  is 
it  in  this  faith  that  you  have  persevered  in  following  and  in  cry- 
ing ?  Oh  how  his  heart  is  rejoiced  by  the  firm  Yea,- Lord,  which 
they  reply !  According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you !  It  is  not 
co-operation  that  the  Lord  requires,  so  much  as  an  acknowledg- 
ment and  acceptance  in  accordance  with  His  power.  Everywhere 
beholding  in  the  external  its  internal  significance^  our  Lord  can 
never  too  often,  or  too  decisively  bear  witness  for  posterity  that 
this  is  what  is  distinctively  necessary. 

The  prohibition  finally — see  that  no  man  know  it  (as.  in  ch. 
viii.  4,  at  the  beginning) — has  on  this  occasion,  for  the  reason 
above  mentioned,  a  yet  deeper  emphasis  than  before.  St 
Matthew  designedly  says  here  first  ive^pLfjurjaaro  avrois  (as 
before  in  Mar.  i.  43  in  the  case  of  the  leper — with  another 
meaning,  Mar.  xiv.  5;  Jno.  xi.  33)  which  certainly  indicates 
human  emotion.  Suidas  explains  ifju/SpLfiaadat,  by  fjuera  cnreCkr}? 
ivriWecrOai,  per  dva-Tvpornro^  eV tr i/jlclv.  Here  there  is  mixed 
with  the  affectionate  kindness  which  can  never  deny  itself  to 
faith,  the  vibration  of  that  feeling  still,  which  had  made  the  cry- 
ing in  the  street  (Matt.  xii.  19)  so  displeasing  to  Him :  but  this 
again  had  its  prudent  reason  in  that  wise  penetration  of  all  rela- 
tions, which  constrained  Him  thus  to  throw  a  guard  around  His 
actions.  If  the  Lord  had  never  again  thus  forbidden  and 
threatened,  how  would  the  perpetual  concourse  of  all  the  sick 
have  overburdened  Him,  so  that  neither  time  nor  strength  would 
have  been  left  to  Him  for  preaching  the  Gospel  (Lu.  iv.  43),  and 
the  contradiction  of  the  crucifiers  to  the  people's  hosannas  would 
have  broken  out  before  the  time. 


416  THE  GOSPEL  OE  ST  MATTHEW. 


THE  MISERABLE  SHEEP  AND  THE  GREAT  HARYEST.  , 

(Matt.  ix.  36,  38  ;  [Mark  vi.  34;  Luke  x.  2]). 

A  new  scene  is  now  in  preparation — the  first  mission  of  the 
chosen  heralds  of  the  kingdom  ;  now  in  the  first  place  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  but  foreshadowing  in  this  beginning 
the  future  ambassage  to  the  whole  world.  St  Matthew  introduces 
it  by  our  Lord's  discourse  concerning  the  labourers  for  the  great 
harvest,  spoken  actually  at  this  time  and  afterwards  repeated  by 
St  Luke  on  the  sending  forth  of  the  Seventy.  But  he  previously 
mentions  (ver.  36)  the  Lord's  compassion  for  the  people,  and 
gives  us  in  connexion  with  it  what  we  can  scarcely  consider  his 
own  reflexion,  but  (as  in  ch.  vii.  29)  an  indirect  citation  of  the 
words  in  which  that  compassion  may  have  been  uttered.  The 
IBcov  Be  Tou?  oxkovs  is  immediately  dependent  on  ver.  35,  so  that 
Hess  seizes  it  rightly,  "  wherever  He  saw  a  crowd  of  Israelites  " 
He  manifested  His  pity  over  and  over  again,  in  these  or  similar 
words.  (Hence  in  St  Mark  vi.  34,  we  have  the  same  on  another 
occasion).  See  Matt.  x.  6  presently  after,  and  again  somewhat 
later  xv.  24.  Yet  may  it  well  be,  that  just  at  this  time  and  to 
be  inserted  immediately  before  ver.  37,  the  Lord  uttered  these 
very  words. 

For  the  rest,  the  expression  is  evidently  taken  from  the  pro- 
phetic Scripture  ;  for  from  the  prayer  of  Moses  before  the  Lord 
in  Numb,  xxvii.  17  downwards,  we  find  this  very  natural  image 
(by  which  in  heathen  antiquity  also,  the  people  are  called  flocks 
and  kings  their  shepherds)  occurring  in  proverbial  use  through 
the  entire  Old  Testament.  As,  for  instance,  in  this  its  more 
obvious  sense  the  Prophet  Michaiah  uses  it,  when  prophesying 
the  death  of  the  king  (1  Kin.  xxii.  17).  Then  do  the  Prophets 
use  it  with  a  deeper  meaning  in  reference  to  the  spiritual  shep- 
herds ;  and,  condemning  and  mourning  over  these  shepherds, 
describe  in  the  same  terms  the  poor  neglected  people  :  as  in  Jer.  1. 
6  ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  5,  6  ;  Zech.  x.  2, 3  But  its  inmost  significance  is 
seen  most  clearly  in  that  leading  text  Isa.  liii.  6,  where  wandering 


MATTHEW  IX.  36 — 38.  417 

sheep  are  used  as  a  type  of  the  state  of  sinners  generally  :  not 
without  intimation  of  their  own  fault  (compare  ch.  lvi.  11),  but 
with  the  compassionating  reference  to  their  misery  predominant, 
as  it  is  here.  The  two  expressions  in  St  Matthew  view  the  piti- 
able condition  of  this  shepherdless  flock  under  two  aspects :  in 
themselves  and  as  individuals  the  sheep  faint,  but  regarded  as  a 
flock  that  should  be  united  in  one,  they  are  scattered  abroad.  The 
true  reading  is  ia/cvk/jLevoi  from  ctkvWco  originally  to  rend,  lace- 
rate, thence  to  harass,  exhaust,  and  (especially  in  long  journey- 
ing) to  tire  out,  as  it  recurs  in  a  milder  sense  Mar.  v.  35 ;  Luke 
viii.  49,  vii.  6.  Here  it  is  stronger — sunk  on  the  road,  driven 
about  without    pasture;    compare   Zech.   x.   2  *ftyv  xi.  9 — 16 

mra  and  mnEft* Joel  *•  is,  nv^n  pn«   ^n  tne  otner  nand 

ippL/jb/jbevoc  is  not  merely  cast  away  (as  if  a  mere  gradation  upon 
the  former)  but  scattered  one  from  the  other  here  and  there, 
wandering  sheep,  a  flock  no  more  :  compare  yy$}  Zech.  x.  2, 

^yn  *sa-  nn-  &      n^SflSni  Ezek.  xxxiv.  5,  Q^r£  1  Kings 

.  T  t    ••         :  -  : 

xxii.  17.  Without  unity  and  connection,  like  the  then  Israel 
split  into  sects,  their  fellowship  in  the  way  of  God  dissolved. 
One  by  one  overdriven,  as  a  whole  scattered  abroad  ! 

For  they  have  no  shepherds  !  With  such  compassion  does  He 
behold  them  who  Himself  is  come,  their  true  and  rightful  shepherd, 
to  revive  them  again,  and  bring  them  back  to  the  fold :  thus 
deeply  is  He  afflicted  for  the  "  poor,  misled  people"  whose  guilt 
He  merges  in  their  misery,  imputing  that  guilt  all  the  more 
severely  to  those  who  had  been  instead  of  their  shepherds  their 
deceivers.  Oh  how  His  heart  yearns  to  heal  and  to  help !  But 
how  ?  It  were  a  light  thing  for  Him  who  gave  back  health  to 
the  sick  and  even  life  to  the  dead,  to  bestow  upon  His  people  all 
needful  earthly  good,  and  defend  them  from  all  external  evil ;  but 
all  this  would  have  been  unavailing,  and  have  rather  aggravated 
than  lessened  their  wretchedness !  Quite  different  is  the  view 
which  His  word  discloses  to  the  disciples.  The  healing  of  their 
hurt  must  be  a  long  process  of  labour  upon  their  souls,  and  to  be 
effected  again  by  the  instrumentality  of  man.  But  the  discourse 
glides  into  another  figure : — the  invigoration  and  gathering  to- 
gether of  the  poor  sheep  into  the  one  fold  of  God,  reappears  under 

27 


418  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  notion  of  a  seed-time  and  harvest.  The  Lord  indeed  men- 
tions, definitively,  only  the  harvest ;  hence  many,  comparing  Jno. 
iv.  35 — 38,  apprehend  here  an  antithesis  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  economies,  according  to  which  they  are  related  as  seed- 
time and  harvest.  In  that  passage,  however,  when  narrowly 
investigated,  there  is  no  such  meaning  to  be  found,  for  in  vers. 
37,  38  the  Lord  places  Himself,  the  only  and  pre-eminent  sower, 
in  opposition  to  His  Apostles  who  should  only  labour  upon  tfre 
produce  of  His  previous  sowing.  Such  a  notion  is  especially 
unsuitable  to  our  context,  inasmuch  as  the  allusion  of  these  words 
is  not  to  any  preparation  already  found,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to 
a  condition  of  absolute  neglect.  We  have  only,  then,  to  under- 
stand the  expression  according  to  the  analogy  of  the  subsequent 
parables.  Assuredly  must  the  seed  of  the  word  of  the  kingdom 
be  first  scattered  by  the  Son  of  Man  and  His  succeeding  sowers : 
but  this  entire  divine  husbandry  upon  and  among  the  men  whom 
He  will  prepare  and  gather  to  Himself,  is  here  embraced  under 
this  one  name  of  harvest,  as  regarded  from  its  final  consumma- 
tion. This  is  at  once  a  consolatory  and  a  mournful  view,  inas- 
much as  it  is  thus  emphatically  suggested,  how  much  labour  will 
be  needed  before  so  wide  and  desert  a  field  can  be  transformed 
into  the  harvest  of  God :  and  yet  that  waste  as  it  is,  it  is  the 
Lord's  and  decreed  to  be  His  harvest-field,  even  as  the  wandering 
sheep  are  still  His  flock  !  The  labourers  are  thus  regarded  not 
as  at  once  reapers,  who  would  only  have  to  bind  up  the  sheaves 
(which  misunderstanding  can  only  derange  the  general  sense  of 
the  allusion)  ;  but  their  office  and  work  embraces  generally  the 
preparation  of  the  future  harvest  from  the  very  beginning. 

The  harvest  is  great  or  -plentiful !  The  Lord's  immediate  re- 
ference is  only  to  the  people  and  land  of  Israel,  whose  numerous 
and  crowded  towns  the  apostles,  as  is  intimated  ch.  x.  23,  would 
not  very  soon  have  gone  over.  He  thought  of  many  among  the 
mass  of  the  people  who,  susceptible  of  faith,  should  be  called  and 
made  meet,  even  as  He  afterwards  saw  beforehand  His  much 
people  in  Corinth,  (Acts  xviii.  10).  The  labourers — genuine,  and 
worthily  so  called,  are  few,  however  many  bear  the  name !  But 
although  the  Lord  had  Israel  especially  in  view,  it  is  nevertheless 
impossible  to  admit  that  the  thoughts  of  His  heart  in  such  a  dis- 


MATTHEW  IX.  36 — 38.  419 

course  did  not  stretch  further,  and  that  there  did  not  mingle  with 
them  anticipations  of  that  great  harvest  of  God  which  should  ex- 
tend over  all  the  earth ;  and  this  is  our  warranty  for  taking  this 
word  of  His  mouth,  which  brings  before  the  contemplation  of 
every  age  the  times  then  extant,  as  the  text,  also,  of  our  own  world- 
embracing  missions.  Is  then  the  labour  needed  in  order  to  the 
harvest,  in  one  people,  the  neglected  people  of  God,  so  great,  how 
great  will  it  be  when  extended  over  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ! 
Who  is  the  Lord  of  this  harvest  ?  Jesus,  in  His  meekness, 
speaks  of  the  Father  as  such  :  but  we  also  understood  it  also  of 
Himself,  the  Son,  to  whom  already  the  Forerunner  had  assigned 
the  thrashing-floor  and  the  wheat  as  His.  Even  as  He  Himself 
then  forthwith  sends  forth  the  labourers,  those  who  were  called  to 
be  fishers  of  men. 

A  special  emphasis  has  been  traced  in  i/cfiakr) :  that  He  would 
send  them  forth  with  vehement  impulse  of  His  spirit,  as  zealous 
labourers ;  just  as  according  to  Mark  i.  12,  the  spirit  i/cftdXkei 
the  Lord  into  the  wilderness.  But  this  word,  which  we  find 
presently  in  Matt.  x.  1,  and  often  afterwards  down  to  Jno.  xii. 
32,  applied  to  the  casting  out  of  devils,  and  then  in  other  places 
of  other  forcible  sending  out  (as  Matt.  ix.  25  ;  Luke  iv.  29),  has 
yet  in  all  other  passages  quite  lost  this  accessory  meaning.1  Con- 
sult Matt.  xii.  35,  and  more  especially  Jno.  x.  4,  concerning  the 
leading  out  of  the  sheep.  We  must  regard  it  here  as  nearly 
equivalent  to  airoarriKkeiv,  ch.  x.  5,  only  that  here  there  may  be 
a  superadded  meaning  in  the  eV,  in  harmony  with  the  connexion 
of  the  whole  train  of  thought,  such  as — send  out,  from  rest  and 
comfort  into  the  heat  and  toil  of  labour,  for  the  performance  of 
which  none  but  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  can  give  commission  and 
power.2     They  labour  not,  in  effect,  whom  He  sends  not. 

But  the  weightiest  element  in  our  Lord's  saying,  the  solemn 
key-note,  the  clear  tone  of  which  we  would  hear  ringing  at  the 

1  Its  use  in  the  Sept.  for  n*?#  in  the  01d  Test*  is  at  least  doubt" 
nil :— e.  g.  it  may  have,  as  in  Ex.  xii.  33,  the  sense  of  "  release  and  let 
go,"  or  that  of  actual  driving  out  as  in  Ps.  xliv.  3. 

2  Not,  however,  on  that  account  to  emphasize  fiaWeiv  : — to  urge,  to 
drive  out— as  recently  Father  Zeller  (Beugg.  Monatsbl.  1851,  Nr.  S) 
has  explained  it. 


420  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

close,  is  the  challenge  to  the  disciples — Pray  ye  the  Lord  !  all  the 
more  emphatic,  as  this  very  Lord  Himself  it  is  who  announces 
that  He  will  be  prayed  unto,  and  that  He  waits  for  their  prayer 
in  order  that  He  may  send.  By  such  words  of  the  Scripture  is 
our  weak  thought  ever  anew  confounded,  while  it  is  constrained 
to  submit  to  the  thousand-fold  attested,  but  inscrutably  mar- 
vellous mystery  of  the  power  of  human  prayer  as  a  condition. 
That  the  saving  of  the  lost  sheep,  the  preparation  of  the  great 
harvest,  should  be  effected  by  the  instrumentality  of  mortal  men, 
we  have  before  understood:  but  that  the  sending  of  such  labourers, 
again,  should  be  suspended  on  man's  prayer ;  consequently,  that 
the  all-merciful  God  should  permit  the  salvation  of  the  world,  and 
the  gradual  furtherance  of  His  kingdom,  to  be  dependent  upon 
that  compassion  in  men  which  having  been  by  Him  first  excited, 
urges  them  to  pray  and  long  for  His  own  compassion ; — must 
ever  remain  a  wonderful  and  impenetrable  mystery.  It  is  so, — 
Scripture  and  experience  attest  it :  What  remains  for  us,  then, 
but  to  comply  with  His  command,  and  pray  for  ourselves  and 
the  whole  world  around  us  f 

Certainly  the  disciples  would  not,  nor  could  they,  at  that  time, 
understand  the  Lord  as  saying — ask  of  Me,  that  I  may  raise  up 
for  the  wretched  people  true  pastors  and  preachers,  who  may 
gather  out  of  them  a  people  for  God  !  He  directed  their  thoughts 
by  Ser/drjTe,  which  is  obviously  an  expression  of  the  highest 
prayer,  to  the  fountain  of  love  on  high,  to  the  God  of  Israel  whose 
will  it  is  not  that  His  poor  people  should  be  left  in  their  lost 
estate,  who  regards  the  scattered  sheep  as  still  His  flock,  and  the 
field  now  waste  as  yet  hereafter  to  be  His  harvest-field.  Do  ye 
not  also  take  compassion  upon  the  people  ?  Pray  then  the  Father, 
with  me,  that  He  send  forth  labourers !  Whence  it  is  neces- 
sarily inferred,  that  whosoever  thus  prays  offers  himself,  if  it  is 
possible,  to  labour  too.  So  that  it  is — Will  ye,  my  disciples,  not 
lend  your  aid,  when  so  much  is  to  be  done  ?  Thus  He  reminds 
them  of  their  calling  to  the  Apostleship,  which  had  been  certified 
to  them  already  before  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  And  thus 
He  prepares  them  for  the  mission  which  immediately  after  fol- 
lowed, when  He  suddenly,  and  in  a  way  which  even  this  prepara- 
tion had  not  led  them  to  expect,  declared  Himself  to  be  the 


MATTHEW  IX.  36—38.  421 

Hearer  by  anticipation  of  the  prayer  which  He  had  just  pre- 
scribed, and  in  the  Father's  name  the  Lord  also  of  the  harvest, 
whose  prerogative  and  whose  will  it  is  to  send.  He  now  first 
begins  their  mission,  certainly,  according  to  the  common  accepta- 
tion, as  a  discipline,  preparation,  and  trial  for  themselves  and  their 
future  Apostleship:  but  that  there  was  blended  with  this  an 
earnest  zeal  for  the  miserable  people,  yea,  that  regard  for  them 
was  the  main  impulse  of  this  mission,  the  Lord's  own  preface  to 
it  clearly  assures  us. 


END  OF  VOL.  I, 


THE 


WORDS  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS. 


RUDOLF    STIER, 

DOCTOR  OF  THEOLOGY,  CHIEF  PASTOR  AND  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHKEUDITZ. 


VOLUME   SECOND. 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  SECOND  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED 
GERMAN  EDITION. 

BY  THE 

REV.  WILLIAM  B.  POPE, 

LONDON, 


NEW  EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
SMITH,    ENGLISH,    AND   CO. 

NEW  YORK:  SHELDON  &  CO.'  BOSTON:  GOULD  &  LINCOLN. 


MD  CCCLIX. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOLUME  SECOND. 


Page 
Mission  of  the  Twelve,  Matt.  x.  5 — 42  ;  Mark  vi.  8 — 11 ;  Luke  ix.  3—5,  1 

The  Reply  and  Discourse  concerning  John's  Imprisonment,  Matt.  xi.  4 — 30 ; 

Luke  vii.  22—35  (xvi.  16,  x.  13—22),  .  .  .  .59 

The  Disciples  pluck  Corn  on  the  Sabbath.     The  Son  of  Man  Lord  of  the 

Sabbath,  Matt.  xii.  3—8  ;  Mark  ii.  23—28  ;  Luke  vi.  3—5,  .       125 

The  Withered  Hand.     Is  it  lawful  to  do  good  or  to  do  evil  on  the  Sabbath  ? 

Matt.  xii.  11— 13;  Mark  iii.  3— 5;  Luke  vi.  8— 10,  .  .       137 

Beelzebub.     Christ  defends  himself  against  the  charge  of  being  in  fellowship 

with  Satan,  Matt.  xii.  25—45 ;  Mark  iii.  23—29 ;  Luke  xi.  17—36,         140 
Christ's  Mother  and  Brethren,  Matt.  xii.  48 — 50 ;  Mark  iii.  33 — 35 ;  Luke 

viii.  21,  ........       189 

The  Seven  Parables,  Matt.  xiii.  .  .  .  .  .  193 

Wherefore  in  Parables  ?  Matt.  xiii.  11—17  ;  Mark  iv.  11,  12,  21—25  ;  Luke 

viii.  10,  16—18,  .......       201 

The  Seed  in  the  different  kinds  of  Ground,  Matt.  xiii.  3 — 9, 18 — 23  ;  Mark  iv. 

3— 9,  13— 20;  Luke  viii.  5— 8,  11— 15,  .  .  .  .213 

Wheat  and  Tares,  Matt.  xiii.  24—30,  37—43,  ...  229 

The  Mustard  Seed,  Matt.  xiii.  31—33;  Mark  iv.  30—32  ;  Luke  xiii.  18—21,  248 
The  Treasure  in  the  Field.     Pearl  and  Net,  Matt.  xiii.  44—50,  .  258 

The  Treasure  of  the  Householder,  Matt.  xiii.  51,  52,  .  .  .267 

The  Feeding  of  the  Five  Thousand,  Matt.  xiv.  16—19 ;  Mark  vi.  31,  37—41 ; 

Luke  ix.  13—16 ;  John  vi.  5,  10—12,       ....  270 

Christ  Walking  on  the  Sea,  Matt.  xiv.  27,  29,  31 ;  Mark  vi.  50 ;  John  vi.  20,  277 
The  Commandment  of  God  and  the  Statutes  of  Men.     What  defileth  a  Man, 

Matt.  xv.  3—20 ;  Mark  vii.  6— 23,      .  .  .  .  .283 

The  Canaanitish  Woman,  Matt.  xv.  24,  26,  28  ;  Mark  vii.  27,  29,        .  303 

The  Feeding  of  the  Four  Thousand,  Matt.  xv.  32,  34 ;  Mark  viii.  2,  3,  5,  31 1 
Reference  to  the  Signs  of  the  Times,  Matt.  xvi.  2 — 4 ;  Mark  viii.  12,  .  315 
Beware  of  the  Leaven  !  Matt.  xvi.  6,  8,  11 ;  Mark  viii.  15,  17—21,      .  321 

Confession  of  Peter.    Christ's  First  Announcement  of  his  Sufferings.    Taking 

up  the  Cross  and  following  Christ,  Matt.  xvi.  13 — 28  ;  Mark  viii.  27 — 

ix.  1 ;  Luke  ix.,  18—27,  .  .  .  .  .  .328 

The  Transfiguration.     The  future  Elias,  Matt.  xvii.  7,  9,  11,  12  ;  Mark  ix. 

9,  12,  13,    .  .  .  .  ,  .  .  .  361 

The  Lunatic ;  the  Unbelieving  and  Perverse  Generation,  Matt.  xvii.  17 — 21 ; 

Mark  ix.  16,  19,  21— 29;  Luke  ix.  41,  .  .  .  .372 

Second  Announcement  of  Sufferings,  Matt.  xvii.  22,  23  ;  Mark  ix.  31 ;  Luke 

ix.  44,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  384 

The  Tribute  Penny  and  Stater,  Matt.  xvii.  25—27,  .       •     .  .386 

The  True  Greatness  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ.    The  Power  of  the  Church  to 

bind  and  to  loose,  Matt,  xviii.  3 — 20 ;  Mark  ix.  33 — 50 ;    Luke  ix. 

48—50,       ........  392 

The  Wicked  Servant,  Matt,  xviii.  22—35 ;  Luke  xvii.  3,  4,  .  .      429 


HARMONY 


Matt.    .  5 — 42, 

Page 

.      28 

Maek  iv.  30 — 32,  . 

248 

»» 

xi.  4— 30,    .        .      ' 

59 

>> 

vi.  8—11, 

1 

;» 

xii.  3—8, 

.    125 

w 

vi.  31,  37—41,      . 

270 

5? 

xii.  11—13, 

137 

J5 

vi.  50,      . 

.     277 

J? 

xii.  25—45,     . 

.     140 

»» 

vii.  6—23,    . 

283 

?» 

xii.  48—50, 

189 

» 

vii.  27,  29, 

.    303 

)» 

xiii. 

.     193 

»> 

viii.  2,  3,  5, 

311 

J» 

xiii.  11—17, 

201 

»> 

viii.  12,  . 

.     315 

»5 

xiii.  3  to  9,  18—23, 

.     213 

»? 

viii.  15,  17—21, 

321 

» 

xiii.  24—30,  37—43, 

229 

„ 

viii.  27 — ix.  1, 

.    328 

» 

xiii.  31—33,    . 

.    248 

)? 

ix.  9,  12,  13, 

361 

1» 

xiii.  44 — 50, 

258 

»J 

ix.  16,  19,  21,  29,     . 

.     372 

»J 

xiii.  51,  52,     . 

.     267 

?» 

ix.  31, 

384 

»J 

xiv.  16  to  19, 
xiv.  27,  29,  31, 
xv.  3  to  20, 

270 

.     277 

283 

>J 

ix.  33—50, 

.    392 

1» 

Luki 

j  vi.  3—5, 

125 

>» 

xv.  24,  26,  28, 

.     303 

5> 

vi.  8  ^10, 

.     137 

J? 

xv.  32—34, 

311 

>> 

vii.  22—35  . 

59 

« 

xvi.  2 — 4, 

.     315 

»> 

viii.  5—8,  11—15,    . 

.    213 

)J 

xvi.  6,  8,  11, 

321 

» 

viii.  10,  16, 18,     . 

201 

»» 

xvi.  13—28,    . 

.    328 

JJ 

viii.  21,    . 

.    189 

» 

xvii.  7,  9,  11,  12, 

361 

J) 

ix.  3—5, 

1 

»» 

xvii.  17—21,  . 

.     372 

)) 

ix.  13—16,       . 

.    270 

M 

xvii.  22,  23, 

384 

5» 

ix.  18—27,  . 

328 

»» 

xvii.  25—27, 

.    386 

J? 

ix.  41 ,      . 

.    372 

»5 

xviii.  3—20, 

392 

» 

ix.  44, 

.        384 

»» 

xviii.  22—35, 

.    429 

» 

ix.  48—50, 

xi.  17 — 36,   .        . 

.    392 
140 

Mark  ii.  23—28,    . 

125 

»1 

xiii.  18—21,    . 

.    248 

» 

iii.  3—5, 
iii.  23 — 29i  . 

iii.  33—35,      . 

.     137 

140 

.     189 

n 

xvii.  3,  4,              . 

429 

»» 

John 

vi.  5,  10—12,    . 

.    276 

» 

iv.  11,  12,  21—25, 

201 

n 

vi.  20, 

277 

J 

iv.  3—9,  13—20,     . 

.    213 

THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  M4TTHEW 


THE  MISSION  OF  THE  TWELVE. 

(Matt.  x.  5—42 ;  Mar.  vi.  8—11 ;  Lu.  ix.  3—5.) 

This  longer  discourse  is  indicated  to  us  by  St  Matthew  in  the 
most  literal  and  decisive  manner  as  spoken  in  its  integrity  on 
one  distinctive  occasion  (let  ch.  x.  1,  5,  be  read  in  connexion 
with  ch.  xi.  1).  All,  therefore,  that  has  already  been  said  in 
connexion  with  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  may  also  be  used 
here  in  refutation  of  that  strange  and  wilful  opinion  which 
imputes  to  the  Evangelist  an  elaboration  into  one  discourse  of 
many  sayings  uttered  at  many  various  times.  This  opinion  is 
grounded  strangely  enough  upon  opposite  reasons :  sometimes 
upon  the  lack  of  connexion  in  the  whole,  and  sometimes,  on  the 
contrary,  on  its  far-reaching  comprehensiveness,  which  too  per- 
fectly embraces  all  futurity  to  be  consistent  with  the  occasion  of 
its  utterance.  This  latter  acknowledgment  and  supposition  is, 
assuredly,  the  only  true  one  :  but  the  conclusion  drawn  from  it 
is  on  that  account  all  the  more  false.  He  who  is  capable  of 
discerning  in  this  chapter  a  collection  of  loosely-bound  and  inhar- 
monious fragments,  has  not  yet  understood  it  aright,  as  our 
exposition,  it  is  hoped,  will  show.  But  he  who  shall  be  capable 
of  feeling  and  marking  the  deep-founded  unity  of  the  discourse, 
which  proceeds  in  its  organic  structure  from  the  immediate  pre- 
sent to  the  most  distant  futurity,  from  the  concrete  contemplation 
of  relations  near  at  hand  to  the  widest  view  of  all  relations,  must 
also  and  necessarily  be  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  only  the 
Lord  Himself  could  have  constructed  and  given  us  such  a  whole. 
VOL.  II.  ^-if^*^5212555^^^ 

^^   OF  THE        X^k 

UNIVERSITY)} 


2  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Would  it  not  have  been  far  more  unnatural  and  wonderful,  that 
an  humble  and  reverent  minister  of  Christ's  word,  in  his  record 
of  that  word  should  have  formed  such  a  profoundly  systematic 
discourse  out  of  scattered  utterances,  than  that  the  Lord  Him- 
self in  the  wisdom  of  His  Spirit  should  have  spoken  it  1  Yea, 
we  boldly  affirm,  resting  upon  the  continually  recurring  analo- 
gies of  our  Lord's,  whether  lesser  or  longer  discourses,  that  on 
this  mission  of  the  twelve  He  would  not  and  could  not  have 
spoken  otherwise  than  we  read  in  St  Matthew.  It  was  impossible 
but  that  he  should,  at  the  critical  and  significant  commencing 
points  in  His  history,  look  forward  to  the  futurity  which  would 
grow  out  of  them :  He  could  not  fail  to  mark  and  to  seize  in  all 
things  which  transpired  within  the  sphere  of  His  earthly  life,  the 
germs  and  prophetical  types  which  were  wrapped  up  within 
them.  This  we  have  distinctly  seen  in  what  we  called  especially 
and  distinctively  His  "  First  Words."  Now  such  a  First  Word 
we  have  here.  He  is  sending  His  Apostles  for  the  first  time,  and 
how  could  He  otherwise  than  behold  in  them  His  future  ambas- 
sadors to  the  world  ?  The  most  cautious  view  of  this  restricted, 
preliminary  proof-mission  through  the  cities  of  Israel  (as  the 
Lord  Himself  declares  it),  cannot  but  attribute  to  Him  the  con- 
templation of  the  future  and  more  distinctive  career  of  these 
same  Apostles,  involving  far  more  solemn  and  grander  interests, 
the  form  and  procedure  of  His  kingdom  to  the  end,  the  position 
and  work  of  all  His  ambassadors  and  followers  in  general.  No- 
thing could  in  effect  be  more  natural  than  this.  Let  it  not  be 
said,  that  though  these  might  have  been  the  secret  thoughts  of 
our  Lord  in  connexion  with  this  mission,  it  would  have  answered 
no  end  to  utter  them  beyond  the  necessity  of  the  occasion,  and 
the  ability  of  His  hearers  to  understand.  This  would  be  to  mis- 
understand utterly  the  essential  nature  of  all  our  Lord's  discourse, 
which  always  and  throughout,  even  where  it  does  not  so  plainly 
declare  itself  as  here,  must  have  a  prophetical  character.  What- 
ever He  spoke  from  time  to  time,  He  spoke  for  futurity  even  to 
its  final  end,  yea,  even  to  eternity  itself.  This  will  become 
manifest  when  once  all  the  unwritten  sayings  of  the  Word  made 
flesh  (not  one  of  which  could  fall  to  the  ground,  be  utterly  for- 
gotten or  lost)  shall  be  disclosed  and  recovered,  in  their  influence 
for  mercy  or  for  judgment :  and  to  the  believing  apprehension  it 


MATTHEW  X.  5 42.  3 

is  already  manifest  in  those  words  which  declare  themselves  to 
have  been  spoken  with  reference  to  that  future  time  when  the 
Spirit  in  forming  the  Scripture,  should  bring  them  to  the 
Apostles'  remembrance  in  order  to  illustrate  them  to  their  minds. 

Thus  the  Lord  is  here  speaking  to  His  Apostles  great  words, 
far-reaching  in  their  meaning ;  and  He  speaks  them  prophetically, 
just  as  His  Spirit  had  formerly  spoken  in  the  Prophets.  The 
progress  of  His  internal  contemplation  assumes  here  as  every- 
where the  form  of  a  perspective  view.  The  present  and  the 
immediate  are  to  Him  the  type  of  the  more  remote.  In  sending 
forth  these,  He  contemplates  all  later  missions  of  these  Apostles 
and  their  successors.  The  words  which  He  now  speaks  to  the 
Twelve  in  such  a  manner  that  their  literal  meaning  can  only 
apply  to  their  present  object,  contain,  in  their  spiritual  meaning, 
truths  applicable  to  their  whole  future  Apostolical  course.  But 
from  this  typical  starting-point  the  thoughts  and  their  expression 
rise  more  loftily  and  more  freely  into  words,  which  they  scarcely 
understand  at  the  time,  much  less  use  and  follow  out,  but  which 
must  at  least  have  awakened  within  them  the  consciousness 
of  extended  developments  to  spring  from  them,  and  which  are 
given  to  them  now  in  order  that  the  Spirit  in  His  time  may  recall 
and  interpret  them  to  their  minds. 

The  discourse  evidently  falls  into  three  main  masses,  the  limits 
of  each  of  which  are  marked  out  by  a  concluding  sentence,  and  a 
commencement  anew  new  taken.  The  Lord  first  speaks  literally 
and  especially  concerning  this  first  mission  and  preaching,  which 
may  be  almost  regarded  as  similar  to  the  commission  and  stand- 
ing-point of  John  the  Baptist  (ver.  7) — save  that  John  performed 
no  miracles,  did  not  travel  up  and  down,  could  not  already 
preach  the  peace  of  the  opened  kingdom  of  heaven  to  the  poor. 
This  section,  which  pursues  its  way  through  simple  directions 
having  no  reference  beyond  the  present  occasion,  finds  its 
most  solemn  conclusion  in  ver.  15,  where  finished  unbelief  reject- 
ing their  words,  is  pointed  to  the  final  judgment.  In  ver.  16,  a 
new  section  begins,  with  an  almost  abrupt  declaration,  which 
would  unexpectedly  reply  to  the  question  which  the  Apostles 
might  ask  themselves — does  this  then  close  all  ?  Behold,  I  send 
you  !  that  is,  reduced  to  plainer  words,  and  expounded ; — I  shall 
send  you  once  again,  and  amid  conditions  of  much  greater  seve- 


4  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

rity :  even  full  into  the  midst  of  contradiction  and  persecution 
The  expression,  "  send,"  corresponding  to  their  name  of  Apostles, 
now  first  occurs  in  His  discourse,  and  it  indicates  that  now  first 
their  full  office  is  referred  to,  that  great  mission  for  which  the 
present  one  is  but  a  typical  and  preparatory  trial.  This  section 
consequently  embraces  the  Apostolical  period  :  the  view  extends 
to  men  generally,  and  the  transition  in  their  preaching  from 
rejecting  Israel  to  the  Gentiles  is  plainly  indicated  (vers.  17,  18). 
Now,  first  comes  forward  the  promise  of  the  Spirit,  and  with 
intimation  of  persecutions  (as  in  Jno.  xv.  26;  xvi.  4);  in  ver. 
22,  the  meaning  is  strictly  the  same  as  afterwards,  in  Matt, 
xxiv.  9 — 13  ;  and  ver.  23  concludes  with  a  catastrophe  to  pre- 
cede the  judgment,  which,  according  to  this  connexion,  can  be 
only  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Yet  not  exclusively  so,  but 
this  "  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man,"  as  it  is  a  type  of  a  future  and 
proper  advent,  so  was  also  itself  typified  in  His  coming,  in  im- 
mediately following  whither  His  disciples  were  sent  before.  The 
prophetically-perspective  contemplation  beholds  the  progress  of 
events  as  they  actually  are  in  themselves,  in  all  their  internal 
significance  and  entireness :  in  the  periods  which  are  formed  by 
great  epochs  of  development,  the  earlier  covers  and  fore-shadows 
the  later,  not,  however,  that  the  Spirit  arbitrarily  makes  it  a  type, 
but  because  it  already  includes  the  latter  in  itself  as  a  germ. 
Consequently  as  the  instructions  (vers.  5 — 15),  in  the  prophetical 
sense  of  their  literal  meaning  have  an  application  to  the  more 
distinctive  apostolical  career ;  so  does  the  apostolical  instruction 
(vers.  16 — 23,)  find  its  application  to  all  the  followers  of  the 
Apostles,  to  all  to  whom  the  Lord  may  ever  say,  I  send  you ; 
being  thus  the  immediately  authentic  Missionary-Instruction  for 
all  ages,  disclosing  its  deeper  meaning  as  centuries,  and  their 
varied  experience,  roll  on. 

This  now  comes  forward  into  significant  prominence  in  the 
third  part  of  the  discourse,  the  part  which  is  developed  with  most 
completeness.  The  Lord's  glance  passes  from  the  Apostles  to 
the  disciples  generally,  who  were  to  be  the  salt  and  the  light  of 
the  world,  ambassadors  and  witnesses  to  men  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  as  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  As  this  section  began, 
generally,  in  the  third  person  ("  the  disciple,"  ver.  24),  so  it  only 
returns  once  to  the  style  of  address  to  the  Apostles  (vers.  26 — 31) 


MATTHEW  X.  5,  6.  5 

then  proceeding  to  the  end  with  declarations  quite  general  (with 
the  exception  of  vers.  34  and  40,  where,  however,  the  Apostles 
as  such  are  not  referred  to  alone)  : — whosoever  shall  confess  me, 
— he  that  loveth  father  or  mother — he  that  findeth,  &c.  Here 
the  persecuted  condition  which  had  been  predicated  of  the 
apostolical  period,  is  predicted  as  the  permanent  condition  of  His 
Church  until  the  distribution  of  final  rewards  which  is  seen 
in  the  far  perspective.  The  continuous  process  and  final  issue 
of  Christ's  great  interest  is  predicted  as  through  warfare  to  victory; 
His  kingdom  is  fore-announced  as  to  all  His  subjects  a  Kingdom 
of  the  Cross  before  the  immeasurable  rewards  of  glory  are 
revealed.  Such  is  the  true  disposition  of  this  discourse,  exhibit- 
ing its  compact  harmony,  and  progression  of  meaning :  and  it  so 
entirely  asserts  its  own  unity,  that  even  Olshausen  in  his  expo- 
sition of  this  conglomeration  of  fragments  in  St  Matthew,  as  he 
thinks  it,  involuntarily  forgets  his  own  opinion,  and  writes,  as 
for  example  on  vers.  38 — 41,  as  if  the  Lord  himself  were  speak- 
ing, and  as  if  the  "  Eedeemer  himself  were  closing  "  a  discourse 
with  his  own  impressive  conclusion. 

If  we  look  at  the  arrangement  a  little  more  in  detail,  we  find 
that  the  first  part  (vers.  5 — 15)  falls  into  a  threefold  subdivision  : 
— the  commission,  or  sending,  in  the  first,  most  distinctive  sense ; 
then,  the  equipment  for  it ;  then  directions  for  their  conduct  in  the 
execution  of  their  commission.  The  sending — first  of  all,  natu- 
rally, whither  ?  vers.  5,  6,  (with  which,  to  indicate  its  preliminary 
character,  we  have  at  first,  whither  not).  Then  for  tvhat  pur- 
pose? ver.  7,  8.  (To  preach  the  Gospel,  in  the  power  of  miracles, 
and  both  perfectly  free).  The  equipment  (vers.  9,  10,)  is  like- 
wise negative,  partly  in  contrast  with  future  times,  partly  as 
typical  of  them.  Finally,  the  directions  for  their  conduct  (vers. 
11 — 15),  rise  in  their  confirmatory  conclusion  to  a  far-reaching 
anticipation  of  the  issue  of  the  judgment,  which  thus  forms  a 
transition  to  the  next  starting-point. 

Vers.  5,  6.  This  limitation  to  Israel  is  not  announced  by  St 
Luke  (ch.  x.)  as  prescribed  to  the  Seventy  ;  but  it  is  to  be  under- 
stood in  their  case,  and  ver.  1,  intimates  it  plainly  enough.1 

1  So  that  OlsJiausen's  observation,  that  St  Luke,  as  writing  for  Gen- 
tiles, would  suppress  that  circumstance,  is  manifestly  incorrect. 


0  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Only  whither  he  himself  would  come,  could  the  Lord  send  mes- 
sengers :  apart  from  every  other  consideration,  this  only  would 
have  been  befitting.  For  could  the  Messiah  and  the  Saviour 
satisfy  any  man  with  His  mere  representatives  1  Could  the  true 
Shepherd  hand  over  a  lost  sheep  to  mere  servants  ?  Thus  it  is 
only  His  coming  after  (and  in  spirit  going  with  them)  that  gives 
to  these  missionaries  the  authority  and  ground  of  their  commis- 
sion. What  the  Lord  now  says  is  in  its  due  time  solemnly  re 
tracted  Matt,  xxviii.  19  ;  Lu.  xxiv.  47  ;  Acts  i.  8  :  while,  for  the 
Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  the  commission  is  simply  reversed  :  not 
to  Jerusalem,  but  to  the  Gentiles  !  Acts  ix.  15;  xxii.  18  ;  xxvi. 
17.  Not  beyond  Israel's  borders  ek  6$bv  eOvwv,  the  way  that 
leads  to  the  Gentiles ;  in  the  way  of  the  Samaritans  they  may 
go,  which  passes  through  the  midst  of  Israel,  but  not  eh  irokiv, 
into  no  town  or  city  of  Samaria.  Speaking  to  the  Samaritans  in 
the  way  or  abroad,  as  in  the  Lord's  own  example  (Jno.  iv.),  re- 
mained uninterdicted  to  them.1  Christ  Himself  as  the  promised 
Christ  was  first  of  all  a  Minister  of  the  circumcision  (Kom.  xv.  8), 
and  in  His  own  mission  sent  only  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house 
of  Israel,  as  he  declares  in  ch.  xv.  24,  repeating  His  own  words 
from  ch.  ix.  36,  x.  6,  with  similar  emphasis.  In  merciful  ful- 
filment of  the  promised  grace,  to  them  must  the  gospel  first  be 
preached,  and,  in  the  same  mercy  which  would  prevent  their 
stumbling  and  rejection  of  itself,  to  them  alone.  Hence  the 
Lord  remains  within  their  borders,  and  only  does  not  repel  those 
Heathens  who  approached,  and  who  were  not  repelled  by  the 
Jews  themselves.2 

If  we  now  ask,  what  is  the  internal  spirit  and  meaning  of 
this  decree,  revoked  indeed  in  the  letter,  for  all  future  sendings 

1  Although,  indeed  (as  Braune  remarks),  the  apostles  would  have 
been  equally  at  a  loss,  at  that  time,  in  dealing  rightly  with  the  Samari- 
tans as  in  dealing  with  heathens — and  would  have,  we  may  suppose, 
disputed  with  them  to  no  purpose. 

2  It  is  in  perfect  ignorance  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  Scriptural 
truth,  that  men  like  Gfrorer  would  save  the  free-mindedness  of  Jesus 
by  the  assumption  that  only  the  ebionitish  spirit  has  imposed  this  limi- 
tation on  the  Lord's  words.  We  cannot  but  observe  how  readily  these 
people  detect  the  roots  of  Christianity  in  a  Judaism  and  primitive 
Christianity  of  their  own  imagining ;  how  slow  they  are  to  seek  them 
in  the  Old  Testament. 


MATTHEW  X.  5,  6.  7 

forth  of  Apostles,  the  answer  is  near  at  hand.  The  first  con- 
sideration to  one  who  is  sent  of  the  Lord  must  ever  be,  that  the 
immediate  sphere  of  his  activity  should  be  accurately  prescribed 
to  him,  and  that  he  should  know  with  precision  whither  he  must 
not  go,  whither  also  he  must.  The  wisdom  of  God  in  sending 
forth  His  servants  (Matt.  xi.  19 ;  Lu.  xi.  49),  deals  ever  in 
various  methods  and  degrees  as  it  exhibited  itself  in  Christ,  who 
chooses  for  Himself  at  first  the  narrowly  limited,  already  pre- 
pared sphere  of  his  influence  ;  first  forms  within  this  from  among 
the  susceptible  and  worthy  the  germ  of  His  great  work,  and 
afterwards  provides  for  its  furthest  and  utmost  development. 
This  is  the  character  of  the  commission  of  His  messengers  also. 
There  are  for  them  also,  such  as  may  be  called  Samaritans  and 
Gentiles,  thus  spiritually  understood ;  in  order  that  they  may 
not  transgress,  presumptuously  and  rashly,  the  limits  of  their 
specific  mission  for  the  present  time.  Even  the  Apostle  to  the 
Gentiles,  whose  instructions  embraced  all  men,  was  yet  conscious 
of  the  measure  of  a  rule,  of  a  district  distributed  to  him  by  God, 
beyond  which  he  would  not  stretch  himself,  nor  allow  himself  to 
wander  in  his  zeal  ets  ra  afierpa.  2  Cor.  x.  13.  And  when  we 
closely  examine  the  words  in  relation  to  those  who  were  sent  to 
Israel,  we  find  even  among  the  people  of  Israel  a  selection  made, 
and  a  still  narrower  restriction  imposed.  It  was  enjoined  upon 
them,  not  only  for  the  future,  but  for  this  first  iropeveadai,  that 
they  should  seek  out  the  susceptible,  and  already  prepared  among 
the  people  :  comp.  ver.  11.  For  such  are,  properly  speaking,  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel ;  (-qn  j-fft?  Ps.  cxix.  176.) 
HHIN  tMS  ^er  ^  6,  which  involves  more  than  merely  wander- 
ing  from  home,  comp.  Matt,  xviii.  12  with  14.)  Scattered  abroad, 
indeed,  without  shepherds  ;  abandoned  each  one  to  his  own  erring 
way  in  which,  unless  sought  after,  he  must  perish,  and  thus  to  all 
intents  lost ;  but  sheep  still,  who  suffer  themselves  to  be  found  of 
the  shepherd.  In  a  certain  sense  all  Israel  is,  by  calling,  the 
Lord's  flock  ;  yet  in  the  midst  of  Israel  there  are  true  sheep  to 
be  sought  out,  who  alone  have  found  the  shepherd  wanting.  The 
wolves  of  ver.  16,  at  least  have  not  the  peace  of  the  kingdom 
offered  to  them :  even  the  good  shepherd  distributed  to  them 
their  "  woe,"  instead  of  "  blessed  ;"  though  they  might  not  hear 
His  voice  even  in  that.      We  think  then,  that  the  Lord  here 


8  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

in  St  Matthew  does  in  reality  speak  of  the  sheep  in  the  same 
sense  as  in  St  John's  Gospel  chap.  x.  26,  27.  It  must  be  re- 
membered, however,  that  the  servant  is  not  justified  in  saying  of 
any  that  they  are  not  the  lost  sheep,  until  it  is  most  decisively 
proved  that  they  hear  not  the  seeking  voice.  Where  we  are 
constrained  to  suppose  that  we  have  to  do  with  such  lost  sheep, 
our  commission  is  bound  upon  us  by  the  great  Shepherd,  and  is 
to  be  executed,  as  is  necessarily  included,  in  the  compassionate 
spirit  of  that  Shepherd,  not  in  the  spirit  of  rebuke  and  condemna- 
tion, not  proffering  the  word  of  faith  in  the  spirit  of  a  keen  and 
impatient  alternative,  but  in  the  spirit  of  patient  invitation  and 
allurement,  going  after  them  without  weariness,  until  the  lost  are 
found. 

Vers,  7,  8.  nopevopevoi  8e  Krjpvaaere — is  not  a  tautological 
repetition  of  ver.  6,  but  has  its  own  distinctive  meaning  : — pro- 
claim on  the  way,  travelling  round,  going  further  and  further, 
from  one  city  of  Israel  to  another,  and  announcing  that  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand !  Afterwards  in  ver.  11  it  is  presupposed 
that  after  some  tarrying,  they  are  always  to  continue  their 
journey.  This  was  the  case,  in  the  most  literal  sense,  on  their 
first  mission  ;  but  it  was  also,  in  a  more  extended  degree,  charac- 
teristic of  their  full  apostolical  office,  which  was  thus  distinguished 
from  the  pastoral  connexion  with  some  particular  place  or  district. 
Apostles  must  ever  be  itinerant  preachers :  to  found  and  consti- 
tute churches  is  their  province,  but  not  to  govern  them  indivi- 
dually afterwards.  If  St  Paul  did  remain  beyond  the  year  in 
any  one  place,  it  is  announced  as  something  special :  we  may 
assume  the  same  with  regard  to  the  others  i  and  their  continu- 
ance in  Jerusalem  at  the  first  was  a  specially  ordered  circum- 
stance.— The  substance  of  their  first  preaching  in  the  towns  of 
Israel,  coincides,  on  the  whole,  with  that  of  the  Baptist's  (ch.  iii. 
2),  and  with  the  simple,  preliminary  announcement  of  Jesus  Him- 
self (ch.  iv.  17):  yet  it  is  not  without  significance  that  the  fiera- 
voelre  is  not  found  in  it.  For  though  they  might  not  yet  pro- 
claim Jesus  directly  as  the  Messiah  (ch.  xvi.  20),  yet  it  was  not 
fitting  that  the  groundtone  of  their  announcement  should  be  the 
severe  summons  to  repentance,  but  rather  the  evangelical,  "Peace 
be  unto  you  :  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  :  and  will  come 
even  to  you  !"     (Lu.  ix.  2,  6;  x.  9, 11).     The  degree  of  percep- 


MATTHEW  X.  7,  8.  9 

tion  and  knowledge  which  they  had  then  reached,  had  ample 
scope  for  exercise  ;  with  the  single  restriction  that  they  could  not 
openly  and  publicly  preach  the  name  of  Jesus.  We  may  suppose 
that  they  with  difficulty  restrained  themselves  to  that  evangelic 
message ;  the  confident  joy  of  their  faith  was  not  yet  strong  and 
free  enough  to  correspond  with  their  Gospel  commission,  and? 
contrary  to  its  design,  they  rather  declined  to  the  Baptist's 
ground,  as  is  intimated  in  Mar.  vi.  12.  Yet  more  :  John  in  the 
wilderness  had  already  announced  the  forgiveness  of  sins  as  to 
follow  his  baptism  of  repentance  (Mar.  i.  4 ;  Lu.  iii.  3,  i.  77)  : 
but  they  made  the  preaching  of  repentance  predominant  in  the 
Gospel,  which  was  committed  to  their  charge,  and  thought  they 
gave  it  only  its  due,  until  they  better  seized  the  design  of  their 
commission  :  repentance  and  forgiveness  of  sins  !  (Luke  xxiv. 
47).  These  are  now  both  embraced,  for  all  time  to  come,  in  the 
"  preaching  of  the  kingdom  of  God."  (Acts  xxviii.  23,  31,  xx. 
25)  :  and  that  it  is  called  the  kingdom  of  heaven  from  the  very 
beginning,  forbids  for  ever  all  intermixture  with  the  affairs  of  the 
kingdoms  of  this  world. 

The  additional  authority  to  work  miracles,  was  needful  to 
them  as  an  authentication  now  at  the  beginning ;  for  who  would 
have  believed  these  fishermen  and  publicans  without  some  such 
credentials  ?  And  the  Lord  afterwards  confirmed  their  word 
by  signs  following,  until  this  in  the  course  of  time  became  un- 
necessary for  their  successors,  and  the  demonstration  of  spiritual 
power  in  the  cures  of  the  soul's  sickness  took  its  place.  The 
article  is  not  in  the  original,  but  being  inserted  in  Luther's 
translation,  "  heal  the  sick,"  &c,  excites  a  false  idea,  as  if  they 
were  to  heal  all  the  sick  whom  they  found,  whereas  they  were 
only  directed,  following  their  Master's  example,  to  heal  such  as 
made  this  their  desire.  As  it  respects  the  "  raising  of  the  dead" 
we  find  this  sentence  wanting  in  the  most  ancient  Manuscripts ; 
it  is  transposed  by  the  Vulg.  and  Syr. ;  and  is  inserted,  neither  in 
ver.  1  nor  in  the  parallel  places  of  St  Matt,  and  St  Luke.  fComp. 
Lu.  x.  9,  17).  It  ought  certainly,  according  to  the  true  grada- 
tion, to  have  followed  as  the  climax  upon  casting  out  devils  (comp. 
ch.  xi.  5)  :  and  we  hold  it  as  a  spurious  importation  from  a 
later  time,  since  nothing  is  found  in  the  first  part  of  the  discourse 
which  does  not  literally  hold  good  of  the  first  Mission,  and  their 


10  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

weak  faith  could  not  then  be  entrusted  with  this  greatest  power.1 
The  direction,  in  a  certain  sense  admonitory,  freely  to  give  what 
was  freely  received,  does  not  refer  to  the  working  miracles  alone, 
indeed  only  in  a  lesser  degree  to  this,  for  none  but  a  Judas 
Iscariot  would  ever  conceive  the  idea  of  being  paid.  It  embraces 
all  that  they  have  to  impart,  the  exercise  of  their  power  to  heal 
and  their  preaching  of  the  kingdom  at  once,  indicating  both  as 
grace  to  be  freely  offered.  No  gift  of  God's  grace  is  to  be  bought 
and  sold  with  money  (Acts  viii.  20),  or  as  Tertullian  says  :  nulla 
res  Dei  pretio  constat.  A  comprehensive  and  most  pregnant 
position,  which  cannot  be  too  much  laid  to  heart  by  Gods 
ambassadors  even  to  the  present  day ;  condemning  all  improper 
methodical  and  commercial  stipulations  in  preaching  God's  grace, 
all  payment  that  surpasses  the  limits  of  their  need  (ver.  10),  and 
all  those  unbecoming  perquisites  which  are  ungracefully  attached 
to  the  direct  ministration  of  the  word  and  sacraments. 

Yers.  9,  10.  The  disciples  might  have  supposed,  after  the  com- 
mand which  they  had  received,  that  they  must  amply  provide 
and  equip  themselves  for  such  an  enterprise ;  but  the  Lord  for- 
bids this :  make  no  express  provision  for  yourselves  at  all,  go 
forth  without  any  further  care,  even  as  ye  now  are !  This  is  the 
general  meaning  of  these  expressions,  which  in  their  literal  sense 
were  adapted  to  this  wandering  mission  :  and  St  Mark  and  St 
Luke,  even  in  their  very  brief  statement,  make  very  prominent 
this  specific  prohibition  of  all  equipment  for  their  journey.  What 
each  man  then  had,  he  might  take  with  them ;  but  purvey  no- 
thing to  be  taken  on  the  way  :  firj  KTijarjcrOe — St  Mark  fiTfiev 
atpaxrw  efc  ohov,  so  also  St  Luke.  Equipment  for  a  journey 
consists  of  three  things  especially  : — money,  food,  raiment.  In 
St  Matthew  the  first  is  made  very  emphatic,  since  all  the  three 
kinds  of  metallic  currency  are  mentioned  (in  St  Mark  only  xa^K°s> 
in  St  Luke  apyvpcov  for  money  generally)  and  the  girdles  also 

1  Lange,  indeed,  defends  the  sentence  by  arranging  the  ideas  thus : 
help  ye  the  poor  in  life  (the  sick)  even  unto  raising  them  from  the  dead  ; 
the  impure  even  unto  driving  devils  out  of  them  I  But  our  main  point 
is  that  here,  at  the  outset  of  His  instructions,  as  is  proved  by  the  sub- 
sequent part,  the  Lord  does  not  only  "  speak  symbolically,"  or  with 
svmbolical  reference,  but  rather  with  a  directly  literal  application  of 
His  words.  As  we  could  not  conceive  it  said  at  ver.  1  that  He  gave 
them  power  over  the  dead,  no  more  can  we  conceive  it  at  ver.  8. 


MATTHEW  X.  9,  10.  11 

which  served  as  fiaXavria  (Lu.  x.  4).  This  Tnjpa  is,  according 
to  Suidas,  6r\K7]  roiv  aprcov,  hence  the  two  other  Evangelists 
mention  also  bread.  The  viroBtj/uLaTa  of  St  Matt,  (not  as  op- 
posed, according  to  Lange,  to  "  hard  travelling-boots  ")  are  mani- 
festly a  second  pair  provided  for  change,  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  two  coats.  (Compare  St  Mark,  which  explains  Lu.  xxii. 
35).  Finally,  the  anticlimax  descends  to  the  minutest  par- 
ticular :  he  who  does  not  possess  one,  is  not  to  provide  himself  a 
staff  hj  purchase  (for  all  in  St  Matt,  hangs  on  the  KTiqaeaOe). 
Thus  St  Mark  and  St  Matthew  are  beautifully  and  simply  at 
one  in  this,  as  also  in  respect  to  the  shoes.1  Many  incorrectly 
think  here  (e.g.,  Sepp  and  Roos,  relying  on  extensively  circulated 
information)  of  a  difference  between  the  staff  for  defence  and  the 
staff  for  leaning  on  ;  and  even  (as  Grotius)  of  a  second  staff  not 
to  be  provided ;  as  in  the  case  of  the  coats  and  shoes  ;  but  who 
ever  takes  with  him  a  supernumerary  staff?  The  reading 
pdfiSovq  in  St  Matt,  and  St  Luke  is  a  gloss  which  has  taken  its 
rise  from  this  misunderstanding,  which  not  entering  into  the 
simple  idea  of  the  expression,  would  do  away  with  the  apparent 
contradiction  to  St  Mark.  Their  harmony  lies  in  this,  as  has 
been  recently  rightly  said,  that  the  staff  touches  the  extreme 
limit  of  what  was  really  necessary  to  be  taken  with  them  and 
therefore  procured  :  not  even  this  must  be  bought  if  it  Were  not 
possessed  already,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  St  Mark's  taking 
it,  if  it  were. 

But  this  prohibition  of  all  provision  is,  if  narrowly  examined, 
itself  a  glorious  equipment ;  for  He  who  thus  forbids,  thereby 
permits  and  commands  them  to  expect  in  faith  what  they  need ; 
and  to  be  fully  assured  beforehand  of  that  which  they  afterwards 
(Lu.  xxii.  35)  were  constrained  to  confess :  That  they  should  lack 
nothing.  The  Lord  expressly  makes  prominent  the  foundation 
of  promise  in  this  prohibition  : — for  the  workman  is  worthy  of 
his  meat !  The  word  labourer  looks  back  to  ch.  ix.  37  :  the  Lord 
of  the  harvest,  will  not  permit  the  labourers  whom  he  sends,  to 
hunger.  It  is,  first  of  all,  a  common  proverb,  which  the  Lord, 
as  His  wont  is,  dignifies  and  raises  to  its  highest  meaning ;  but 

1  We  leave  it  altogether  undecided  whether  (according  to  Lange) 
St  Mark  aimed  beforehand  to  remove  a  misunderstanding  which  was 
likely  to  arise  from  the  literal  apprehension  of  the  original  expression. 


12  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

then  it  is  also  a  word  of  Scripture,  as  St  Paul  cites  it,  1  Tim.  v. 
18,  scarcely  meaning  by  his  y  ypacfirj,  the  Lord's  own  words,  but 
referring  generally,  as  he  is  speaking  of  reward,  to  Deut.  xxiv. 
14,  15;  comp.  Jas.  v.  4.  On  another  occasion  our  Lord  also 
uses  the  expression  hire  or  reward,  (Lu.  x.  7) ;  in  substituting 
meat  here  for  hire,  He  has  (Num.  xviii.  31)  in  his  view,  where 
the  reward  of  the  Levites'  Service  is  that  they  obtain  what  to 
eat;  and  St  Paul  (1  Cor.  ix.  13,  14)  appeals  to  the  agreement 
between  the  Old  Testament  right,  with  the  words  spoken  by 

Christ  to  His  apostles.     The  workman  shall  receive  his  meat : 

that  which  is  needful  and  convenient  to  him,  in  order  to  his 
working,  but  nothing  more  :  that  is  hire  and  yet  no  hire.  He 
who  does  not  work,  may  not  eat :  but  he  who  does  not  eat,  can- 
not work.  The  Lord  will  charge  Himself  with  the  care  of  this 
when  extraordinary  missions  are  concerned,  and  it  is  His  engage- 
ment to  provide  this  hire  for  those  whom  he  sends  :  and  through 
human  means  where  these  may  suffice.  Consequently  it  is  a 
narrow  perversion,  and  mere  fanaticism  of  the  letter,  with  which 
the  Spirit  has  nothing  to  do,  to  impose  upon  preachers  to  Chris- 
tian congregations  or  missionaries  among  the  heathen,  the  literal 
obedience  to  these  prescriptions  of  our  Lord.1  Our  Lord  never 
afterwards  imposed  it  upon  his  Apostles  in  its  literal  sense,  as  He 
Himself  explains  it  in  Lu.  xxii.  36.  See  2  Cor.  xi.  8  ;  3  Jno. 
5 — 8.  Even  the  Gossner  missionaries  have  humbled  themselves 
from  their  proud  humility,  and  been  constrained  in  their  regula- 
tions to  admit  of  the  needful  contributions  of  Christian  brotherly- 
kindness  :  indeed  they  scarcely  refused  even  formerly  the  guineas 
offered  them  in  London,  because  they  might  carry  no  money  in 
their  scrip,  and  probably  many  a  one  set  out  from  Berlin  with  his 
irrjpa  packed  with  more  than  a  single  xiT(*v*  "  For  needful  use 
Christ  Himself  had  money,  bag,  and  bread-baskets  too"  says 
Lather.  The  spirit  and  meaning  of  this  first  typical  mission  and 
its  accompanying  instructions,  as  it  was  intended  to  be  ever 
developed  in  the  Church,  is  no  other  than  what  the  great  and 
disinterested  Apostle  teaches  us  in  1  Cor.  ix.  It  tells  us  ever 
that  flesh  must  not  be  our  arm,  that  we  must  not  put  our  confi- 

1  As  in  a  book,  which  made  much  stir  in  ils  time :  Irving's  mis- 
sionary-school after  apostolical  institution. 


MATTHEW  X.  11,  15.  13 

dence  in  any  mere  external  equipment  and  outfit ;  that  we  must 
lean  upon  no  other  staff  than  that  with  which  the  Lord  furnishes 
us  and  sends  us  forth :  that  we  must  restrict  our  necessities  to 
the  utmost,  and  as  disentangled  and  free  as  may  be,  go  on  our 
pilgrim  and  witness  way.  Thus,  indeed,  it  does  teach  u,s  that 
there  should  be  no  rich  livings  in  the  Church  for  any  man,  no 
high  salaries,  no  gentleman-outfit  in  heathen  lands,  but — the 
workman  is  worthy  of  his  meat,  and  there  it  ends.  What  in  these 
first  Missionary  instructions  is  to  be  retained  for  all  times  and  for 
all  altered  circumstances,  the  Spirit,  who  giveth  ears  to  hear  the 
true  meaning  of  Christ,  will  teach  :  and  from  him  may  it  be 
learned  by  all  preachers,  and  bishops,  and  messengers  to  the 
heathen,  and  Missionary  committees  ! 

Yers.  11,  15.  These  further  directions  for  their  conduct  in  their 
preaching  office,  especially  for  Apostles  or  travelling  evangelists 
with  a  special  call,  contain  prescriptions  as  well  for  the  commence- 
ment as  for  the  issue  of  the  testimony  which  they  are  to  bear  for 
the  kingdom  of  God.  For  the  commencement :  go  ye — to  whom  ? 
As  far  as  ye  know  and  can  perceive,  first  of  all  always  to  the 
agcoL,  among  whom  the  Lord  has  already  been  preparing  your 
way !  and  how  ?  with  disinterested  perseverance,  avoiding  all 
abrupt  change,  and  restless  wandering  about  from  place  to  place ! 
Finally,  and  this  is  the  main  point,  with  what  ?  What  have  you 
to  carry  and  to  offer?  Peace,  in  all  the  benevolence  of  the 
sinner-greeting  mercy  and  love  of  God.  The  issue  of  this  offer 
will  be,  even  among  those  whom  ye  thought  to  be  susceptible, 
that  some  will  accept  your  peace  and  some  will  not.  In  this 
separation  of  character  let  it  be  your  consolation,  that  the  unbelief 
of  the  hearer  shall  do  no  harm  to  the  true  preacher :  but  let 
your  action  be,  when  the  decision  is  final  against  you,  to  shake 
off  the  dust  of  your  feet,  and  leave  the  scorners  to  the  full  and 
interminable  severity  of  judgment. 

Vers.  11,  12.  What  is  here  termed  a^ios,  the  Lord  afterwards 
in  Lu.  x.  expresses  as  vlbs  elprjvrjs,  after  the  well-known  Hebrew 
usage  of  ]2t  They  who  in  seeking  peace  already  have  its  begin- 
ning, though  concealed  in  a  sense  from  themselves — the  reray- 
fievoi,  for  7uaT€i)6Lv  (Acts  xiii.  48) — these  are  the  sheep,  who  hear 
the  voice,  and  to  find  out  and  gather  together  these,  could  be  the 
only  object  of  the  Apostles'  office  and  testimony.     These  maybe 


14  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW 

found  sometimes  afterwards  even  among  the  scorners,  and  he 
who  has  not  yet  despised  them,  may  be  presumed  to  be  capable 
of  faith  and  willing  to  believe  :  but  the  regulation  of  the  Divine 
wisdom  absolutely  requires  that  those  who  are  perceived  to  be 
afyoi  should  be  first  addressed,  in  order  that  their  faith  may 
become  a  good  foundation  for  further  influence  upon  them.  The 
question  here  is  not  of  worthiness  as  such ;  they  who  are  thus 
designated  are  such  as  are  fitted,  adapted,  disposed,  prepared, 
fore-prepared  to  hear  and  receive  these  words.  Enquire  who  in 
it  are  worthy  !  What  a  difficult  problem ;  one  which,  as  the 
Lord  presently  presupposes,  we  never  can  resolve  with  perfect 
certainty :  yet  should  we  essay  it,  and  sometimes  it  may  fortu- 
nately happen  that  we  can  discover  even  from  the  world  itself, 
who  are  the  children  of  peace  concealed  among  them.  The 
prudent  selection  here  commanded  is  the  other  side  of  the  same 
precept  which  in  chap.  vii.  6  recommends  the  witholding  the  holy 
things  from  the  dogs  and  the  swine.  The  abiding  there  till  they 
go  thence,  that  is,  the  seeking  no  other  lodging,1  was  then 
literally  prescribed  to  the  disciples  in  opposition  to  the  running 
about  from  place  to  place  of  the  Jewish  proselyte  makers  ;  and 
that  for  many  reasons — not  to  awaken  the  suspicion  that  they 
thought  their  entertainment  not  good  enough — to  teach  them  the 
necessity  of  disinterestedly  so  acting  as  never  to  leave  their  work 
half  done,  and  think  it  accomplished  when  it  is  only  begun — 
and  to  guard  against  their  too  quickly  giving  up  those  whom  they 
have  once  addressed,  as  if  they  had  not  spoken  to  the  right.  In 
its  spiritual  meaning  this  direction  opposes  itself  to  all  iroXvirpcvy- 
fAoavvT],  which  begins  in  many  places  at  once,  holding  out  no- 
where: exhorts  at  the  same  time  to  quietness  and  as  much 
collectedness  as  may  be  in  the  midst  of  their  moving  onwards  with 
the  Gospel :  and  condemns  and  forbids  all  suspicious  changes  of 
office  and  station  among  the  servants  of  the  Lord.  It  says  : 
Abide  till  ye  go  thence,  as  ye  were  sent ! 

Salute  the  house,  into  which  ye  come :  and  what  does  that 
mean  here?  In  Lu.  x.  4,  it  is  forbidden  to  salute  any  man  by 
the  way,  that  is,  with  such  kind  of  empty  greeting  as  would  cause 
delay  and  do  no  good,  but  the  case  now  is  quite  different.      So 

i  The  prohibition  to  accept  engagements  (as  we  read  in  Sepp)  is  not 
to  be  thought  of. 


MATTHEW  X.  11,  15.  15 

presently  afterwards  St  Luke  (ver.  5.)  teaches  what  kind  of  greeting 
the  Lord  intends,  just  as  St  Matthew  in  the  next  verse  indicates 
by  the  coming  of  f)  elprjvr)  vfjucov  upon  it :     n^j  Q^ltf  or  q^ 

:  t  v  t 

was  the  Israelite's  greeting,  and  this  comprehensive  and  beauti- 
ful expression  must  be  a  reality  on  the  lips  of  the  messengers  of 
the  kingdom.  They  are  messengers  of  peace,  they  bring  with 
them  and  they  publish  peace ;  they  would  fain  be  to  all,  who 
receive  their  greeting,  helpers  of  their  eternal  peace  and  perfect 
joy.  For  where,  as  among  the  Greeks,  the  salutation  was  %at- 
peiv,  this  word  also  becomes  a  reality  in  their  mouth  (Jas.  i.  1 ; 
Acts  xv.  23)  ;  they  adopt  every  good  custom  which  might  be  a 
fit  medium  to  express  the  benevolent,  condescending  love  of 
God  addressing  itself  to  man.  They  wish  good  day,  or  good 
morrow  with  full  sincerity  whithersoever  they  come,  and  with 
heartfelt  humiliation  uncover  their  head,  according  to  custom, 
yea  bend  it  more  profoundly  than  others  do,  when  their  lowliness 
is  understood.  A  servant  of  the  Lord  is  truly  courteous,  for  he 
has  learned  to  be  so  in  the  high  court  of  his  king.  When  he  has  to 
beg,  as  the  disciples  then  had,  reception  and  entertainment,  for 
his  Lord's  sake,  He  gives  beforehand  superabundant  compensa- 
tion out  of  the  riches  of  the  heavenly  treasure  which  he  has  to 
offer.  This  word  of  our  Lord  condemns  all  that  impropriety 
which  would  obtrude  itself  upon  any  man's  house,  without  an 
amiable  attention  to  laudable  customs ;  all  that  official  severity 
which,  contradicting  humility  and  love,  so  often  repels  the 
people ;  all  that  premature  rigour  of  condemnation  which  has  not 
paved  its  own  way  by  gentleness  and  love.  And  it  is  here  that 
we  discern  the  stamp  of  the  new,  and  gentle  spirit  of  Christ. 
A  prophet  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  the  preacher  in  the  wilder- 
ness, discharges  at  once  his  unqualified  fAeravoelre  over  all  heads 
and  against  all  hearts ;  but  a  New  Testament  evangelist  begins 
as  a  rule  (for  no  rule  is  without  an  exception !)  in  a  different 
spirit.  His  whole  introduction  and  exhibition  of  himself,  and 
not  merely  the  first  words  of  his  lips,  should  express  the  greeting 
of  peace,  so  that  wherever  he  goes,  and  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  his 
feet  may  be  hailed  as  beautiful.  (Isa.  lii.  7.)  This  is  the 
spiritual  and  internal  meaning  of  this  direction,  which,  as  it  was 
given  to  the  Apostles  at  their  preliminary  mission,  indicated 
that  their  commission  bore  the  relation  of  an  introductory,  pre- 


16  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

paratory  greeting^  to  the  subsequent  \xaQr\Tzvuv  and  SiSacrtcuv  (ch. 
xxviii.  19,  20).  But  it  farther  teaches  us  in  every  age  that  this 
latter  also,  should  always  be  entered  upon  and  conducted,  after 
the  way  has  been  paved  by  the  introduction  of  the  greeting  of 
peace. 

Vers.  13,  14.  House  is  in  this  place,  as  in  the  former  verse, 
equivalent  to  family,  or  the  occupiers  of  the  house.  (Jno.  iv. 
53 ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  15  ;  Phil.  iv.  22.)  That  the  Lord,  after  having 
spoken  in  ver.  11  of  an  individual  rt?  a%Lo$,  should  now  enlarge 
the  idea  to  embrace  the  whole  house,  is  important  as  hinting  to 
us  that  whenever  it  is  possible  we  should  embrace  men  in  their 
family  relations,  and  make  it  our  object  to  convert  not  only  souls, 
but  families,  to  Christ ;  even  as  the  Apostles  did  from  the  day 
of  Pentecost  onwards.  (Acts  ii.  39).  The  Lord  speaks  of  the 
house  as  worthy,  and  thus  comprises  those  who  belong  to  it  in 
one  person  at  the  beginning :  although  afterwards  in  the  decid- 
ing progress  and  result,  He  could  speak  the  very  different  words 
of  vers.  21,  35,  36.  If  it  be  not  worthy — for  ye  will  ofttimes 
mistake,  and  bring  your  greetings  of  peace  to  those  who  are  not 
children  of  peace — then  the  error  of  your  love,  which  is  always 
far  better  than  its  too  mistrustful  suspicion  and  hesitation,  will 
do  you  no  harm,  for  the  peace  which  they  reject,  ye  shall  retain. 
The  Lord  does  not  merely  promise  this,  as  the  German  runs,  but 
the  words  ikdirco  and  eVtcn-pa^To  are  imperatives  which  say : 
so  regulate  your  conduct  that  both  may  take  place  I  Let  it  be 
in  your  lips  sincere  and  earnest,  that  he  who  will  understand  and 
accept  it,  may  indeed  find  that  peace  :  take  heed,  also,  that  ye 
do  not  trespass  against  the  unworthy,  but  may  be  able,  with  a 
pure  and  unsullied  conscience,  to  take  back  the  peace  again. 
This  prophecy,  that  such  contradiction  would  happen  to  them, 
conducts,  at  the  close  of  the  first  division  of  the  discourse,  to 
the  second  period  of  the  apostolical  labour ;  and  hence  we  learn 
that  in  that  period  the  apostles  literally  did  what  the  Lord  here 
prescribes  for  such  a  contingency  (Acts  xiii.  51;  xviii.  6),  and 
Paul  himself  indeed  likewise ;  so  that,  as  is  presupposed  in  1  Cor. 
ix.  14,  this  ordinance  of  our  Lord  to  his  fellow  apostles  was 
known  also  to  him.  In  those  narratives  we  find,  at  the  same 
time,  a  plain  answer  to  the  question,  so  difficult  ordinarily  in 
special  circumstances  to  be  decided,  as  to  when  it  is  permitted  us 


MATTHEW  X.  13,  14.  17 

to  give  up  unbelievers,  and,  pure  from  their  blood,  to  leave  them 
and  go  on. 

In  this  preliminary  and  greeting  journey,  the  matter  might 
be  more  easily  and  more  quickly  decided.  The  Lord  says,  In 
case  any  shall  not  receive  you,  nor  even  hear  your  friendly  greet- 
ing (which  presupposes  that  the  object  of  their  mission  was 
generally  known  in  Israel),  depart  out  of  that  house,  or,  if  all  the 
houses  did  the  same,  out  of  that  city  entirely,  and  shake  off  the  dust 
of  your  feet!  This  is  a  symbolical  action  of  the  sternest  testimony 
(Mar.  vi.  11 ;  Lu.  ix.  5),  a  sign,  that  must  have  its  significant 
meaning.  First  of  all,  it  is  obvious  that  it  declares — we  take 
nothing  from  you,  break  off  all  fellowship  with  you,  as  Luke  x. 
11  explains  it.  That  would  give  it  to  be  understood  :  see,  we 
have  desired  nothing  that  was  yours  (though  only  dust),  we  have 
not  sought  yours,  but  you !  2  Cor.  xii.  14.  And  this  meaning 
we  may  not  entirely  exclude.  But  in  the  heart  of  this  testimony 
there  lies,  as  ver.  1 5  shews  us,  the  further  consideration  that  they, 
taking  back  their  peace,  renounce  all  participation  in  the  guilt  of 
the  contemners,  and  leave  with  them  that  guilt  instead  of  their 
peace : — we  will  not  be  partakers  of  your  judgment,  we  have 
done  our  part  to  you,  and  can  leave  you  with  pure  hands.  Thus 
we  find  the  explanation  Acts  xviii.  6.  Many  have  compared  the 
symbolical  denunciation  of  judgment  in  Nehem.  v.  13,  to  which 
the  shaking  of  the  raiment  in  the  Acts  seems  to  refer ;  but  that 
is  quite  another  case,  since  Luke  x.  11  indicates  quite  decisively 
a  renunciation  of  fellowship,  and  their  leaving  the  guilt  behind 
them  for  judgment  as  the  fundamental  idea  in  this  passage. 
(In  1  Kings  ii.  5,  the  guilt  of  blood  is  regarded  as  attached  to  the 
shoes  on  the  feet).  If,  as  it  is  at  least  probable,  since  the  Lord 
could  have  only  referred  so  simply  to  a  well-known  custom,  it  was 
the  practice  of  the  pharisaical  and  bigoted  Jews  to  shake  off  the 
dust  of  their  feet  when  they  come  out  of  heathen  countries,  the 
Lord's  commandment  receives  a  new  meaning,  of  most  distinctive 
and  significant  force  : — those  who  put  from  them  your  tidings 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  belong  no  more  to  the  house  of  Israel 
(ver.  6),  but  they  are  no  better  than  heathens.  This  admirably 
suits  the  transition  to  the  following  division  of  the  discourse, 
which  announces  the  publication  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles 

VOL.  II.  B 


18  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

through  the  Jews'  rejection  of  it  and  persecution ;  even  as  it 
suits  the  more  immediate  transition  to  the  following  verse. 

Yer.  15.  The  first  "  verily  I  say  unto  you"  in  this  discourse, 
which  forms  the  first  concluding  period,  in  order  to  pave  the 
way  for  the  prophecy  of  the  future  application  which  it  will  find 
in  Israel,  points  far  forward  even  to  the  day  of  judgment  !  For 
the  rjfiepa  /eplo-ecos  (especially  with  i/celvq  Lu.  x.  12)  is  evidently, 
even  without  eV^arr;,  the  last  day  (comp.  Matt.  vii.  22).  It  can  be 
only  at  that  day  that  a  judgment  yet  awaits  the  inhabitants  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrha,  long  since  dead  in  their  sins,  which  would 
be  more  tolerable  than  that  of  unbelieving  Israel.  (Think  on 
ch.  viii.  11,  12,).  The  more  detailed  exposition  of  this  preg- 
nant expression  we  reserve  for  ch.  xi.  22 — 24,  where  it  recurs  with 
twofold  emphasis,  and  is  established  on  its  grounds.  We  now 
only  remark  that  the  design  here  is  not  to  sa}T,  that  all  who  then 
rejected  the  first  message  of  the  Apostles  would  incur  thereby  an 
irreparable  and  fearful  condemnation,  but  that  prophetically 
threatening  He  contemplates  in  the  beginnings  of  unbelief  its 
consummation,  without  cutting  off  the  possibility  of  subsequent 
conversion  and  mercy  in  any  particular  case.  Yet  were  those 
instances  probably  very  rare,  in  which  a  house  or  a  city  (not  to 
say  a  soul)  which  would  not  listen  to  the  first  tidings  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  brought  to  them  by  the  disciples,  afterwards 
received  the  Gospel  as  preached  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  we 
must  consider  that  this  Israel  is  the  people  prepared  by  God, 
through  long  ages,  for  faith,  and  that  since  the  appearance  of 
John  the  Baptist,  the  testimony  uttered  amidst  this  people,  had 
been  confirmed  by  an  ever-strengthening  evidence  of  its  Divine 
truth :  consequently,  this  unbelief,  which  had  its  root  in  a  here- 
ditary obduracy,  could  only  end  generally,  and  as  a  rule,  in  entire 
hardness  of  heart.  It  is  only  over  Israel  that  the  Lord  com- 
mands the  dust  to  be  shaken  off,  and  this  may  have  its  valid 
application  again  in  Christendom  :*  thus  to  act  in  the  case  of  the 

1  Even  in  an  intenser  degree,  when  the  matter  is  viewed  as  Moos 
views  it :  "  If  they  were  punished  more  severely  than  Sodom  and 
Gomorrha,  who,  at  a  time  when  corrupt  Judaism  and  Heathenism 
waged  full  war  with  Christianity,  did  not  receive  and  hear  one  or  two 
insignificant  Apostles  coming  to  them  for  the  first  time  ;  what  shall  be 
the  doom  of  those  who  have  had  the  entire  Revelation  of  God's  will 


MATTHEW  X.  16.  19 

poor,  blind  heathen  can  scarcely  be  justifiable  on  the  part  of  any 
Christian  missionary. 

Ver.  16  very  significantly  marks  the  return  of  the  thought 
from  the  first  conclusion  which  pointed  to  the  Day  of  Judgment, 
to  another  commencement  in  the  words  now  first  uttered  "  I  send 
you  forth  /"  This  expression  speaks  more  openly  than  before,  of 
a  future,  proper  mission  of  those  whom  He  has  called  His  airoar- 
toXoi;?.  It  is  to  this  point,  consequently,  that  that  distinction 
belongs,  which  the  Lord  Himself  afterwards  made  in  Lu.  xxii. 
35,  36.  This  mission  He  speaks  of,  from  ver.  16  to  ver.  23,  by 
anticipation,  and,  indeed,  in  plain  expressions,  which  in  their 
letter  were  scarcely  even  preparatorily  understood,  and  certainly 
were  not  yet  to  have  a  present  application,  so  that  there  is  an 
actual  contrast  between  this  and  the  former  fragment  of  the  dis- 
course. This  apostolical  mission,  as  is  presupposed  in  the  transi- 
tion from  the  former  and  is  expressly  stated  in  ver.  23,  was 
designed  prominently,  and  first  of  all,  for  Israel,  yet  is  there 
intimated  in  vers.  17,  18,  a  transition  to  a  yet  wider  field.  The 
simple  relations  of  the  first  itineration,  and  the  seeking  a  recep- 
tion, and  the  greetings  of  peace,  are  now  changed :  the  persecu- 
tion of  those  whom  He  sends,  and  the  rejection  of  their  message 
is  now  predicted;  this,  indeed,  is  much  more  than  the  not 
receiving,  and  not  hearing  of  ver.  14.  Hence  we  find  that  the 
Lord  begins  now  with  what  in  the  first  address  came  second  :  He 
speaks  of  their  further  conduct  on  their  rejection,  vers.  16 — 20, 
and  then  of  the  further  issues  of  the  interests  of  His  Gospel  and 
kingdom  in  Israel  (vers.  21 — 23.)  In  the  directions  for  their 
conduct  the  comprehensive  statement  comes  first  (ver.  16),  which 
just  hints  at  their  commission  and  preparation  for  it :  and  in  such 
a  manner  that  a  more  definite  direction  is  developed  from  it : — (1) 
Beware  !  and  that  too,  of  men  (ver.  17),  for  ye  shall  by  Israel  be 
brought  before  the  Gentiles,  ver.  18.  (2)  But  take  no  thought ! 
For  the  Spirit  of  your  Father  will  speak  in  you,  vers.  19 — 20.  And 
what  is  the  further  and  full  issue  of  this  testimony  !    Contention 

in  their  hands  for  years,  enjoyed  both  sacraments,  have  had  multitudes 
of  calls  and  exhortations  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  yet 
remain  impenitent  ?"  On  the  other  hand  there  are  circumstances  in 
which  all  this  loses  its  force,  where  the  Gospel  finds  multitudes  of 
people  who  are  scarcely  better  than  Heathen,  when,  as  Lange  describes 
it,  "  only  the  steeple  tells  that  Christianity  is  here." 


20  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  hatred  instead  of  the  proffered  peace,  the  opposition  of  their 
enemies  against  the  children  of  peace,  who  have  accepted  it,  vers. 
21 — 22.  Nevertheless,  salvation  and  blessedness  to  all  who 
endure,  ver.  22.  Finally,  a  continuous  and  unceasing  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  through  the  permitted  fleeing  of  the  persecuted 
into  other  cities,  until  there  is  once  more  a  retributive  catastrophe, 
through  the  coming  of  the  Lord  to  follow  His  Apostles,  and  to 
put  an  end  to  this  condition  of  things,  ver.  23. 

Ver.  16.  We  now  have  presented  to  us  in  the  most  striking 
manner,  two  plain  contrasts,  which  are  designed  to  excite  the 
attention  to  the  full  and  far-reaching  meaning  of  the  whole  pro- 
phetic discourse.  The  former  of  these  is  reconciled  by  the  medi- 
ating I  send  you  forth,  and  in  this  the  latter  also  finds  its  solution. 
Both  are  figuratively  expressed ;  the  former  by  a  general  human 
similitude,  the  latter  by  symbols  of  its  own,  which  are  taken  from 
the  deep  symbolism  of  Scripture.  Sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves — 
thus  is  expressed  the  position  in  which  the  sent  will  find  them- 
selves, by  an  iv  peay  which  does  not  however  stand  merely  for 
efc  fjueaov.  It  is  spoken  in  the  JEsopic  style,  but  it  was  also  a 
well-known  proverb  among  the  Jews,  as  we  see  in  Ecclus.  xiii. 
18,  and  the  Schir  haschirim  rabba,  c.  2  §.  14,  where  God  thus 
speaks  concerning  His  people  among  the  heathen.  To  send  the 
wolf  among  the  sheep  sounds  very  perilous,  but  here  the  poor 
defenceless  sheep  are  sent,  contrary  to  all  right  and  propriety, 
into  the  midst  of  the  wolves !  and  not  merely  to  live  and  tarry 
among  them,  but  even  to  wage  a  war  of  conquest  against 
them.1  The  wolves  are,  first  of  all,  with  a  glance  backwards  to 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (ch.  vii.  15),  the  false  shepherds  and 
prophets  of  the  house  of  Israel,  whose  enmity  (Matt.  ix.  34),  shows 
us  to  have  already  begun  to  break  out  against  Jesus,  and  would 
be  ever  more  furiously  excited  against  the  continual  Gospel 
preaching  of  the  Lord  and  His  Apostles.  But  ver.  17  intimates 
also  that  it  is  the  nature  of  men  generally  as  well  as  of  the  wolves 
to  encounter  God's  messengers  with  malicious  hatred,  and  what 

1  According  to  Clem.  Rom.  ep.  2.  ad.  Cor.  Peter  here  asked :  what 
then,  if  the  wolves  rend  the  lambs  ?  and  Jesus  answered  : — then  the 
lambs,  when  they  are  dead,  will  have  nothing  more  to  fear  from  the 
wolves !  an  addition  the  apocryphal  and  inharmonious  character  of 
which  is  apparent  at  once. 


MATTHEW  X.  16.  21 

is  the  safe-conduct  for  so  perilous  a  mission,  what  the  equipment 
for  so  unnatural  a  commission,  as  that  of  sheep  against  the 
wolves  ?  This  is  amply  and  superabundantly  included  and  pro- 
mised in  the  single  fact,  that  the  sheep  have  a  Shepherd,  who 
sends  them  forth,  and  cannot  leave  or  neglect  them  in  the  mis- 
sion which  He  imposes.  He  does  not  send  them  forth  as  wan- 
dering sheep,  like  those  whom  they  are  to  seek  out,  and  save 
from  the  fangs  of  the  wolves  (the  mission  is  not  to  the  wolves 
themselves), — but  as  those  who  know  well  the  way  wherein  He 
would  have  them  go.  It  is  here — as  my  sheep  !  for  that  most 
expressive,  emphatic,  and  majestic  'Eyco  must  not  be  overlooked, 
which  begins  this  new  section.  In  the  preceding,  the  Lord's 
"I"  only  occurred  at  the  close,  (ver.  15),  in  the  'A/jltjv  \eyco 
vfuv,  but  from  this  point  onwards,  we  find  the  terms  u  I — for 
my  sake — for  my  name's  sake — 1  say  unto  you—whosoever  shall 
confess  me — I  am  come  &c,"  in  increasing  abundance  to  the  end, 
recurring  just  three  and  twenty  times.  He  sends  His  disciples 
even  as  He  is  sent  by  the  Father  :  thus  at  last  ver.  40.  falls  back 
into,  and  coincides  with,  ver.  16. 

With  an  ovv,  which  is  derived  from  the  critical  loov,  and  car* 
ries  full  conviction  with  it,  prudence  is  first  of  all  recommended 
to  them ;  they  must  consider  well  in  every  emergency  which 
requires  it.  Does  the  sheep  put  any  trust  in  the  wolf?  Then 
the  Apostles  should  not  merely  take  care  of  themselves  like 
simple  sheep  ordinarily,  but  actually  unite  the  cunning  of  the 
most  cunning  animal  in  nature,  the  serpent,  with  their  own 
simple  nature  as  sheep.  We  find  <f>p6vtiJ,o$  in  Gen.  iii,  as  the 
Greek  of  QVUh  an<^  certainly  the  Lord  points  back  to  that 
fundamental  passage  for  the  signification  of  the  serpent.  They 
have  to  do,  in  a  world  which  is  full  of  wolves,  essentially  with 
that  one  Being,  who  is  once  called  the  wolf  (Jno.  x.  12),  preemi- 
nently ;  with  that  one  Enemy,  who  is  spoken  of  afterwards  in 
ver.  38. ;  with  serpents  and  scorpions  and  all  the  power  of  the 
old  serpent,  Lu.  x.  19.  The  great  point  then  is,  to  see  through 
the  cunning  of  the  enemy,  to  set  cunning  against  cunning; 
certainly  to  be  at  least  as  wise  as  the  serpents.  Yet  not  simply  so, 
tor  they  would  then  be  like  the  wicked,  and  could  not  overcome 
them ;  therefore  is  the  other  most  wonderfully  and  strikingly 
connected  with  it,  which  makes  a  counterbalanced  preponderance, 


22  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  renders  them  wiser  unto  victory.  What  words  are  these, 
which  could  express  the  deepest  truth  and  wisdom  by  a  conjunc- 
tion of  images  apparently  contradictory,  but  which  by  that  very 
fact  awaken  and  stimulate  the  thought  to  understand  them  !  Who 
could  forget  a  saying  like  this,  after  once  having  heard  it?  Who 
could  but  ponder  and  investigate  it,  who  holds  it  of  any  moment 
that  the  Lord  thus  spoke  ?  First  of  all,  they  are  weak,  defence- 
less sheep  as  Pie  sends  them  forth  :  then  He  will  have  them,  and 
make  them  wise  as  serpents— no  sooner  are  they  considered  such, 
than  He  will  have  them  also  be  as  doves  !  and  what  means  this  f 
The  tertium  comparationis  atckpaioi  has  been  much  inspected, 
though  often  not  with  that  single  eye  which  alone  can  see  the 
truth  in  the  Scripture.  It  has  been  expounded,  through  a  mis- 
apprehension of  the  gloss  of  Eustath.  ad  Homer,  firj  nva  Kepai&v 
i.e.  fiXaTTTwV)  therefore  innocens  (Isa.  xxvii.  4.     Fury  is  not  in 

me'  *h  v$  tiBbfr  And  even — a  view  int° wmcn  tne  great 

Bengel  has  been  misled— tcipas  has  been  imagined  to  be  the  root, 
as  if  it  meant  unhorned,  without  defensive  weapons,  which,  how- 
ever would  be  a/cipaaros.  (A  marvellous  idea,  that  the  doves 
have  no  horns!)  But  defencelessness  has  been  already  hinted 
in  the  word  sheep,  and  surely  is  not  merely  repeated.  The  anti- 
thesis to  (j)p6vLfioi  not  only  permits,  but  requires  that  we  inter- 
pret it,  as  it  has  been  beautifully  and  perfectly  expressed  in  the 
German  Bible,  "  simple  or  single ;"  though  Luther's  "  without 
guile"  is  not  incorrect,  if  it  is  well  understood  that  it  only  takes 
away  from  the  fypovinoi  all  wicked  SoXos  (J no.  i.  48).  As  sheep 
are  opposed  to  wolves,  so  are  doves  and  serpents,  so  simplicity 
and  cunning.  It  seems  a  necessity,  therefore,  arising  out  of  the 
very  spirit  and  nature  of  the  words,  that  we  thus  translate,  even 
at  the  expense  of  a  very  obscure  aira%  Xeyopevov.  Certainly 
aicepaios  is  quite  equivalent  to  afcepaaros,  both  being  from 
tcepdvvv/M,  and,  therefore,  unmixed;  in  the  moral  sense  pure 
from  all  malice,  without  anger  and  hatred,  without  any  such 
malevolent  cunning  as  finds  its  issue  in  injurious  conduct,  (and 
what  there  is  of  truth  in  the  gloss  of  Eustathius  fir/  nva  tcepat- 
fow  is  to  be  regarded  as  no  more  than  a  consequence  of  this). 
Hesych.  tcaOapbv,  aica/cov — Eustath.  a7r\ov<;  irpavdvjMo^ — as  also 
Etym.  Magn.  and  Schol.  ad  Eurip.  Orest.  922  cf.  Phoeniss.  950, 
have  aifkovs.     The  dove  is  not  merely  defenceless,  but  innocent. 


MATTHEW  X.  16.  23 

it  knows  nothing  but  that  it  is  only  a  simple  dove,  which  timidly 
flies  away,  and  has  resources  neither  for  attack  nor  defence.  And 
as  in  the  reality,  which  alone  could  serve  the  purpose  of  the 
figure,  this  attribute  of  the  dove  becomes  mere  folly  (see  Hos.  vii. 
11,  where  Ephraim  is  yj  *i^  JirfiD  n^l1^)?  tne  Lord  qualifies 
this  simple  innocence  by  blending  with  it  the  serpent-wisdom, 
just  as  He  redeems  the  false,  evil,  devilish  element  in  the  ser- 
pent's cunning  by  the  simplicity  of  the  dove.1  Taking  both  in 
their  proper  sense,  the  true  wisdom  of  divine  love  is  the  result, 
in  which  the  dove,  however,  (the  spirit  of  God,  afterwards  ver.  20) 
remains  superior  to  the  old  serpent.  The  article  which  is  em- 
ployed in  the  second  simile — the  serpents,  the  doves — points 
attention  to  the  profound  significance  of  these  deeply  stamped 
types  from  animal  nature.  And  now  let  Rom.  xvi.  be  compared, 
where  in  ver.  18  we  find  first  the  atcaicoi  who  are  liable  to  be 
deceived  by  fair  speeches,  because  they  are  only  such ;  and  then 
in  ver.  19,  in  the  same  sense  as  our  Lord,  the  atcepaioi  efc  to 
KaKov  who  do  not  neglect  to  be  acfol  ek  to  ayaOov;  further, 
also,  Phil.  ii.  15,  and  2  Cor.  i.  12,  as  essential  parallels. 

But  what  a  marvellous  and  is  this,  which  requires  the  union 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  with  the  simplicity  of  the  dove ! 
This  is  easily  commanded,  may  we  say,  but  only  pursued  and 
attained  with  great  difficulty.  Difficult,  indeed,  it  is,  and  re- 
quiring long  practice :  but  He  who  requires  it  bestows  it  also : 
He  alone  who,  in  sending  His  servants  forth,  equips  them  for 
their  mission.  If  thou  wouldst  see  the  wonderful  union  in  its 
perfect  exhibition,  contemplate  Himself ;  give  thyself  up  to  be 
sent  by  Him  with  an  ever  new  commission,  and  let  His  spirit 
and  mind  be  thine ;  so  will  He  make  thee  what  He  requires  thee 
to  be  ;  He  will  give  thee  wisdom  as  the  instrument  to  neutralise 
and  exhaust  the  cunning  of  Satan,  and  simplicity  in  thy  aim  in 
the  love  and  peace  of  God,  that  simplicity  which  is  a  sound  and 
single  eye,  penetrating  without  any  mixture  of  folly  the  depths 
of  the  world's  and  man's  corruption,  with  a  pure  and  honest 
heart  overcoming  everywhere  evil  by  good ;  u  so  that  thy  wis- 

1  The  being  wise  as  serpents  (not  guilty  in  their  cunning)  is  some- 
thing very  different  from  being  cunning  as  Satan  (which  might  never 
be  spoken  of) — see  upon  this  Daub  in  Judas  Ischarioth  i.  179 — 181. 


24  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

dom  shall  never  degenerate  into  cunning,  nor  thy  simplicity  into 
ignorance  or  imprudence." 

It  is  true,  indeed,  in  one  point  of  view,  as  Rothe  says  in  his  Ethik 
(iii.  345)  that  "  the  true  wisdom  is  the  simplicity  of  the  dove." 
Yet  has  the  Lord,  on  the  other  hand,  conjoined  them  by  and, 
and  even  placed  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  first.  Rothe  himself 
acknowledges  this  as  almost  the  most  difficult  of  our  Lord's 
requirements,  modifies  afterwards  his  former  expression,  and 
reproduces  it  in  another  form,  that  for  us  (who  are  never  perfect 
in  full  and  pure  simplicity)  the  one  must  ever  be  the  corrective 
and  complementary  test  of  the  other : — the  true  simplicity  of  the 
dove  can  never  be,  and  may  never  be,  without  the  wisdom  of  the 
serpent. 

We  have  evidently  in  the  following  verses  both  these  distri- 
buted : — beware  of  men,  in  whom  the  serpent  fights  against  you, 
with  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent — but  take  no  thought,  speak 
what  the  spirit  of  your  Father  speaketh  in  you,  with  dove-like 
simplicity.  Prudently  taking  heed,  assuredly,  but  yet  without 
care :  thus  the  latter  has  the  emphasis,  so  that  we  might  say 
with  Braune,  "  if  there  be  any  failure,  let  it  be  in  the  wisdom." 
It  is  presupposed,  however,  that  there  need  be  no  failure,  even 
in  this. — On  their  first  mission  the  disciples  found  but  little 
occasion  for  this  equipment ;  (although  the  Lord  afterwards,  Lu. 
x.  3,  4,  in  sending  the  seventy,  repeats,  not  indeed  the  word 
concerning  the  serpents  and  doves,  but  that  concerning  the 
lambs  and  the  wolves,  in  the  same  sense,  and  connecting  it  with 
the  prohibition  of  purse  and  scrip).  This  time  they  returned  to 
him  unhurt  without  having  been  brought  before  the  judgment 
or  scourged,1  but  it  will  be  far  otherwise  in  the  future,  and  our 
Lord  gives  them  to  know  this  beforehand,  that  when  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  and  Himself  is  removed  from  them,  they  may 
ponder  His  words.     Jno.  xvi.  1 — 4. 

Vers.  17,  18.  We  have  already  discerned  the  significant  con- 
nexion of  this  warning  and  prophecy  with  the  whole  discourse. 
This  taking  heed  of  men,  even  among  God's  chosen  Israel ;  not 
merely  of  the  open  or  concealed  wolves  (irpoaixere  as  in  ch.  vii. 

1  Scarcely  might  King  Herod  have  had  an  Apostle  seized  and 
brought  before  him,  as  Braune  holds  it  at  least  possible. 


MATTHEW  X.  17,  18.  25 

15),  but  of  the  human  spirit  and  nature  generally,  in  its  contra- 
diction and  enmity,  is  just  what  had  been  spoken  of  as  the  wis- 
dom of  the  serpent.  The  true  theology  teaches  that  all  men  are 
corrupt.  God's  last  and  perfect  exhibition  of  grace  to  Israel, 
the  consummation  of  all  His  preparatory  dealings,  has  made  it 
manifest,  alas,  that  the  Israelites  also  are  only  men,  like  the  Gen- 
tiles themselves.1  This  expression  already  leads  the  way  to  the 
afterwards  definitely  announced  transition  of  the  Gospel  message 
to  the  Heathen :  and  it  also  brings  out  the  great  truth,  which, 
though  not  precisely  exhibited  at  first  in  the  case  of  Cornelius, 
has  yet  on  the  whole  been  universally  attested,  that  Israel  itself, 
in  rejecting  the  Word,  has  turned  it  to  the  Gentiles  ; — even  as  it 
was  at  the  very  beginning  prophecied  by  Moses,  (Deut  xxxii. 
21),  with  a  yet  more  distant  glance  at  the  final  re-action  of  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen  upon  the  Jews  themselves.  The  Lord 
repeats  in  Matt,  xxiii.  34,  xxiv.  9,  and  especially  almost  word 
for  word  in  Mark  xiii.  9,  <&c,  that  which  he  now  intimates  to 
the  Apostles  for  the  first  time,  as  awaiting  them  in  the  future  ; — 
compare  especially  St  Mark's  tenth  verse  interposed  as  a  further 
explanation  for  our  use.  The  delivering  up  to  the  crvviSpia,  or 
councils  (comp.  on  ch.  v.  22),  refers  rather  to  the  ordinary  judi- 
cial process  of  the  magistracy :  but  the  scourging  in  the  syna- 
gogues indicates  the  excited,  irregular  and  tumultuous  rage  of 
the  people  as  the  impelling  cause,  and  Acts  xxii.  19  is  a  voucher 
that  this  generally  was  their  lot.2  Finally,  before  rjyefjiovas 
(Proconsuls,  Proprietors,  Procurators),  and  even  pao-ikel?  (as 
happened  to  St  Paul  in  the  Acts,  and  in  Rome,  for  the  Roman 
Csesars,  it  is  well  known,  were  often  called  (SaGikeh).  This  is,  on 
on  the  one  hand,  a-  prophecy  of  persecution  even  unto  death, 
which  the  Jews  could  only  compass  by  delivering  them  over  to  the 
Gentile  authorities ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  an  anticipation  of 
the  rising  greatness  of  His  kingdom  which  should  continue  to 

1  "  Sirach's  counsel  is  very  good — take  heed  of  thy  friends !  (Ecclus. 
vi.  13).  But  the  warning  of  the  Gospel  goes  yet  beyond  that :  lipoo-exerc 
an6  Ta>v  dv6pa>7ra>v.,}     Hamann. 

2  Thus  the  explanation  of  the  <rvvaya>yai  which  Grotius  has  sought  in 
judicial  assemblies,  is  useless  and  incorrect.  Lange,  however,  comes 
nearer,  u  now  in  the  form  of  solemn  ceremonial,  judicial  assemblies,  now 
in  the  shape  of  zealot  tumults  " — only  this  latter  is  too  strongly  ex- 
pressed. 


26  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

develop  notwithstanding  all  such  opposition.  Deeply  significant 
is  the  antithesis,  lowly  in  its  grandeur,  between  the  princes  and 
kings  of  this  world  and  that  "  For  my  sake  "  which  He  now 
utters,  and  which  would  remind  the  disciples  of  ch.  v.  11.  He 
Himself,  who  thus  speaks,  will  stand  before  the  judgment  seat 
and  the  council,  before  Herod  and  Pilate,  though  He  does  not 
openly  say  so :  and  thus  shall  it  be  also  with  His  ambassa- 
dors after  Him.  Their  history  is  silent  upon  the  fulfilment  of 
these  words  in  a  multitude  of  special  instances.  Ek  p>ap- 
rvptov  has  a  double  meaning,  according  as  it  is  referred  to 
avTocs,  the  Israelites,  or  to  rot?  eOveaiv.  To  the  rejecting 
accusers  and  persecutors  it  is  a  testimony  for  their  own  condem- 
nation, for  a  manifestation  of  their  guilt  and  enmity  to  the  truth 
(as  Lu.  ix.  5).  To  the  Gentiles,  who  thus  hear  the  word,  it  will 
be  a  testimony,  which  will  be  instrumental  in  winning  their  con- 
viction and  believing  acceptance,  when  in  progress  of  time  the 
accused  (as  follows  in  vers.  19,  20)  shall  thus  boldly  and  expli- 
citly maintain  their  embassage,  and  declare  their  mission.  In 
the  later  discourse,  (ch.  xxiv.),  eh  fiapripLov  takes  a  wider  range, 
and  intimates  the  unbelief  of  the  great  mass  of  the  Gentiles  also. 
Therefore  the  twofold  result  of  their  testimony  is  blended  into 
one,  in  order  to  teach  the  Apostles  what  their  office  would  be  in 
all  circumstances  : — to  testify  before  every  man,  whether  before 
kings  in  judgment  halls,  or  the  Gentiles  generally.  To  hold 
fast  this  aim  with  pertinacious  steadfastness  is  the  simplicity  of 
the  dove,  which  knows  of  nothing  but  the  truth  :  and  this  direc- 
tion to  hold  fast,  under  all  emergencies,  their  testimony,  a  direc- 
tion which  is  all  the  stronger  because  given  in  the  form  of  an 
indirect  supposition,  serves  as  a  point  of  transition  to  what 
follows. 

Vers.  19,  20.  We  naturally  care  more  about  the  how  than 
about  the  what;  and  in  the  injunction  to  act  with  the  wisdom  of 
serpents  there  is  included  a  recommendation  of  such  a  careful, 
thoughtful,  discreet  management  of  the  how  of  our  testimony  as 
will  secure  its  being  truly  impressive  and  convincing.  The  wit- 
nesses are  bound  to  prepare  themselves,  in  greater  and  in  lesser 
things,  for  the  due  discharge  of  their  official  testimony ;  as  the 
Lord  Himself  teaches  by  these  directions  and  warnings  so  ex- 
plicitly and  so  long  before  given.      The  essential  what,  or  the 


MATTHEW  X.  19,  20.  27 

substance  of  their  testimony,  which  must  ever  be  the  same  and 
unchanged,  the  simplicity  of  the  dove  itself  takes  for  granted :  he 
who  is  anxious  about  that,  and  fears  that  he  may  not  understand 
and  utter  it  aright,  may  well  fear  that  all  is  not  right  with  him. 
Such  weakness  may  however  exist,  amid  the  terrors  of  the  world's 
might :  therefore  the  Lord  says  in  His  gracious  condescension,  7rdk 
rj  t(,  and  includes  both  in  ri  in  His  subsequent  promise.1  In  Lu. 
xxi.  14,  15  this  is  again  yet  more  indeterminably  spoken  of,  and 
Luther  has  there  made  the  how  prominent.  Both  must  be  pon- 
dered at  certain  times,  the  how  and  the  what,  only  not  in  the 
unbelief  of  the  fear  of  man,  so  as  to  border  on  fiepifjivav,  or  as  it 
is  in  Mar.  xiii.  11,  TrpojxepLjxvav  and  fieXercv,  that  is,  anxiously 
meditating  beforehand  for  the  coming  heavy  emergency,  and  in 
Lu.  xxi.  14  yet  more  plainly  wpofjuekerav.  This  is  as  absolutely 
forbidden  to  those  who  speak  in  faith  and  by  faith  are  furnished 
for  their  speaking,  as  the  previous  provision  of  money  had  been  : 
although  necessarily  diligent  prayer  for  wisdom  is  supposed  to  be 
enjoined,  the  neglect  and  contempt  of  which  would  be  no  other 
than  a  vain  presumption  which  blindly  looks  only  at  the  present 
moment.  The  greater  the  necessity,  the  more  extraordinary, 
important  and  unlooked  for  the  circumstances  may  be,  the  more 
careful  should  be  the  preparation  for  them  in  humble,  believing 
appeal  to  Him,  who  sends  His  servants,  who  furnishes  them  for 
their  task,  and  who  works  in  them.  To  us  poor  and  infirm  succes- 
sors of  the  Apostles  it  is  not  only  conceded  that  we  may  meditate 
and  even  commit  to  memory  our  ordinary  discourses,  but  it  is 
made  incumbent  on  us  as  a  duty  according  to  the  measure  of  our 
infirmity :  but  when  that  which  is  predicted  to  the  Apostles  in  orav 
TrapaZihwo-iv  vfjuas  shall  befal  us  also,  then  may  we  too,  instead 
of  our  usual  provision,  lay  claim  to  our  interest  in  the  promise 
given  to  the  Apostles.      It  shall  he  given  you  in  that  same  hour, 

1  Hamann  lays  great  stress  on  the  precedence  of  the  nets,  and  says, 
M  It  is  not  of  so  much  consequence,  what,  or  how  much  children,  and  we 
then  generally  may  know :  but,  of  all  consequence,  how.  It  shall  be 
given  you  first  of  all,  and  especially,  how,  and  afterwards  what  ye 
should  speak.  This  order  seems  to  us,  then,  inverted :  but  it  is  certainly 
God's  own,  and  sanctified  by  His  use  in  all  His  ways."  More  in- 
geniously paradoxical  than  altogether  true  :  for  the  what  must  ever  be 
presupposed,  and  the  how  follows  as  the  specific  what  in  every  parti- 
cular case. 


23  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

in  which  you  need  it !  The  same  had  in  old  time  been  said  to 
Moses  (Ex.  iv.  12),  how  much  more  confidently  may  Christ's 
disciples  expect  it !  Given  you  from  above,  from  that  God  who 
giveth  all  that  which,  we  having  received,  may  dispense  again 
(previously  in  ver.  8) :  and  it  is  added  rt  XaX^crere,  in  which 
arofia  and  aofyia  (Lu.  xxi.  15),  the  how  and  the  what  are  in- 
cluded. The  Lord  so  unites  them  because  the  what  given  from 
above  brings  with  it  in  the  confident  utterance  of  the  lips,  the  how 
also  in  every  case  (that  how  not  being  merely  the  words  and 
their  form !) ;  or,  in  other  words,  out  of  the  simplicity  of  the 
firmly  maintained  testimony,  out  of  the  pure  surrender  of  the  soul 
to  the  influence  of  the  Spirit,  the  true  wisdom  as  to  the  medium 
and  form  of  that  testimony,  must  necessarily  flow.  The  promise 
of  the  Spirit,  who  should  speak  by  the  Apostles,  is  once  more  a 
critical  point  which  looks  forward  to  the  later,  and  properly 
apostolical  mission;  for  in  Jno.  xv.  26,  27  the  same  promise  is 
still  given  as  for  the  future.1  The  Spirit  of  your  Father  : — for 
in  this  discourse,  as  well  as  in  that  on  the  Mount,  and  every- 
where else,  the  Lord  can  only  say,  your  Father  or  My  Father, 
never  Our  Father.  The  strong  assurance — it  is  not  ye  that 
speak,  but  the  Spirit — presupposes  as  its  condition  their  full  con- 
secration in  faith,  without  care  and  without  any  mixture  of  their 
own  independent  influence.  The  great  fundamental  idea  is  here 
foreshadowed,  which  pervades  the  w7hole  of  the  following  repre- 
sentations, and  especially  the  third  part  of  the  discourse,  viz.,  that 
in  the  great  conflict  and  contest  of  Christ's  followers  and  wit- 
nesses with  the  world,  their  individual  personality  vanishes.  As 
in  all  their  enemies,  there  is  one  enemy  and  adversary  (ver.  28), 
so  in  the  disciples  generally  the  Lord  Himself  is,  in  their  words, 
the  Spirit  who  testifies  to  the  world ;  and  even  in  their  persons  for 
their  office  sake,  their  Lord,  (ver.  40). 

Vers.  21,  22.  He  who  in  ver.  8  could  say,  Heal  the  sick,  and 

1  We  may  not,  however,  say  simply  with  Joh.  von  Mailer  (starting 
from  the  idea  of  our  present  theory) :  "  Here  is  the  evidence  of  the 
divinity  of  the  Apostolical  Epistles !"  For  the  inspiration  of  Scripture 
is  still,  according  to  all  Scripture  itself,  something  more  than  this,  in  its 
narrowest  circle  yet  more  unconditional  than  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  their  life  and  discourses  generally.  Compare  our  exposition 
of  Jno.  xvi.  13. 


MATTHEW  X.  21,  22.  29 

cast  out  devils  !  will  not  ensure  these  highly  endowed  servants 
against  impeachment,  accusations,  and  persecution.  He  who 
afterwards  (vers.  29,  30)  assures  them  that  not  a  sparrow  falleth 
to  the  ground,  or  a  hair  from  their  head,  without  their  Father's 
knowledge  and  permission,  yet  now  foretells  them  plainly  that 
the  persecution  of  His  servants  and  dependants  will  proceed  to 
the  uttermost  extreme ;  and,  further,  that  it  will  be  permitted  of 
the  Father,  being  His  counsel  and  purpose  that  thus  it  should  be 
with  His  kingdom  on  earth.  And  what  is  here  predicted  concerns 
not  the  Apostles  and  first  witnesses  merely  as  such,  but  all  with 
them  who  with  them  believe,  all  who  are  Christ's  in  common ; 
and  in  ver.  24,  this  universal  application  is  openly  expressed. 
Ye  shall  be  hated,  was  already  spoken  in  ch.  v.  11  to  all  disciples. 
And  see,  further,  the  repetition  of  it  as  to  the  most  distant  future. 
(Matt.  xxiv.  9 — 13  ;  Mar.  xiii.  12,  1  3).  The  curious  and  subtle 
investigations,  as  to  whether  this  or  that  single  expression  in 
these  various  parallel  passages,  as  we  read  them  in  the  Gospels, 
may  have  slipped  back  from  the  later  into  the  earlier  discourses, 
cannot  affect  the  question  much,  certainly  cannot  invalidate  the 
truth  of  the  representation  given  to  us  here  :  for  it  must  remain 
assuredly  true,  that  the  Lord  in  His  earlier  teaching  would 
more  or  less  explicitly  foretell  the  same  things,  which  naturally 
were  condensed  into  one  great  prophecy  at  the  last  for  His 
apostles.  In  ver.  21,  there  is  a  threefold  gradation:  first  the 
brother  hates  the  brother  even  to  death ;  then  parents  their 
children ;  and,  finally,  which  most  contradicts  natural  ordinances, 
even  children  their  parents.  The  martyrologies  of  the  first  age 
of  the  Church's  history  give  the  fulfilment.  'EiravaaT^aovTaL 
probably  refers  to  their  coming  forward  as  accusers  or  witnesses 
(hence  not  sister  and  mother,  but  brother  and  father),  which 
follows  the  delivering  them  up,  and  has  their  death  for  its  result : 
yet  not  without  the  general  adjunct  idea  that  they  shall  rise  up 
in  revolt  against  them;  and  therefore  it  is  placed,  where  its 
exhibition  would  be  most  striking  and  fearful,  in  connection  with 
the  children's  delivering  up  their  parents.1  Why,  then,  are  they 
thus  hated?  For  my  name's  sake,  to  which  ye  bear  witness, 
even  though  there  be  no  other  evil  thing  found  in  you,  rather  all 

1  It  was  taken  from  the  place  in  Micah  vii.  6,  afterwards  in  ver.  35 
more  fully  cited — see  there  the  LXX. 


30  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

that  is  excellent  and  honourable.  (Acts  xxvi.  9,  iv.  17.;  Vir 
bonus,  sed  malus,  quia  Christianus.  Wherefore,  then,  is  this 
permitted  ?  Luther  seizes  the  central  idea  well  in  his  translation 
— ye  must  be  hated — for  as  the  third  part  of  the  discourse  brings 
prominently  forward  with  detail  and  emphasis,  the  fundamental 
principle  of  His  kingdom,  that  the  fidelity  of  believers  must  be 
tested  in  conflict  (vers.  32,  33,  37—39),  so  is  it  fore-announced 
preparatorily  in  this  concluding  period  concerning  enduring  to 
the  end,  which  recurs  so  emphatically  in  the  subsequent  discourses 
of  our  Lord.  What  is  the  end  ?  First  of  all  and  especially, 
though  without  excluding  the  wider  significance  of  the  typical 
word  (Rev.  ii.  10,  26),  it  is  that  catastrophe  which  comes  within 
the  horizon  of  the  second  part  of  the  discourse,  and  is  indicated 
as  a  "  coming  of  the  Son  of  man ;"  and  therefore  the  acj^eadat 
is  the  being  saved  from  the  impending  judgment  which  should 
then  burst  forth ;  as  it  is  also  in  ch.  xxiv.  22.  For  that  the 
Lord,  up  to  this  point,  makes  the  condition  of  things,  as  it  will 
be  developed  in  Israel,  the  foundation  of  His  prophecy  for  all 
times,  we  see  immediately  in  the  termination  of  this  section, 
which  leads  the  way  to  the  commencement  of  a  discourse  which 
has  a  wider  scope  and  more  extensive  reach. 

Ver.  23.  Verily  I  say  unto  you — this  occurs  just  three  times 
in  this  discourse,  marking  the  close  of  its  three  critical  periods , 
at  ver.  15  concerning  judgment,  at  ver.  42  concerning  reward, 
and  here?  Concerning  a  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  which 
promises  both  at  once,  the  punishment  of  His  enemies,  and 
the  salvation  of  His  waiting  people,  their  redemption  and  deli- 
verance from  all  need,  and  from  all  oppression.  In  ch.  xvi. 
28,  and  Mark  ix.  1  may  be  seen  clearly  confirmed,  that  which 
suits  the  whole  context  in  this  place,  as  we  have  traced  it. 
The  Lord  here  (taking  us  back  at  the  conclusion  to  His 
first  words  "I  send  you  forth"),  speaks  of  His  coming  as  a 
judicial  and  final  coming,  as  always  when  it  is  spoken  of  as 
still  impending  after  His  first  coming ;  nevertheless,  He  speaks 
particularly  of  that  day  of  the  Son  of  Man,  which  in  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  pre-typified  the  last  day.  Till  the 
Son  of  Man  be  come,  and  puts  an  end  to  Israel,  that  end 
for  which  ye  must  patiently  wait,  and  makes  ready  for  His 
kingdom  a  new  and  free  revelation  to  the  Gentiles.     This  great 


MATTHEW  X.  23.  31 

catastrophe  is  in  the  solemn  prophecy  of  ch.  xxiv.  regarded 
throughout  as  a  type  of  the  final  doom,  so  that  many  of  the 
details  in  both  are  made  most  wonderfully  to  correspond.  That 
external  great  tribulation  which  then  came  upon  Jerusalem  and 
the  cities  of  Israel,  was  already  less  tolerable  than  the  swift  and 
instant  judgment  upon  Sodom,  and  thus  furnished  a  historical 
presentation  of  what  the  Lord  had  testified  above  in  ver.  15.  In 
general  Hofmann  (Weiss,  und  Erfull.  ii.  267)  is  quite  right, 
that  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  judgment,  authority,  and 
majesty,  can  alone  be  here  understood,  and  that  thus  the  dis- 
course must  foretell  the  enmity  and  opposition  of  Israel — verily 
I  say  unto  you,  ye  shall  not,  thus  fleeing  from  one  city  to  another, 
accomplish  your  work  in  the  cities  of  Israel  (reXelv,  that  is, 
according  to  the  apostolical  aim,  subjugate  them),  before  my 
(first)  judgment  comes,  as  Israels  general  conversion  !  All  very- 
true,  but  the  typical  fulness  of  meaning  in  the  prospectively 
figurative  representations  must  not  exclude  the  more  immediate 
reference  which  is  also  designed.  As  the  coming  of  the  Lord  to 
Jerusalem  points  onwards  to  the  last  judgment,  so  had  that 
coming  itself  its  faint  and  slightly  marked  type  in  the  Lord's 
following  His  disciples  in  the  places  whither  he  had  sent  them 
on  this  first  mission  of  all.  This  is  expressly  mentioned  in  the 
case  of  the  seventy  (Lu.  x.  1),  as  here  Matt.  xi.  has  intimated  it 
in  the  case  of  the  twelve.  Thus  much  of  truth  is  there  in 
the  exposition,  which  feebly  and  incorrectly  refuses  to  find  any- 
thing beyond  this  in  it.1  How  can  we  suppose  this  to  suffice 
for  the  counterpart  of  ver.  15,  for  the  assurance  of  final  re- 
paration, judgment,  and  salvation,  after  such  things  as  have 
been  shewn  to  precede  in  vers.  17 — 22  !  and  indeed,  properly 
speaking,  the  Lord  did  not  come  to  His  messengers,  but  they 
came  back  again  to  him.  (Mar.  vi.  30;  Luke  x.  17.)  He 
speaks  now  literally  and  strictly  concerning  the  later  period  (for 
that  they  could  not  in  a  few  weeks  travel  through,  and  flee 
through,  the  cities  of  Israel,  it  was  not  first  necessary  to  tell 
them !) ;  but  by  obvious  analogy  His  word  would  be  felt,  by 
those  to  whom  He  promises  His  coming  after  having  sent  them 

1  Alas  even  Bengel,  against  whose  interdum  dormitare  we  must,  with 
all  our  reverence,  be  on  our  guard. 


32  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

away,  to  contain  some  kind  reference  to  the  immediate  present. 
The  fundamental  idea,  therefore,  in  which  all  relations,  the 
earliest  as  well  as  the  latest,  reflect  upon  each  other,  consists  in 
this : — Go  ye,  whither  I  now  send  you  forth,  persevere  in  patient 
performance  of  your  duty  in  preaching  and  testifying  through 
all  persecution,  ye  may  comfort  yourselves  with  the  assured  hope, 
that  /  myself  will  come  after  for  salvation  and  separation.  For 
every  one  sent  forth  by  the  Lord  only  enters  again  into  the 
office  of  his  forerunner ;  for  it  is  the  Lord  alone  who  makes  every 
proclamation,  confirms  all  preaching,  and  demonstrates  it  with 
His  power,  whether  unto  salvation  or  judgment. 

Let  it  be  further  observed  that  the  Lord  not  merely  permits 
but  even  requires  the  flying  of  the  persecuted  from  one  city  to 
another,1  yet  not  indeed  to  keep  silence  and  lie  concealed,  but 
that  they  may  again  preach  there  also,  where  new  persecution 
may  assail  them.  Ye  shall  not  have  finished  the  cities  of  Israel, 
that  is,  have  been  able  to  preach  the  gospel  and  execute  that 
commission  in  them  all,  for  which  ye  are  sent  (Lu.  iv.  43)  — 
there  is  not  merely  refuge  implied,  but  that  it  will  be  the  region 
of  labour  still.  That  Israel  remained,  not  merely,  according  to 
the  old  tradition,  twelve  years  after  the  day  of  Pentecost,  but 
till  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  assigned  district  of  the 
labours  of  the  Apostles  of  the  circumcision,  is  here  declared 
again  in  an  enlargement  for  the  second  period  of  the  command 
given  in  vers.  5,  6,  for  the  first;  and  with  this  agrees  the 
arrangement  of  the  words  in  Acts  i.  8  (where  ew?  kayatov  t?}? 
7>j9,  like  w*-^  ^DDN  m  tne  Prophets,  designates,  first  of  all,  the 
limits  of  the  land,  as  a  type  of  the  ends  of  the  earth),  as  well  as 
the  practice  of  the  Apostles.  That  only  the  cities,  moreover 
(equivalent  to  7roXet?  ko\  roirot,  Lu.  x.  1,  koX  tcdbfiai,  Matt.  ix.  35) 
are  mentioned,  is  to  be  interpreted  as  conveying  the  pregnant 
intimation,  that  as  they  should  not  accomplish  their  mission  in 
the  cities,  much  less  would  they  with  all  the  individual  souls  that 
dwell  therein.2     This  then  is  true  in  the  widest  sense,  inasmuch 


1  Bengel  holds  a  reading  for  genuine  which  adds  to  this  text :  and 
if  they  also  persecute  you  in  this,  flee  yet  to  another,  a  third. 

2  As  Von  Gerlach  find  in  this  word  the  hint,  that  we  must  be  ever 
mindful  how  far,  if  not  externally,  yet  internally,  the  circle  of  our  in- 


MATTHEW  X.  23.  33 

as  no  mission  will  thus  accomplish  the  design  of  preaching 
throughout  the  earth  (and  must,  after  all,  be  content  with  bring- 
ing their  testimony  to  every  people  at  furthest),  before  the  Son 
of  man  comes,  yet  once  more,  that  is,  in  an  intermediate  future 
time  before  the  final  coming,  converts  Israel,  and  by  that  means 
brings  in  not  only  the  fore-prepared  TrXypcofia  of  the  Gentiles, 
but  all  their  might  and  multitude. 

The  third  division  of  the  discourse  sends  forth  its  glance  to 
the  remote  and  final  end,  promising  by  its  third  verily  a  corres- 
ponding reioard  which  shall  come  at  the  same  time  with  the 
judgment.  And  now  rises  into  full  prominence,  released  from 
the  immediate  present  and  the  nearest  future,  most  essential 
prophecy,  as  concerning  Christ  Himself,  whose  cross  (ver.  38)  is 
mentioned  for  the  first  time,  so  vital  for  all  His  followers  in 
the  way  of  their  faith  and  testimony,  and  for  the  great  and 
long  enduring  conflict  of  His  kingdom  unto  victory.  As  the 
second  part  took  its  commencement  from  the  conclusion  of  the 
first,  so  is  it  with  this  in  relation  to  the  second.  First  we  have 
in  vers.  23,  24,  the  key-note  of  the  whole — as  it  happens  to  me 
the  Lord  Himself,  so  will  it  to  my  disciples  !  This  discourse 
may  be  thus  distributed : — the  ivarfare  is  notified  to  ver.  31,  but 
from  vers.  32  onwards  the  issue  through  warfare  unto  victory  is 
more  definitely  indicated,  in  its  necessity  and  in  its  security. 
We  must  ask  permission  once  more  to  adopt,  in  our  more 
detailed  exposition,  the  form  of  our  arrangements  as  given  in 
earlier  works,  whose  I.  II.,  A.  B.,  &c,  thoughtful  readers,  who 
can  discern  the  spirit  in  the  formal  order  when  it  is  rightly  given 
will  not  be  disposed  to  quarrel  with. 

I.  The  impending  conflict  (vers.  24 — 31). 

1.  The  following  of  Christ  incumbent  upon  all  His  disciples 
in  conflict  and  opposition.  He  who  was  to  follow  (ver. 
23)  goes  before  also ;  He  Himself  opens  and  closes  the 
long  procession  of  His  people,  His  true  Israel,  through 
the   world   and   history.      Isa.   lii.    12  :    d^2Q^   ^hh 

fluence  extends,  and  that  no  power  of  man  can  be  in  condition  to  make 
us,  the  servants  of  the  Lord,  inefficient  or  useless. 

VOL.  II.  O 


34  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

A.  Laid  down  in  a  general  position  :  a.  negative  (ver. 
24)  ;  b.  positive  apKerov  ra>  jj,a9r]Tf)  (ver  25). 

B.  A  single  example  given  for  explanation,  taken  from 
past  occurrences,  whereby  the  disciples  might  note  what 
was  before  them :  they  have  called  Him  Beelzebub  !  (ver. 
25).  For  see  ch.  ix.  34,  xii.  24.  But  He  was  not 
diverted  by  that,  but  continued  His  testimony  and  sent 
forth  His  witnesses  :  hence  transition  to 

2.  The  imitation  of  Christ  in  unfaltering  proclamation,  yea 
with  ever-increasing  publicity,  so  that  after  His  own 
testimony  has  ceased  the  preaching  becomes  more  effec- 
tual, aspiring  towards,  and  aiming  at,  the  goal  and  end 
which  will  make  every  thing  manifest. 

A.  The  fundamental  note  first :  Fear  not !  (ver.  26). 

B.  But  speak  out !  a.  The  general  fundamental  law, 
which,  in  every  sense  (as  the  exposition  will  show) 
demands  this  (ver.  26)  ;  b.  Therefore  with  ever-increas- 
ing openness  and  clearness. 

C.  The  same  in  detail :  Fear  not !  Now,  as  the  dis- 
course progresses,  it  discloses  more  and  more :  a.  That 
one  only  fear,  of  one  only  and  real  enemy  which  is  profit- 
able and  necessary  (ver.  28)  ;  b.  But  in  the  contest  with 
him,  trust  confidently  in  the  Father !  (vers.  29 — 31). 

II.  The  certain  issue  unto  victory  (vers.  32 — 42).  This  is, 
however,  not  declared  immediately  and  without  any  enlarge- 
ment, but  is  exhibited  in  a  manner  to  strengthen  this  confi- 
dent, fearless  faith  throughout  the  hard  and  protracted 
warfare,  by  showing  the  necessity  of  the  warfare  in  order  to 
final  victory ;  and  the  last  and  most  profound  answer  is 
given  to  the  question :  wherefore,  then,  must  this  be  so  ? 
Consequently, 

1.  The  necessity  of  the  struggle  in  order  to  victory,  which 
lies  in  this,  that  the  disciples  must  be  approved  as  worthy 
of  their  Master:  the  confirmation  of  the  imitation  of 
Christ  by  faithful  confession  and  adherence  even  under 
the  cross.  This  is  the  fundamental  idea  which  mediates 
between  the  contest  and  the  victory,  without  understand- 
ing which  we  can  comprehend  neither  the  entire  prophecy 


MATTHEW  X.  23.  35 

of  our  Lord,  nor  its  long  enduring  fulfilment.  From 
this  point  onwards  we  have  positions  more  universal  and 
of  general  application,  the  "ye"  being  now  omitted. 

A.  Embracing  both  tests  in  one,  with  a  foreglance  to 
the  all-disclosing  judgment : — for  this  great  end  a  test  of 
fidelity  is  essential!  a.  Whosoever  shall  confess  (ver. 
32)  ;  b.  Whosoever  shall  deny  (ver.  33). 

B.  Returning  now  to  the  development  of  the  inter- 
mediate ages : — The  necessary  way  to  this,  as  opposed  to 
the  false  idea  and  expectation  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
and  His  Messiah.  Strife  and  variance,  which  lead  to 
the  internal  discrimination  of  those  who  are  tested  (vers. 
34—36). 

C.  The  confirmation  which  springs  from  this,  from 
beginning  to  end ;  most  clear  and  full  expression  of  the 
ground  on  which  such  conflict  is  necessary. 

a.  First  special  examples  of  this  derived  from  the  pre- 
ceding ver.  37. 

b.  Then  exhibited  quite  generally,  and,  a.  in  prophetic 
figure,  taken  from  the  cross  of  the  Forerunner  (ver. 
38).  b.  Finally,  that  peculiar  and  most  profound 
expression,  which  is  the  very  point  of  the  enforcement 
of  the  way  of  conflict  unto  victory  (ver.  39). 

,  To  this  is  appended  as  the  brief  but  sufficing  conclusion, 
the  promise  of  abounding  recovery  of  all  that  was  lost,  in 
the  great  Recompense,  the  participation  of  the  disciples 
as  well  in  the  rewards  of  victory,  as  in  the  struggle  for 
them.  As  certainly  as  he  who  is  to  be  crowned  must 
first  be  tested,  so  certainly  shall  he  who  is  tested  be  finally 
crowned.  Yea  more  than  that,  the  rewarding  compensa- 
tion as  an  exhibition  of  the  divine  love  after  so  Ions 
sorrow,  will  scarcely  keep  any  bounds,  where  any  are  fit 
for  recompense.  The  promise  which  winds  up  all  is 
addressed  especially  to  the  Apostles,  but  extends  beyond 
them  to  all  the  servants  and  witnesses  of  the  Lord,  yea, 
to  all  the  persecuted  and  oppressed  disciples  generally, 
down  to  the  very  least,  and  to  those  who  have  received 
the  least.  Finally,  and  in  the  end,  nothing  remains  unre- 
compensed  !  (vers.  40 — 42). 


36  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Vers.  24,  25.  The  common  proverb,  the  immediate  and  dis- 
tinctive meaning  of  which  came  before  us  in  Lu.  vi.  40,  is  here 
applied  in  another  sense :  and  it  is  deduced  from  it  as  a  further 
consequence,  that  if  the  servant  should  not  think  himself  above 
his  Lord,  should  not  be  proud  when  his  master  is  lowly  (Jno. 
xiii.  16),  should  not  shrink  from  suffering,  when  his  master  has 
yielded  Himself  up  to  it — he  should  also,  and  this  is  the  meaning 
here,  not  expect  another  and  better  lot  than  his  masters.  It 
often  may  be  in  ordinary  human  affairs,  that  the  servant  is  above 
his  Lord  (Eccles.  iv.  14,  x.  7  ;  Prov.  xxx.  22),  and  so  the 
disciple  above  his  master  :  but  then  this  is  an  exception  to  the 
rule,  which  the  proverb  rightly  lays  down  ;  or  to  adhere  to  our 
first  view,  the  proverb  still  continues  right,  for  such  exceptional 
master  was  not  truly  such,  and  such  surpassing  disciple  did  not, 
as  a  disciple,  surpass  his  master.  Or,  the  evil-disposed  disciple 
may  only  think  that  he  is  above  his  master,  as  the  ironical  pro- 
verb says,  which  Bengel  quotes  on  1  Cor.  iv.  8  :  irdKkol  ixaOrjTaX 
tcpeiTTove?  BtBaaKaXcov.  Between  Christ  and  His  disciples  the 
word  retains,  of  course,  its  fullest  propriety,  for  He  is  Master  and 
Lord  in  the  only  and  absolute  sense.  (Jno.  xiii.  13.)  Passing 
by  the  promise  of  victory  and  reward  which  lies  in  the  back- 
ground of  this  prudential  intimation — for  the  Lord  will  not  fail 
to  vindicate  His  servants,  the  Master  will  not  deny  His  disciples 
in  the  never-failing  victory  of  His  truth,  the  Father  of  the  house- 
hold will  not  cease  to  provide  for  his  own, — we  would  remark 
here,  upon  the  gradational  nearness  of  relation  thus  expressed. 
First,  master  and  disciples,  as  also  the  Kabbins  had  their  /xa^- 
ra? — then  Lord  and  servants,  as  the  disciples  of  Christ  acknow- 
ledged Him  for  their  Master  and  were  sent  by  Him  as  His 
servants — and  then  once  more,  graciously  relaxing  this  last 
relation,  Master  of  the  house  and  they  of  His  household. 
Just  in  this  way  was  the  relation  developed  during  our  Lord's 
life ;  they  who  found  in  Him  a  Master  and  also  a  Lord,  finally 
became  His  little  children,  the  family  around  His  table.  Con- 
templating this  relation  yet  more  profoundly,  the  Lord  was  not 
merely  the  Father  of  the  household  while  on  earth,  but  continues 
such,  and  is  now  more  eminently  such,  in  His  church  (as  von 
Gerlach  remarks  here).  It  is  this  which,  with  gracious  consola- 
tion in  His  mind,  He  now  tells  them.      The  various  etymologies 


MATTHEW  X.  26.  37 

of  Beelzebub  or  Beelzebul,  about  which  contention  is  raised,  do 
not  affect  the  subject;  for  this  is  certain  at  least,  that  it  was  a 
name  of  the  chief  of  the  devils,  and  a  particularly  scornful  one 
used  by  such  as  would  not  do  him  the  honour  of  his  more  digni- 
fied name  "  Satan,  the  SidfioXos."  That  charge  more  than  once 
brought  against  the  Lord,  that  He  cast  out  devils  by  Beelzebub, 
was  the  highest  exhibition  given  before  the  crucifixion,  of  that 
most  bitter  hatred  of  the  truth,  of  that  most  daring  spirit  of 
outrage  against  the  lofty  one,  which  made  all  the  rest  easy.  Not 
that  they  absolutely  called  Himself  Beelzebub,  as  the  Lord  here 
says,  but  He  pronounces  on  all  its  base  wickedness,  as  a  judge, 
according  to  truth,  and  with  the  deepest  resentment  of  their 
insult,  the  true  meaning  of  their  words.  He  who  is  in  league 
with  the  devil,  hath  a  devil  (Jno.  viii.  48),  is  himself  the  devil ! 
Finally,  let  the  7t6o-q)  fiaXkov  not  be  overlooked,  by  which 
the  Lord  intimates  at  the  last,  that  His  disciples  and  household 
must  expect  yet  worse  than  He.  And  why?  Because  the 
disciple  is  beneath  his  Master  in  the  dignity  of  right  and  truth 
and  power,  cannot,  in  full  innocence  like  Him,  resist  and  attack 
the  enemy,  and  consequently  must  lay  his  account  to  be  much 
less  spared  than  He.  Did  they  fail  to  respect  the  Holy  One  of 
God,  and  push  their  outrage  even  to  the  utmost  limits  of  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  how  shall  we  His  disciples  escape 
that  scorn,  which  through  our  failings  is  seldom  simply  the 
reproach  of  Christ,  but  too  often  our  own  desert  ?  The  innu- 
merable and  ever-renewed  names  of  reproach  cast  upon  Chris- 
tian men,  for  the  most  part  have  their  origin  in  some  error  or 
apostacy  of  their  own,  and  point  in  warning  and  reproof  to  the 
follies  which  gave  them  birth. 

Ver.  26.  The  ovv  is  a  real  therefore,  deducing  the  conclusion 
from  the  foregoing  premise,  though  it  may  not  immediately  ap- 
pear to  do  so.  For  we  should  discern  and  extract  the  promise, 
or  at  least  the  re- assuring  intimation,  which  lies  latent  in  the 
foregoing  saying  : — they  have  hated  and  scorned  your  Lord,  and 
yet  He  is  still  your  Lord,  He  has  not  suffered  His  mouth  to  be 
stopped,  has  still  built  up  His  houshold  and  His  kingdom.  The 
full  force  of  this  great  consequence  appeared  first  when  that  time 
came,  in  anticipation  of  which  the  Lord  now  speaks,  after  He 
Himself  through  shame  had  passed  to  honour,  through  the  cross 


38  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

had  entered  into  His  glory.  Since  then  the  firm  foundation  of 
the  Church's  confidence  in  defying  the  threats  of  men  has  been 
just  that  which  is  expressed  in  the  Apostle's  prayer  in  the  Acts, 
ch.  iv.  27,  28.  But  with  this  glance  backward  upon  the  Fore- 
runner's way  through  conflict  to  victory,  there  is  instantly 
connected  a  second  glance  forwards  to  that  certain  and  final 
termination  of  all  history,  which  finds  its  expression  in  a  saying 
which  recurs  elsewhere  in  our  Lord's  teaching  as  a  fundamental 
axiom  for  profitable  application  in  many  ways.  •  (Mar.  iv.  22 ; 
Lu.  viii.  17,  xii.  2).  The  double  form  of  the  maxim  may  be 
explained  as  an  intensive  parallelism,  or  as  referring  the  things 
covered  which  are  to  be  revealed,  rather  to  facta ;  and  the  things 
hid  which  shall  be  made  known,  rather  to  scibilia,  as  such.  Or, 
again,  what  no  man  could  see,  shall  become  visible ;  what  no  man 
ever  heard  or  knew,  shall  become  audible  and  perceptible — in 
brief,  there  is  most  assuredly  coming  a  universal  revelation  of  all 
hidden  things.  A  vast  assurance,  the  full  meaning  of  which  in 
relation  to  particular  things,  no  human  intelligence  can  exhaust 
or  even  conceive !  But  what  means  the  For  which  makes  this 
the  motive  cause  for — Fear  not  t  First,  it  expresses  the  obligation 
to  conform  to  this  master  principle  of  the  Divine  government 
already  in  our  present  conduct,  and  so  to  preach  boldly  the  whole 
truth  without  reserve.  (It  is  thus  applied  in  Mark  iv.  21,  22). 
Then  it  is  a  warning  given  to  God's  messengers,  against  that 
hypocrisy  which  comes  from  the  fear  of  man  (Lu.  xii.  2) ;  for  all 
faint-heartedness,  unfaithfulness,  neglect  of  His  ambassadors, 
will  be  disclosed  with  the  sins  of  the  world,  when  both  the  one 
and  the  other  shall  be  made  manifest  in  the  light  of  truth. 
Finally,  it  is  a  Promise  and  consoling  hope  for  the  faithful,  inas- 
much as  they  may  reserve  every  thing  for  the  great  day  of 
revelation,  and  refer  every  thing  to  it.  (Col.  iii.  3,  4 ;  1  Jno. 
iii.  2).  And  if  the  whole  world  reject,  and  misunderstand,  and 
scorn  you,  ye  shall  one  day  shine  forth  as  the  children  of  the 
kingdom  and  preachers  of  righteousness  (Matt  xiii.  43  ;  Dan.  xii. 
3)  to  their  condemnation.  (Lu.  x.  11 ;  Ezek.  xxxiii.  33).  Judge 
ye  already,  then,  the  wicked  world  by  the  word  which  discloses  the 
secret  sins  in  the  conscience  (2  Cor.  v.  11 ;  iv.  2).  Not  merely 
in  themselves  before  God,  and  in  the  consciences  of  believers, 
are  the  ministers  of  God's  word  approved  as  sent  by  Him,  but  in 


MATTHEW  X.  27.  39 

the  consciences  of  all  men,  even  unbelieving  men  in  the  sight  of 
God :  and  this  will  become  fully  manifest  when  the  Lord  shall 
bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  darkness,  and  judge  to,  fcpvir- 
rd  twv  avOp&ireov.  1  Cor.  iv.  5 ;  Rom  ii.  16.  What  a  prospect 
and  expectation  is  this,  to  enforce  on  the  one  hand,  the  renun- 
ciation of  all  the  Kpvma  r?}?  alayyr\v<$  in  ourselves,  and  in  the 
other,  the  declaring  without  restraint  through  fear  of  man,  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  which  we  are  bound  to  preach ! 

Ver.  27.  "The  Master  bids  His  most  confidential  ones  to 
reveal  His  most  secret  things,  His  most  hidden  ones  to  announce 
from  the  house-top  His  most  hidden  things;  housetop  and  market 
place  are  the  lodgment  of  the  voluntary  carpenter  from  Naza- 
reth." (Pfenninger).  What  ye  hear :  this  refers  in  as  far  as  the 
discourse  is  spoken  for  the  future,  as  a  prophecy,  to  what  they 
should  hear  from  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  should  tell  them  what 
they  should  speak,  as  in  Acts  iv.  20.  For  the  inspiration  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  addressed  to  the  opened  ear,  Isa.  1.  5 ;  2  Sam. 
vii.  27 ;  Job.  xxxiii.  16,  xxxvi.  10.  It  is,  however,  immedi- 
ately parallel  with  the  former,  what  I  say  unto  you ;  for  it  is  the 
Lord  who  ever  speaks  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  before  the  Spirit 
spake  it  He  spake  it  Himself.  He,  the  great  Revealer  of  all 
secret  things,  commenced  in  secret  His  testimony ;  uttering, 
indeed,  plainly  enough  for  all  ears  which  could  hear,  much  of 
that  entire  system  of  truth,  which  without  restriction  should  be 
afterwards  preached  upon  the  housetops  and  streets  (Jer.  xlviii. 
38).  It  is  designedly  and  strongly  expressed,  that  He  said  to 
His  disciples,  especially  to  His  apostles,  much  iv  777  ctkoticl,  as 
if  shunning  the  light,  secretly  for  temporary  secresy,  to  them 
alone  in  the  ear,  and  not  yet  to  all  the  people.1  But  when  these 
lights  were  kindled  from  His  light,  they  became  lights  of  the 
world  in  ever-increasing  diffusion  of  their  light,  ch.  v.  14, 15 
In  ever-increasing  say  we,  and  rightly ;  tor  this  preparatory 
secresy  of  their  Master,  teaches  the  disciples  that  ver.  27  is  not 
to  be  followed  with  strict  literality,  but  between  the  beginning  of 
the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  which  the  disciples'  ears 

1  Sepp  very  strangely  and  inappropriately  derives  this  form  of  speech 
from  the  custom  of  the  Synagogue,  where  the  presiding  elder  first 
whispered  the  original  text  into  the  ear  of  the  interpreter,  who  gave  the 
sense  in  the  dialect  of  the  country  I 


40  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

alone  might  hear  (ch.  xiii.  11),  and  the  final  revelation  of  all 
hidden  things  (ver.  26)  there  must  be  conceived  a  gradual  de- 
velopment and  advancement  of  revelation.  All  truth  should  no 
more  be  preached  everywhere  and  at  once,  than  the  Lord's  peace, 
according  to  ver.  34,  should  be  cast  abroad  at  once  and  instantly, 
through  the  whole  earth.  That  would  be  a  judgment  of  the 
world  before  the  time.  There  is,  again,  a  similar  relation  of  the 
apostolical  preaching  to  the  yet  more  public  testimony  of  later 
times,  as  the  Lord  forcibly  and  clearly  announces  in  Lu.  xii.  3, 
with  the  same  expressions  as  are  used  here.  The  truth  must  be 
spoken,  and  nothing  but  the  truth  :  this  is  enforced,  against  all 
reservations  which  might  spring  from  fear :  but  there  is  also  a 
wisdom  of  love,  which  knows  how  much  of  truth  to  teach,  and 
when  and  where  and  how  it  should  be  taught.1  This  is  not  ex- 
pressed here,  because  it  belongs  not  to  the  fundamental  idea,  and 
because  this  third  section  deals  in  great  universal  principles  and 
laws,  without  giving,  as  in  the  former,preparatory  instructions  of 
special  application,  which  the  spirit  in  due  time  should  provide  for. 

Vers.  28 — 31.  Our  general  summary  and  plan  has  already 
shown  in  what  light  we  regard  the  connexion  of  thought  in  this 
passage.  In  ver.  26,  The  Fear  ye  'not  is  connected  with  them, 
but  now  in  ver  28,  it  is  critically  opposed  to  another  fear,  which 
is  commanded  as  alone  profitable  and  necessary.  In  this  com- 
mand that  learning,  which  we  before  perceived  in  the  reference  to 
the  revelation  of  all  hidden  things,  comes  out  into  fuller  promi- 
nence. A  -promise  follows,  which  demands  a  confidence  in  their 
heavenly  Father  which  should  be  the  counterpart  and  resolution 
of  that  fear.  First  there  is  the  assuring  figure  and  example 
derived  from  the  slightest  thing  which  could  exhibit  the  destruc- 
tion of  a  living  creature  (ver.  29)  ;  then  comes  the  reference  to 
Christ's  disciples,  in  another  figurative  example  of  the  slightest 
injury  that  might  befall  them  (ver.  30)  ;  and  finally,  sounds  out 
most  impressively  the  third — Fear  not  therefore  !  established  upon 
the  ground  of  that  promise  and  assurance,  ver.  31. 

Ver.  28.  Thus,  then,  they  actually  kill  the  body — it  is  not 
merely  can  kill.     So  much  is  permitted  to  them,  and  it  is  forean- 

1  According  to  which  sense  Hamann  wrote  to  Lindner — "  One  must 
first  speak  to  the  ear,  and  afterwards  make  the  house-top  his  pulpit !" 


MATTHEW  X.  28.  41 

nounced  to  His  disciples,  as  it  had  been  already  in  ver.  21,  and 
Jno.  xvi.  2.     This  is  more  than  was  expressly  mentioned  in  ver. 
25 ;  but  it  is  all  that  they  do  or  can  do  :  fiera  ravra  /z?)  exovat, 
Trepiaaorepov  tl  iroirjaai,  (Luke  xii.  4),  and  is  that  to  be  feared, 
and  does  it  touch  the  proper  life  f     The  immortality  of  the  soul, 
its  undying  continuance  when  the  body  dies,  is  here,  as  throughout 
the  Scriptures,  taught  not  merely  as  a  dogma,  but  as  presupposed 
and  taken  for  granted  by  the  unanimous  consensus  gentium.    He 
only  who  as  ^33  has  gone  so  far  as  to  say  q^H7M  W»  an(*  *n 
denying  the  living  God  has  contradicted  the  inner  Voice  which 
teaches  even  the  heathen  to  apprehend  a  Divinity  and  a  Hades, 
can  persuade  himself  that  his  death  is  an  annihilation  of  his 
personality.      But  this  sense  of  the  word  concerning  killing  the 
soul  is   itself  only  a   foundation  on  which  to  build  something 
further  and  distinctive,  which  immediately  follows.      The  Lord 
already  uses  the  ^f%>?,  as  we  perceive,  with  the  same  transition 
from  the  lower  to  the  higher  meaning  as  afterwards  in  ver.  39. 
He  directly  speaks  of  a  possible  killing  or  destroying  of  the  soul. 
The  former  member  of  the  verse  contains  a  perfect  exhibition  of 
the  uttermost  injury  that  can  be  inflicted  on  body  or  soul.    Thus 
viewed,  the  question  arises,  may  not  wicked  men,  through  their 
malice,  kill  the  soul  by  seducing  us  to  backsliding  and  perdition  ? 
and  the  answer  is  :  assuredly,  but  not  of  themselves,  not  by  any 
power  of  theirs  to  which  ye  are  surrendered  as  victims,  as  is  the 
case  with  your  bodies ;  they  cannot  do  it  without  your  owrn  will 
and  concurrence !     Bewrare,  therefore,  be  on  your  guard,  so  shall 
they  not  touch  your  souls !      Herein  is  the  transition  to  the 
remarkable  second  member  of  the  verse,  which,  as  far  as  we  re- 
member, stands  alone  in  the  Scripture  :  for  on  the  same  word  it 
has  been  contested,  and  is  still  contested,  whether  God  or  Satan 
be  signified.     For  our  own  part  we  hold  this  contest  to  be  possi- 
ble only  as  long  as  we  fail  to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  the  pas- 
sage as  standing  in  its  connexion.     We  have  already  signified 
more  than  once  our  assurance  that  we  can  only  understand  by 
him  whom  we  must  fear,  the  one  pre-eminent  and  proper  enemy 
and  destroyer  of  the  soul.    Indeed,  we  are  as  firmly  persuaded  of 
this,  as  of  any  point  in  all  Exegesis,  that  the  Lord  here  means 
Satan.1     And  these  are  our  five  reasons : 

1  If  possible  more  firmly  so  in  this  second  edition,  although  the 
now  deceased  von  Meyer  wrote  rne  that  I  had  by  no  means  convinced 


42  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

First,  The  groundtone  and  fundamental  idea  of  the  whole  of 
this  portion  of  the  discourse  tends  to  confidence  in  the  Father, 
who  takes  the  life  of  the  meanest  sparrow  under  His  charge,  and 
much  more,  will  not  permit  any  evil  to  befal  either  the  bodily  or 
spiritual  life  of  His  children  through  any  wilfulness  of  man. 
The  correspondence  then  is  exact :  Trust  only  in  Him  who  can 
protect  you  ;  but  fear  him  who  would  destroy  you,  and  both  can 
and  will  unless  you  fear  him ! 

Second,  As  the  two  members  of  the  sentence  run  quite 
parallel,  it  is  not  permissible  to  take  ^ojBelaBai  in  two  distinct 
senses,  namely,  to  understand  it  in  the  second  case  of  the  fear  of 
God,  which  could  never  in  the  New  Testament  at  least,  and 
assuredly  not  in  this  passage,  be  thus  made  equivalent  to  <po- 
fielaOai  airo.  No,  the  Lord  is  speaking  of  an  essential,  proper  fear, 
similar  to  what  might  be  felt  in  regard  to  those  who  kill  the  body, 
but  in  the  latter  instance  with  the  more  emphatic  fiaWov.  It  is 
just  \\\is  parallelism  of  the  sentences  that  is  most  decisive  against 
Alford,  who  thinks  it  a  valid  objection  to  the  reference  to  God  that 
the  construction  is  changed,  and  that  it  is  not  said  again  (j)o{3i]07]T6 
anrb  rod  Bvva/juivov  k.t.X.  The  Be  [xaXkov  following  upon  fj,r)  makes 
<f>oftela6ai  the  same  in  both  cases. 

Third,  Who  is  then  the  destroyer  of  the  soul,  just  as  men 
destroy  the  body  ?  and  so  much  more  to  be  feared  than  they,  as 
the  destruction  of  the  soul  is  a  greater  calamity  ?  Let  it  be 
observed,  however,  that  ">\rvxhv  airoXkcrai  is  something  quite  dif- 
ferent from  d7rofCT€lvai9  it  is  the  casting  it  into  damnation  on 
account  of  sin.  The  death  of  the  body  as  such  is  not  the 
death  of  the  soul,  but  conducts  it  rather  to  blessedness,  if 
the  soul  lives  in  God  :  so  that  persecutors  rather  benefited 
the  martyrs  than  otherwise,  by  speeding  their  way  to  heaven. 
But  to  destroy  the  soul :  that  is  never  throughout  the  entire 
Scripture  spoken  of  God,  and  to  attribute  this  to  Him  here, 
would  be  indeed  an  aira%  Xeyopevov  horrendum.  Bengel,  cer- 
tainly, compares  Jas.  iv.  12,  but  the  simple  aTroXeaai,  as  the 
antithesis  of  owaai  (to  deliver  over  to  condemnation  and  ruin)  is 

him — that  it  was  never  any  where  said  in  Scripture  that  we  should 
fear  the  devil !  I  take,  however,  e.g.,  1  Pet.  v.  8,  as  having  the  same 
sense  :  and  Rom.  xi.  20 ;  2  Cor.  xi.  3,  with  some  others,  deeply 
pondered,  give  the  same  idea.  Lange  (p.  721)  has  done  justice  to  my 
argument. 


MATTHEW  X.  28.  43 

far  from  being  equivalent  to  tyvxhv  airokkaat  in  such  a  connexion 
as  we  find  it  here.  God,  indeed,  destroys  all  flesh  by  a  judg- 
ment of  universal  death,  but  not  till  all  flesh  has  corrupted  its 
own  way.  (Gen.  vi.  12,  comp.  Rev.  xi.  18).  But  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  soul,  its  death  distinctively,  proceeds  not  from  Him  : 
He  cannot  be  said  to  inflict  it,  but  only,  as  in  the  former  case,  to 
let  that  ruin  manifest  itself,  which  has  taken  place  without  Him. 
Ecclus.  i.  12 — 16.  It  is  not  further  here  said,  according  to 
Luther's  translation  :  Eh  <yeevvav  (although  in  St  Luke  it  stands, 
under  another  aspect,  as  we  shall  presently  observe :  inftaXeiv 
eh  tt}v  yeevvav)  but  h  yeevvr),  that  is,  in  Hell  as  in  his  province 
and  domain.  But  Hell  is  Satan's  kingdom,  and  there,  as  we 
know  from  Matt.  v.  29,  30  (which  should  here  be  brought  to 
mind),  the  body  will,  together  with  the  soul,  be  tormented  and 
destroyed.  Should  we,  finally,  take  objection  to  the  hwc/jLevos 
as  too  strong  to  be  applied  to  Satan ;  we  may  say  in  answer, 
that  this,  so  to  speak,  euphemistically  significant  paraphrase  of 
the  horrible  nameless  one  who  is  yet  well  known,  all  the  better 
suits  the  character  of  Satan,  who  has  actually  e^ovaiav  power 
and  permission  from  God  (Lu.  xii.)  first  to  hurt  the  soul  as  a 
tempter,  and  then  to  destroy. both  body  and  soul  in  hell  as  a  tor- 
mentor (Heb.  ii.  14).  He  is,  indeed,  according  to  Matt.  v.  25,  the 
officer  who  casts  those  who  are  delivered  to  him  into  the  prison. 

Fourth,  Thus  only,  in  consequence,  does  the  true,  and 
more  profound  sense  of  the  whole  saying  appear :  Fear  not 
men,  the  enemies  of  divers  hinds,  who,  if  ye  are  true  to  God, 
can  at  least  but  hill  the  body  (as  man  in  his  vain  fear  so  terms 
it)  :  but  fear  that  one  true  enemy,  with  whom,  beneath  and 
behind  all  flesh  and  blood,  ye  have  to  do  (Eph.  vi.  12),  who  alone 
can  inflict  the  real  irreparable  hurt  I  The  essentially  wicked 
enemy,  to  whom  ver.  1  had  already  pointed,  as  of  most  import  to 
take  heed  of  and  overcome.  Take  heed  to  your  soul,  and  save  it 
from  him,  the  death  of  the  body  at  the  hands  of  men  need  not 
then  be  feared.1  We  may  conceive  how  such  a  word  must  have 
smitten  the  heart  of  a  man  like  Judas.  But  we  should  also 
reflect  that  such  a  warning  would  be  always  necessary  for  all  the 

1  M  Yet  in  the  dens  of  the  murderers,  who  can  rob  them  of  the 
mantle  of  the  body,  they  tremble  not ;  their  souls  unwounded  and  un- 


44  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

disciples  of  our  Lord,  over  whom  is  ever  impending  the  danger 
of  treachery  and  apostacy,  and  especially  in  the  heart  of  persecu- 
tion even  to  death.  It  would  be  very  strange,  however,  and 
inexplicable,  if  He  had  united  in  one  the  command  to  fear  God, 
who  casts  into  hell,  and  to  trust  in  Him  as  a  merciful  Father. 
Our  faithful  Master  and  Forerunner,  who  had  Himself  known  by 
experience  the  tempter  and  destroyer,  in  our  flesh  and  amid  the 
enmity  of  the  world,  here  exhibits  to  us  in  its  perfection  the 
highest  master-piece  of  simplicity  in  wisdom  ;  by  which  we  should 
see  in  all  other  wolves  the  one  Wolf,  amid  the  whole  generation 
of  vipers  the  One  Serpent,  and  with  so  much  humble  fear  of  the 
Destroyer  as  firm  confidence  in  the  Saviour  and  Preserver,  pursue 
and  make  good  our  way  towards  the  end. 

Fifth  and  last,  What  we  have  found  in  this  place  is  entirely 
confirmed  in  the  parallel  passage  (Lu.  xii.  3 — 7),  and  the  ex- 
pressions there  used  indicate  to  us  yet  more  significantly  the 
evil  fiend.  Ver.  3  has  predicted,  that  the  fearless  and  free  pub- 
licity of  proclamation  would,  even  after  the  Apostles'  testimony, 
go  on  to  increase  :  and  this  is  spoken  as  encouragement  to  them. 
In  ver.  4  the  Lord  speaks  to  them  further  as  His  friends,  thus 
assuredly  with  an  affectionate  and  assuring  tone,  with  which 
the  immediate  transition  to  fearing  before  God  could  scarcely 
harmonize.  As  my  friends,  my  trusted  household,  ye  have 
nothing  to  fear  either  in  me  or  the  Father ;  yet  I  say  unto  you,  in 
faithful  love  as  your  counselling  friend — think  not  therefore  that 
ye  may  be  above  all  "  fear !"  The  great  enemy  is  still  near,  and 
will  desire  to  have  you  to  the  end — forget  not  that.  Ye  need  not 
indeed  fear  man,  but — and  what  now  follows  so  emphatically  and 
fearfully  might  suggest  already  to  him  who  has  ears  to  hear  the 
frightful  name  of  the  Unnamed  One — but  I  will  forewarn  you 
whom  ye  shall  fear  !  (How  does  this  suit  as  a  lesson  concerning 
the  fear  of  God,  for  ages  known  to  the  least  in  Israel  as  the 
great  essential  ?)  Fear  him,  which,  after  he  hath  killed,  hath 
power  (through  the  wonderful  permission  and  delegation  of  the 

restrained,  soar  into  the  light  of  heaven.  Another  fear,  of  another 
death,  has  thrown  its  protection  around  their  hearts,  so  that  the  wicked 
fiend  has  no  power  irretrievably  to  destroy  their  souls."  Thus  beauti- 
fully speaks  Lange  in  his  Biblischen  Gedichten. 


MATTHEW  X.  29—31.  45 

Almighty !)  to  cast  into  hell ;  yea,  I  say  unto  you,  tovtov  <f)oj3r)- 
Orjie !  We  know  not  with  what  ears  he  can  hear  this,  who  can 
think  of  the  Father  in  heaven.1  It  is  Satan  who  hath  killed 
wherever  there  hath  been  death,  for  all  bodily  death  is  from  him 
(Jno.  viii.  44)  ;  especially  where  men  have  killed  out  of  hatred, 
and  the  subject  of  the  discourse  had  been  of  such  diroKrelvai  (1  Cor. 
v.  5),  entire  humanity  in  a  certain  sense  is  concerned,  over 
which  the  destruction  of  the  flesh  impends  in  death  ;  and  even 
as  the  Prince  of  Death  is  Satan  considered  a  minister  of  the 
Divine  righteousness,  as  well  of  its  mercy  as  of  its  wrath. 

Vers.  29 — 31.  SrpovOla  are Mzdvia  ra  jAucpa  rwv  opviOcov,  cor- 
responding in  the  LXX.  to  the  Hebrew  ^^  ;  and  daadptov 
also  taken  up  into  Hebrew  as  ^piN,  *VDN>  "ID^  *s  tne  smallest 
coin,  and  hence  was  in  Jewish  as  well  as  Latin  proverbial  use  to 
express  the  smallest  value:  ""^Nl*  *1D^fc03.  Now  even  itco 
sparrows  are  only  worth  one  daadptov ;  indeed  in  Luke  xii.  6 
(spoken  a  year  later)  the  expression  increases  in  force,  and  for 
two  farthings  the  fifth  odd  one  may  be  obtained  over  and  above ; 
yet  in  the  providentia  specialissima  of  God  not  one  single  such 
little  creature,  not  the  slightest  worm,  is  forgotten  or  left  to  be 
the  sport  of  chance  !  There  shall  no  sparrow  fall  on  the  ground 
exhausted  or  starved,  or  by  any  cause  killed,2  without  the  know- 
ledge and  will  of  the  Father  (not  of  the  sparrows  but  of  men  who 
are  His  children).  The  Lord  brings  to  our  mind  again, — we 
have  found  many  reminiscences  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in 
this  discourse — that  precious  wrord  (ch.  vi.  26)  to  which  rejoinder 
might  be  made : — Yet  the  fowls  of  the  heaven  do  often  fall  upon 

1  Just  in  the  same  way  as  ourselves,  with  the  same,  indeed  greater 
zeal  against  the  wrong  apprehension  of  this  passage,  does  Reichel  set 
it  forth  in  his  Isaiah  (on  Isa.  xlix.  24)  :  "  Are  not  those  horrible 
notions  which  men  are  taught  to  conceive  of  God  the  Father,  as  if  lie 
were  an  Apollyon,  a  destroyer  of  bodies  and  of  souls  ;  and  which  would 
impute  such  a  meaning  as  would  make  Him  inspire  and  inculcate  a 
real  dread  of  His  Father! — Frightful  exposition: — the  Lord  Jesus 
speaks  of  the  Devil,  and  His  words  are  referred  to  God  the  Father! — 
The  Father,  they  seem  to  think,  is  a  hard  man,  who  strikes  one,  body 
and  soul,  into  hell !  About  the  Devil  it  is  of  little  consequence,  all  is 
right  witfi  regard  to  him.     Is  not  that  a  sin  and  a  shame?" 

2  Evidently  this  is  meant,  and  not  a  flying  down  which  resembles 
falling. 


46  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  earth  because  they  have  found  no  nourishment ;  and  simi- 
larly : — Yet  the  confessors  die,  and  many  of  them  even  by  the 
hand  of  the  enemy !  It  does,  assuredly,  so  happen,  only  not 
without  the  Father :  this  is  the  comforting  assurance  which  the 
Lord  gives.  So  far  from  your  life  being  taken  away  without 
the  Father's  counsel  and  will,  not  one  hair  falls  from  your  head 
without  Him  (Luke  xxi.  18 ;  Acts  xxvii.  34 ;  1  Sam.  xiv.  45), 
or  as  our  proverb  runs — Niemand  euch  ein  Haar  krummen  mag. 
They  are  all  numbered  by  a  Providence  which  cares  for  all  and 
forgets  nothing ;  as  much  so  as  the  stars  of  heaven  are,  which 
man  can  no  more  count  than  the  hairs  of  his  head.1  Thus  the 
example  of  the  slightest  hurt,  which  we  should  not  even  spend  a 
thought  upon,  is  brought  into  juxtaposition  with  the  being  killed 
in  ver.  28,  in  order  to  embrace  whatever  possible  injury  might 
lie  between  these  two  extremes.  Tlje  concluding  inference  of 
ver.  31,  already  found  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  is  a  Jewish 
proverb  also,  but  is  invested  here  with  a  higher  meaning;.  The 
emphatic  vfiels  which  so  strikingly  closes  this  sentence  and  cor- 
responds to  the  v/ulcov  at  the  beginning  of  ver.  28,  refers  to  those 
who  are  addressed,  not  simply  as  they  are  men  (comp.  Matt.  xii. 
12),  but  as  they  are  children  of  God,  disciples  of  Christ,  heralds 
and  witnesses  of  His  kingdom,  suffering  for  His  name's  sake ! 
Shall  one  of  these  be  forgotten  ?  Shall  not  He,  who  numbers 
the  hairs  of  your  head,  keep  your  head  and  your  life  in  the  hoi- 
low  of  His  hand,  so  that  whatever  might  befall  them,  shall  not  be 
without  Him,  but  shall,  according  to  the  gracious  counsel  of  His 
will,  be  for  your  final  good  ?  Thus  does  the  Lord  graciously 
condescend  to  convince  them  out  of  all  fear ;  and  further,  as 
He  often  does,  founds  His  encouragement  and  exhortation 
upon  that  valuation  of  ourselves  which  our  own  pride  will  never 
allow  to  be  contested.  Ye  cannot  doubt,  surely,  that  ye  are, 
each  of  you,  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows ;  then  ponder 
well  what  follows  from  that !  But  the  Lord  utters  this  word 
with  a  profounder  reference  to  the  proof  and  testing  of  the  chil- 

1  The  counsel  and  will  of  God  are  often  contrary  to  our  thoughts. 
Therefore,  writes  Hamann :  "  Let  all  our  speculations  fall,  like  spar- 
rows, to  the  ground." 

2  Talm.  Hieros.  tit.  Schebiith.  Fol.  38.  col.  4.  A  bird  perishes 
not  without  God,  much  less  a  man. 


MATTHEW  X.  32,  33.         .  47 

dren  of  God  in  the  sight  of  the  Father,  to  that  internal  and 
precious  value,  which  by  sufferings  is  to  be  developed  and 
heightened.  Apply  it  thus,  He  signifies,  and  know  that  just 
because  ye  are  better  than  many  sparrows,  all  this  opposition 
encounters  you,  giving  occasion  for  that  firm  and  resolute  con- 
fession, in  virtue  of  which  you  will  one  day  be  publicly  confessed 
by  your  Lord,  as  immediately  now  follows. 

Vers.  32,  33.  Just  as  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (ch.  vii. 
21 — 23)  a  prophecy  of  rejection  from  the  judgment-seat  of  the 
Son  was  uttered  against  those  who  call  him  Lord,  Lord,  yet 
do  not  the  will  of  the  Father.   There  it  was  said,  Tore  6fio\oyrjarco 
avTols,  and  the  word  has  the  general  signification,  to  speak 
openly  of  anything,  according  to  its  true  character,  comp.  Jno.  i. 
20,  (b/jLoXoyrjae  ical  ov/c  rjpvrjaaTO.     Tit.  i.  16.     We  find  it  more 
definitely  in  relation  to  Christ  in  Jno.  xii.  42,  iTriarevcrav  efa 
avrbv  d\X  ov%  (b/j,o\6yovv,  comp.  1  Jno.  iv.  15.     Here  in  Matt, 
x.  and  also  in  Lu.  xii.  it  is  not  followed  by  the  Accus.  (as  in 
Jno.  ix.  22),  but  by  iv,  which,  although  founded  upon  the 
usage  of  the  Greek,  answers  more  probably  to  the  Hebrew  niln 
with  j,  which  first  indicates  acknowledgment,  then  praise,  and 
finally  the  honour  and  glory  which  are  paid  to  the  Lord  God, 
While  our  Lord  sublimely  arrogates  to  Himself  the  judicial 
decision  and  decrees,  and  that  highest  personality,  also,  on  the 
confession  or  denial  of  which  all  is  suspended,  He  yet  softens 
and  qualifies  the  assumption  by  equalising  and  rendering  mutual 
the  relation  :  He  who  confesseth  me,  shall  be  confessed  by  me  ! 
The  profound  condescension  of  this  expression  is  only  appreciated 
when  we  reflect  upon  the  Old  Testament  niTO  mirT'     He 
confesses  the  stedfast  confessors  as  His  own,  that  is,  in  reality, 
for  the  meaning  can  be  no  other,  Himself  in  them.     And  that, 
indeed,  not  first  at  the  last  day — no,  He  confesses  (or  denies)  at 
once,  and  with  a  reward  which  begins,  at  least,  where  our  true 
confession  is  made.     The  significance  of  that  great  promise  with 
which  the  great  warning  must  run  parallel,  is  now  we  should 
hope  made  so  plain,  and  its  place  in  the  progressive  connexion  of 
this  discourse  so  entirely  vindicated,  that  it  will  not  be  possible 
to  persuade  us  that  it  has  been  transposed  from  the  later  passages 
in  which  it  occurs,  to  this  earlier  place.     The  ovv  binds  it  closely 
with  the  preceding,  for  that  test  of  fidelity  is  still  the  question  ! 


48  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Be  ye  only  so  faithful,  that  the  enemy  may  have  no  power  to 
turn  you  away  from  Me  :  so  may  ye  be  also  assured  of  an  eternal 
recompense,  and  let  that  be  your  consolation  and  encouragement 
before  men  I  But  let  it  be  also  observed,  that  the  discourse  be- 
comes ever  more  general  in  its  tone, — iras  o?Tt?,  with  the  "  Me" 
set  over  against  this  as  the  sole  substance  of  all  confession  that 
is  demanded.  That  no  vain  confession  of  the  lips  is  signified, 
but  the  maintenance  and  consistent  exhibition  of  discipleship  in 
the  whole  life,  in  spite  of  the  world's  enmity  and  even  unto 
death,  is  clear  from  the  whole  discourse,  as  well  as  from  the 
passage  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Consequently,  the  denial, 
against  which  the  threatening  is  directed,  is  not  a  transitory  lapse 
of  personal  weakness,  such  as  was  forgiven  to  Peter,  and  such  as 
very  few  of  the  Lord's  disciples  are  free  from,  but  the  entire 
renunciation  and  abandonment  of  communion  with  the  Lord. 
(Lu.  ix.  26;  2  Tim.  ii.  12).  He  who  may  have  denied  Him,  yet 
without  persistent  obstinacy,  shall  find  grace  through  repentance. 
"  He  who  said  to  the  adulteress : — hath  no  man  condemned  thee, 
neither  do  I  condemn  thee  I  will  also  say  to  us,  and  be  more 
faithful  than  Peter  was  to  Him,  Though  all  men  reject  thee,  yet 
will  not  I !"  (Baxter).  It  is  obvious,  also,  that  while  He  requires 
the  confession  of  the  heart  unconditionally,  He  demands  the  con- 
fession of  the  mouth  only  where  duty  and  usefulness  require  it; 
and  where  its  failure  would  be  a  denial.  Finally,  the  conditions 
between  us  and  Him  are  in  this  matter  the  same  as  in  the  for- 
giveness of  sins  (ch.  vi.  14,  15).  First,  He  acknowledges  us  in 
His  grace,  when  He  receives  us  with  all  our  past  unfaithfulness 
and  denials  upon  us  ;  then  it  is  essential  that  we  confess  Him 
before  men ;  or  otherwise,  His  confession  of  us  as  His  own,  will 
be  retracted  and  denied. 

Vers.  34 — 36.  What  now  follows  down  to  ver.  39t  forms  "  a 
circle  of  ideas  which,"  as  Wizenmann  says,  "  never  came  from  the 
mind  of  mortal,  before  Jesus."  It  is  the  subliming  of  all  the 
prophetic  expectations  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God  into  the 
transcendent,  and  future,  and  heavenly;  in  perfect  correspondence 
with  the  true-  sense  of  all  prophecy,  which  never  could,  however, 
till  now  be  so  clearly  apprehended  and  expressed.  This  is  a 
testimony  which  is  effectually  thrown  in  the  way  of  all  who  would 
build  up  the  kingdom  of  peace  on  this  side ;  from  the  Jews,  whose 


MATTHEW  x.  32—33.  49 

great  delusion  it  unsparingly  overturns,  down  to  the  last  foolish 
builders  in  these  last  days.  In  Lu.  xii.  51 — 53,  the  Lord  once 
more  repeats  the  same  saying,  and  in  the  same  connexion  with 
His  reference  to  His  own  sufferings  and  death  in  ver.  50,  which 
we  have  here  in  vers.  38,  39.  Nevertheless,  although  every 
thing  in  His  kingdom  looks  forward  to  the  beyond  and  the 
future,  to  the  finding  of  life,  in  respect  to  all  who  shall  be  found 
worthy  of  Him,  this  heavenly  kingdom  does  not  give  up  the 
earth.  Upon  it,  and  in  hot  conflict,  must  the  heirs  of  everlasting 
peace  secure  and  prepare  for  their  inheritance.  "  I  came  not  to 
send  peace,  but  a  sword !"  a  terrible  saying  as  it  first  sounds,  but 
in  the  lips  of  Him,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  easily  to  be  understood. 
None  but  He,  the  Gracious  and  meek  One,  the  Son  of  the 
Father's  love,  might  venture  to  speak  so  startling  a  saying  as 
this.  That  He  does  not  mean  the  sword  of  Mahomet,  is  declared 
by  the  consentient  testimony  of  His  word,  His  life,  and  His 
death.  From  ver.  16  downwards,  He  has  been  speaking  of 
nothing  but  the  violence  of  the  world's  might  directed  against 
His  own ;  but  not  one  word  has  He  said  of  their  opposing  force 
to  force.  Swordj  as  figuratively  the  opposite  of  peace,  signifies, 
first  of  all,  tear:  see,  e.g.,  1  Mace.  ix.  70,  73  in  the  Greek;  and 
Jer.  xiv.  13.  But  the  war,  which  the  Lord  fore-announces,  is 
the  Si^ao-at,  division  (Peschito,  ^^q^)  between  those  who  accept, 
and  those  who  reject,  His  peace.  In  Lu.  xii.  it  stands  Siape- 
pLafiov,  for  wThich  Tertullian  in  that  place  reads  pLyaipav. 

First  of  all,  the  Lord  gives  a  general  declaration,  in  opposition 
to  the  delusion  which  sprang  from  a  misunderstanding  of  the 
prophecies  concerning  the  Messiah's  kingdom  of  peace.  He  then 
sustains  His  own  true  interpretation  of  the  prophetic  word  bv  a 
special  citation  from  prophecy  itself,  using  the  language  of  the 
Prophet  Micah. — The  Prophets  prophecy,  indeed,  of  Peace,  e.g., 
Ps.  lxxii.  3,  7 ;  Isa.  ii.  4,  ix.  7  ;  Hagg.  ii.  9 ;  Zech.  ix.  10,  but 
ye  must  not  so  understand  them  as  to  suppose  that  at  my  first 
coming,  and  without  any  further  process,  peace  would  be  imme- 
diately cast  upon  the  earth :  for  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  em- 
phatic ftaXelv,  to  which  in  Lu.  xii.  49,  a  second  (BaXeiv  opposes 
itself.  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  Highest !"  necessarily  precedes, 
"  peace  upon  earth  !"  The  second  cannot  be  attained,  but 
through  the  first,  and  the  conflict  which  secures  it :  therefore 

VOL.  II.  D 


50  THE  GOSPEJL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Christ,  because  He  is  come  to  bring  true  peace,  is  first  of  all  come 
to  disturb  all  false  peace,  and  to  excite  discord  which  is  as  profitable 
as  it  is  indispensable.  The  peace  of  the  house,  family  concord,  is 
the  noblest  and  most  precious  kind  of  peace  upon  earth  :  but  even 
this,  if  it  rests  upon  false  foundation,  cannot  be  left  inviolate,  but 
must  be  disturbed,  though  our  "  gentle  household-ethics"  would 
preserve  it  at  all  costs.  Peace  is  to  be  announced  to  the  house, 
according  to  vers.  12,  13;  but  that  very  announcement  effects 
the  disruption  of  peace.  Let  the  whole  connexion  be  examined 
in  Micah,  where  in  harmony  with  this  (ch.  v.  1 — 4),  the  Mes- 
siah is  predicted  as  the  Peace,  and  His  kingdom  (ch.  iv.  1 — 8) 
as  a  kingdom  of  peace ;  but  then  a  preliminary  war  is  indicated 
in  the  travail  of  the  daughter  of  Zion,  which  precedes  her  bring- 
ing forth.  The  sin  of  corrupted  Israel  (ch.  vi.)  is  the  great 
obstacle,  and  the  kingdom  of  peace  cannot  be  established  other- 
wise than  as  the  late  and  final  goal  of  a  series  of  severe  and  pain- 
ful developments  (ch.  vii.).  The  Lord  takes  the  words  of  this 
quotation  from  this  last  chapter;  regarding  rather  the  general 
scope  of  the  prophecy  as  a  whole,  than  the  individual  reference 
of  the  words  themselves  :  for  whereas  the  Prophet  speaks  of  sin- 
ful discord  as  already  existing  (though  not  without  a  glance,  in 
vers.  5  and  7,  at  the  enmity  which  God's  faithful  ones  experi- 
ence) ;  the  Lord  here  speaks  of  that  discord  which  His  coming 
excites,  even  where  peace  had  been  before  ;  and  hence  He  adds 
this  meaning  to  the  words  of  the  Prophet.  He  would  seem 
thereby  to  throw  out  the  anomalous  idea  that  His  Gospel  would 
have  no  new  effect,  putting  the  circumstances  and  relations 
effected  by  it  on  a  parallel  with  the  hatred  and  discord  of  men  in 
their  sins  generally.  The  avOpwirov  at  the  beginning  has  a 
specific  reference  to  the  close  of  the  citation  fydpol  rov  dvOpoo- 
ttov,  and  contains  a  variation  from  the  Prophet's  words  which 
indicates  a  deeper  meaning.  In  Micah  it  is  only^^  v^'lN  LXX. 
dvhpos,  that  is,  of  a  particular  man  ;  but  the  Lord  more  accu- 
rately describes  by  apOpcoiros,  used  as  in  vers.  17,  32,  33,  men 
generally,  as  he  finds  them  upon  earth,  when  He  comes  and 
offers  them  His  peace.  The  av0pco7roi,  who  persecute,  and  before 
whom  the  confession  is  to  be  maintained,  and  any  individual  man 
who  will  become  His  disciple,  and  confess  Him,  are  in  them- 
selves alike.     But  when  the  Lord  comes  between  them,  there  is 


MATTHEW  X.  37.  51 

separation  effected  between  that  man  who  receives  Him,  and  all 
other  men,  whether  father,  mother,  or  any  dearest  relatives  :  and 
his  own  household  become  the  enemies  of  that  man,  who,  though 
he  hates  none  yet  dares  not  love  any  more  than  Christ ;  the 
enemies  of  such  avOpwtrov  who  cannot  consent  longer  to  maintain 
a  false  peace  wdth  avOptoirois  generally.  The  great  necessity  then 
is  to  give  up  every  earthly  human  relationship  for  the  sake  of 
the  household  and  kingdom  of  God !  The  widening  circle  of 
connexions  is  just  the  same  as  in  Micah  :  first  children  and 
parents,  then  relatives,  of  further  degree  (vvfMpr]  after  the  Heb. 
iT^D)?  then  ol/cicueol,  ]-p  n^tt&M  m  *ne  widest  sense.  It  has  been 
incorrectly  assumed  that  there  are  here  three  examples  of  dis- 
ciples, two  being  of  the  female  sex  :  because  the  young  receive 
the  Gospel,  and  maintain  their  stedfastness  in  following  Christ 
rather  than  the  old,  and  women  rather  than  men.  But  the  Lord 
takes  the  words  directly  from  Micah,  and  consequently  the  signi- 
ficance of  the  selection  must  be  found  here  as  wrell  as  there,  in 
the  idea  that  these  cases  exhibit  the  discord  in  its  most  aggra- 
vated form  :  and  the  concluding  sentence  of  our  Lord  confirms 
this.  Once  more,  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  though  hasty  readers  of 
the  Bible  overlook  it,  that  the  man  here  is  the  confessor  of  Christ, 
and  that  this  passage  is  the  counterpart  of  ver.  21,  looked  at  from 
the  other  side. 

Ver.  37.  Understand  once  more  in  parenthesis  : — Such  divi- 
sion it  is  quite  necessary  to  permit,  nay  to  occasion,  for  my  faith- 
ful ones  must  thus  approve  themselves  worthy  of  me  I1  This  oft- 
repeated  and  severe  saying,  (Lu.  xiv.  20,  xviii.  29)  is  grounded 
upon  the  word  of  Moses  concerning  the  true  priests  and  Levites 
(Deut.  xxxiii.  9,  10),  as  this  again  upon  the  history  in  Ex.  xxxii. 
26—29.  That  which  the  Lord  God  arrogated  in  the  Old  Testa 
ment,  with  strictness  which  required  such  an  outward  exhibi- 
tion :  Christ  now  arrogates  for  His  own  /,  wdiich  takes  the  place 

1  No  sophistry  can  evade  this.  Roos  remarks  with  sprightly  truth, 
that  the  Redeemer  did  not  say  : — The  unskilfulness,  singularity,  undis- 
ciplined speech  of  my  disciples  will,  alas,  attract  to  them  hatred  and 
scorn,  ah  that  they  were  wise  enough  to  come  off  well  with  the 
world!  He  rather  takes  it  all  upon  Himself,  that  He  Himself  provokes 
men,  &c. 


52  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW 

of  God.1  Only  He  who  is  one  with  God  could  thus,  like  God, 
place  Himself  above  father  and  mother,  and  demand  an  exclu- 
sive love,  which  should  sacrifice  even  parental  instinct.  The 
principle  of  Matt.  vi.  24  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  strictly 
applicable  here.  The  rigour  of  the  requirement,  however,  is 
gratified  by  the  perfect  graciousness  of  the  promise  involved  in 
the  af id?  iiov.  Christ  Himself  is  the  exceeding  great  reward  of 
those  who  love  him,  the  greatest  lover  and  the  most  to  be  loved, 
above  all  others.  Because  He  is  and  ever  will  be  such,  He  can 
and  He  must  speak  thus  imperatively  for  ever. 

Yer.  38.  A  new  and  different  meaning  of  the  afyos  jjlcv  dis- 
closes itself  here,  inasmuch  as  the  most  loving  one  has  Himself 
loved  us  even  to  the  death  of  the  cross !  one  thing  is  worthy  of 
another  by  corresponding  to  it,  (which  a%io<$  also  signifies) :  we 
should  therefore  follow  and  cling  to  Him  even  to  disgrace  and 
death.  We,  to  whom  that  future,  for  which  the  Lord  then  pro- 
phecied,  has  become  past  and  present,  understand  this  well ;  but 
how  marvellous  must  have  been  the  sound  of  this  word  concern- 
ing the  cross  from  our  Saviour's  lips,  to  His  first  disciples  !  This 
was  not,  like  other  sayings  which  He  applied,  a  Jewish  proverb, 
and  was  never  found  in  Holy  Writ.2  This  was  more  curiously 
and  anxiously  brooded  over  by  his  followers  than  all  that  had  been 
intimated  in  the  sermon,  or  expressed  in  Matt.  viii.  20;  it 
remained  inexplicable  to  the  disciples,  as  oft  as  He  repeated  it 
(ch.  xvi.  24;  Mar.  x.  21 ;  Lu.  ix.  23),  and  they  could  never  be 
induced  to  receive  it  even  figuratively  in  the  full  force  of  the 
figure.  He  who  will  submit  to  the  death  of  the  cross,  will  esta- 
blish also  a  kingdom  of  the  cross,  before  the  kingdom  of  peace  and 
of  glory  can  enter  in.  He  might  have  said—  My  cross,  but  He 
only  intimates  this  in  the  following  Me  (reflect  upon  ver.  25)  ;  He 
does  not  openly  express  it  Himself,  but  leaves  it  to  His  Apostles 
and  disciples  afterwards  to  speak  of  their  cross  as  His.  The  \<z/x- 
fiaveiv  is  a  strong  expression  derived  from  the  custom,  according 

1  Ah  that  there  were  not  an  effeminate  Church  discipline,  and  house- 
hold morality  for  God's  own  house  too  common  among  its  rulers,  who 
would  at  all  hazards,  maintain  peace,  even  at  last,  between  Christ  and 
Antichist  ! 

2  Neander  brings  forward  a  passage  out  of  Plutarch  (de  sera  numinis 
vindicta  cap.  9),  where  a  similar  expression,  "  to  bear  his  own  cross"  is 


MATTHEW  X.  39.  53 

to  which  malefactors  on  the  way  to  execution  were  required 
patiently  to  take  up  and  carry  the  cross  on  which  they  were  to 
die.  Even  so  must  every  follower  of  Christ  take  up  the  cross, 
which  on  that  account  is  properly  his  own,  and  essential  to  his 
following  his  Lord.  It  is  already  prepared  and  laid  upon  him  : 
that  he  should  make  one  for  himself  is  unnecessary  and  forbidden. 
But  the  following  verse  teaches  us  that  something  deeper  is 
meant1  than  merely  bearing  external  afflictions  for  Christ. 

Ver  39.  The  cross  involved  the  idea  of  the  deepest  disgrace 
and  ignominy,  which  man  could  then  speak  of;  and  the  Lord 
therefore  made  it  imperative  that  His  followers  should  submit  to 
its  infliction,  when  the  wicked  for  righteousness  sake,  and  the 
unbelievers  for  His  name's  sake,  would  have  it  so.  The  cross 
also  was  the  most  painful  death,  consummated  through  the  most 
tedious  agony :  and  His  will  is,  therefore,  that  we  should  stand 
ready  and  prepared  to  endure  this  or  similar  death,  in  the  stead- 
fast confession  of  His  name.  All  this  is  strictly  correct,  but  does 
not  exhaust  the  meaning  of  this  general  and  unconditional  de- 
claration, that  every  follower  of  Christ  shall  have  his  own  cross 
which  he  must  bear  ; — for  not  all  the  disciples  of  Christ  are  so 
evil  entreated  and  scorned,  still  less  crucified  or  cruelly  put 
to  death.  That  the  Lord  speaks  not  merely  of  preparation  for 
extraordinary  conjunctures,  but  of  the  regular,  and  indispensable 
daily  course  of  His  disciples,  is  evident  from  the  letter  of  the 
expression  in  this  passage,  and  especially  from  the  remarkable 
addition  to  it  in  Lu.  ix.  23  :  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up 
his  cross  daily,  naff  rjfiepav.  We  only  find  such  a  saying  in  this 
place,  but  its  genuineness  is  most  decidedly  and  certainly  con- 
firmed by  the  Syr.  Arab,  and  Lat.  versions.  What  then  is  that 
daily  cross,  which  should  never  fail  to  await  the  follower  of 
Christ,  any  more  than  the  plague  of  every  day  (Matt.  vi.  34), 
fails   to  await  every  man  generally?      Ver.  39   gives  us  the 

found.  But  we  are  far  from  concluding  thence  with  him,  that  Christ 
could  have  spoken  or  did  speak  without  any  conscious  reference  to  his 
own  death  upon  the  cross — for  we  have  other  evidence  in  abundance 
concerning  Christ's  consciousness. 

1  This  saying  signifies  very  much  more  than  that  they  must  be 
ever  prepared  for  the  punishment  of  death ! !  (Schleiermacher  zu  Luc. 
xiv.  27.) 


54  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

answer,  and  by  this  conclusion  and  inference  the  former  saying 
concerning  the  cross  must  be  interpreted,  and  not  conversely. 

We  have  once  more  ^jrvxv  in  that  deeper  sense  in  which  we 
found  it  at  ver.  28,  pointing  from  the  life  of  the  body  to  a  yet 
higher  life.  The  striking  declaration, — he  that  findeth  his  life 
shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  shall  find  it, — contains,  if 
both  sayings  are  taken  literally,  a  perfect  contradiction  :  conse- 
quently the  finding  and  losing  must  obviously,  in  the  first  place, 
be  understood  in  different  senses.  We  endeavour  to  extract  the 
consistent  meaning  by  understanding  it — he  who  is  evpcov  to  find 
it,  and  who  thinks  he  has  found  it,  by  avoiding  death  and  who 
makes  it  his  aim  to  preserve  his  temporal  life  (Mar  viii.  34  o?  av 
Be\r)  a&aai,  Jno.  xii.  25  6  (f>i\wv)  shall  lose,  shall  forfeit  it.  But 
does  this  suit  the  second  member — is  6  diroXeaas  he  who  thinks 
to  lose  it  ?  Or  he  who  aims  to  lose  it  ?  Here  something  that 
actually  takes  place  is  intended,  especially  through  the  kveicev 
ifiov.  Consequently,  in  the  second  place,  yfrvxv  also  must  be 
meant  in  two  opposite  senses  : — he  who  gives  up  his  life  in  the 
one  sense,  shall  receive  it  again  in  another  higher  and  better 
sense,  as  his  true  life.  Now,  since  the  most  obvious  reference 
seemed  to  be  to  the  cross  immediately  preceding,  shall  we  har- 
monise it  thus — he  who  loses  his  bodily  life  through  bearing 
witness  unto  death  (ver.  28),  shall  yet  keep  his  life,  shall  find 
another,  for  he  has  only  lost  his  body,  not  essentially  his  life  or 
his  soul  ?  This  will  not  suffice,  for  the  promise  would  then  have 
no  distinctive  relation  to  those  who  die  for  His  sake,  since  in  that 
sense  the  soul  can  never  be  killed  or  be  lost.  It  is  now  time  to 
think  of  St  Luke's  na&  r)/j,epav,  and  of  the  apvnadada)  or  dirap- 
vnadcrOo)  eavrov  which  is  connected  with  it  (as  also  in  Mar.  viii. 
34;  Matt.  xvi.  24) — let  him  deny  himself!  It  is  in  this  word 
that  we  are  to  seek  the  key  and  explanation  of  the  cross,  the 
meaning  of  that  life,  which  must  absolutely  be  lost,  and  be  con- 
tinually surrendered  to  a  painful  death,  in  order  to  the  finding 
of  the  true  and  better  life.  The  cross  is  the  death  of  the  old  life 
for  the  putting  away  of  sin,  that  the  resurrection  of  a  new  life 
from  God  and  for  God  may  follow  unto  holiness.  The  -^vyf} 
which  is  to  be  killed,  which  must  be  crucified,  is  the  sinful  self- 
life  of  the  old  man,  which  is  truly  death ;  and  this  dead  life 
must  be  mortified  and  lost  by  an  internal,  continual  crucifixion 


MATTHEW  X.  39.  55 

and  self-denial  (of  which  the  taking  up  of  the  external  cross  is 
only  an  external  expression),  in  order  that  we  may  find  the 
living  life,  our  sanctified,  glorified,  and  eternal  life.  Our  Lord's 
teaching,  therefore,  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  St  Paul  after- 
wards, in  Rom.  vi.  4 — 11 ;  viii.  13.  The  promise,  therefore,  of 
an  abounding,  compensating  Jife  to  all  who  are  put  to  death  by 
man  for  Christ's  sake,  however  true  this  superficial  sense  of  it 
may  be,  is  only  the  confirming  sign  and  symbol  of  an  inward 
meaning,  which  has  its  application  for  all.  This,  then,  is  the  last 
and  deepest  ground  on  which  the  necessity  of  the  &lx^€ iv,  (ver. 
34),  is  based.  For  that  which  must  take  place  in  the  world  as  a 
whole,  must  also  be  accomplished  in  the  microcosm  of  every 
individual  inheritor  of  peace,  and  eternal  life — the  separation 
and  abolition  of  the  sinful.  He  who  does  not  comprehend  and 
submit  to  this,  consequently,  in  the  retaining  of  his  old  self-life 
regards  himself  as  having  found  his  ifrvx/},  *s  ^os^  :  but  ne  wno 
gives  up,  in  the  fellowship  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  all  that  which 
must  die  and  pass  away,  has  by  such  loss  obtained  the  gain  of 
eternal  blessedness.  Thus  the  great  evprjaeo  forms  a  transition 
to  the  promise  of  reward  and  victory,  after  the  struggles  and  the 
pains  of  the  great  finished  warfare,  whether  viewed  as  external 
or  internal,  in  the  microcosm  of  the  world,  or  the  microcosm  of 
the  Christian's  life. 

But  at  this  concluding  point  our  Lord's  design  is  to  lead  back 
His  discourse  to  the  point  from  which  it  started,  and  with  which 
it  must  close,  and  to  wind  it  up  as  one  entire  whole,  which  com- 
mencing with  the  first  mission  of  the  Apostles,  rose  gradually  to 
all  these  high  and  lofty  prospects.  After  having,  therefore, 
spoken  more  especially,  from  ver.  32  downwards,  with  reference 
to  all  His  future  disciples  with  the  formula  iras  oo-t*?  and  o?, 
He  now  returns  once  more  to  His  first  Apostles,  in  whom  He 
beholds  all  their  and  His  own  future  successors.  Hence  the 
promise  of  ver.  40  stands  simply  as  it  does,  addressing  the 
Apostles  particularly  by  the  you,  and  yet  setting  forth  the 
promise  as  only  implicite  for  them,  for  He  passes  through  them 
to  a  universal  reference — He  that  receiveth  you  !  But  He  im- 
mediately generalizes  what  had  been  said  to  the  airo<nokoi<; 
distinctively,  and  in  their  highest  dignity,  and  descends  from 
three  stages ;  confirming  in  the  promises  which  He  addresses  to 


50  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

those  who  receive  them  and  believe,  His  ambassadors  and  wit- 
nesses of  every  degree  as  those  in  whom  He  will  acknowledge 
Himself  to  be  represented.  The  first  word  ascends  even  to  the 
airoaretka^,  from  whom  He  came  forth  into  the  world :  the  last 
condescends  even  to  the  lu/cpok,  whom  He  nevertheless  regards 
as  His  messengers. 

Yer.  40.  The  he-^eaOav  refers  back  to  ver.  14,  and  has  now 
fully  unfolded  itself  as  meaning  now  no  longer  the  mere  external 
reception  and  hearing  of  those  who  in  their  preliminary  mission 
brought  the  first  peaceful  greetings  of  the  kingdom  nigh  at  hand, 
but  the  acceptance  and  following  of  their  whole  message  and 
preaching,  with  faith  which  leads  to  full  diseipleship.  The  and 
is  a  progression  of  the  promise,  and  is  at  the  same  time  equivalent 
to  as  :  for  in  Jno.  xx.  21,  when  the  time  in  special  fulfilment 
was  now  fully  come,  the  Lord  repeats  the  same  impressive  words 
to  His  Apostles  : — as  my  Father  hath  sent  me  even  so  send  I 
you.  The  words  which  we  have  here,  had  been  before  that 
literally  repeated  (Jno.  xiii.  20),  and  with  the  additional  intima- 
tion that  the  authority,  which  in  its  fullest  force  appertained  to 
the  Apostles  alone,  should  be  shared  in  his  degree  by  every  suc- 
cessor: iav  riva  ire^a.  (As  in  Lu.  x.  16,  the  same  is  said  to 
the  seventy,  with  the  addition  of  the  opposite  despising,  and  its 
consequence,  which  would  not  have  befitted  the  character  of 
promise  which  marks  the  conclusion  here).  But  the  first 
member — He  that  receiveth  you,  receiveth  Me,  is  only  true 
through  grace ;  the  second — He  that  receiveth  Me,  receiveth 
the  Father,  is  essentially  and  fully  true  in  itself.  For  no 
man,  not  even  an  apostle,  can  predicate  of  his  relation  to 
Christ  the  words  and  meaning  of  Jno.  xiv.  9,  10 ;  it  is  not  so 
much  in  their  case  the  person,  sinful  and  infirm,  which  is  con- 
cerned, but  the  office,  in  which  the  Lord  acknowledges  whom  He 
sends,  and  will  have  himself  acknowledged.  He  Himself  even, 
in  a  certain  sense,  required  to  be  honoured,  not  so  much  in  His 
human  personality,  as  of  being  the  Sent  of  the  Father :  and  thus  it 
is  that  though  one  with  the  Father,  He  here  humbly  places  him- 
self on  a  level  of  relation  with  them.  He  draws  His  own  up  to 
Himself,  while  as  the  first  and  highest  airoaTokos  (Heb.  iii.  1) 
he  stoops  down  again  to  them.  It  is  the  same  humility,  always 
going  side  by  side  with  His  majesty,  with  which  He  places  His 


MATTHEW  X.  41 — 42.  57 

"  Me"  under  the  airoaTetkavrd,  even  as  He  had  said  (ver.  32) — 
him  will  I  confess  also  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 
The  Son  bears  witness  upon  earth,  by  testimonies  which  per- 
fectly accord,  both  to  His  sovereignty  over  all  things,  and  to  His 
dependence  upon  the  Father. 

Vers.  41 — 42.  The  three  descending  stages  below  the  airoa- 
t6\ois  are : — a  servant,  ambassador,  witness  sent  of  God,  in 
general,  who  might  be  called  in  the  New  Testament,  irpo^rjTr)*;, 
because  the  new  apostolical  dignity  had  now  reduced  what  was 
once  the  highest,  to  the  second  place  (hence  ch.  xxiii.  34 ;  Lu. 
xi.  49)  : — a  8i/eaio$  or  righteous  man  before  God,  one  who  be- 
longed to  His  saints  (Acts  ix.  13)  though  without  special  mis- 
sion : — finally  a  fiad^rrj^  even  though  he  were  a  pa/cpos,  or  weak 
beginner,  for  out  of  these  fiucpoU  the  Si/caioi,  and  the  TrpocfarJTai 
spring,  and  the  Lord  will  have  eva  tovtcov  received  also  ek 
ovofia  puaOnrdv.1  The  promise  is  now  given  to  the  receiving  and 
to  the  received  in  one,  just  as  in  ver.  22.  ecreaOe  /jlio~ovpl€vol  was 
fore-announced  at  once  to  the  preachers,  and  to  those  who  be- 
lieved their  testimony.  The  he^eaOat  is  also  regarded  in  the 
different  corresponding  degrees,  from  the  believing  obedience 
which  is  paid  to  the  testimony  received  down  to  the  slightest  re- 
freshment which  is  afforded  in  the  love  of  the  faith  to  the  needy 
man  because  he  is  a  disciple  of  Christ.  All  is  embraced  again 
within  these  two  extremes,  similarly  as  in  vers.  28  and  30  we 
observed  between  death  and  the  losing  of  a  hair  of  the  head.  Ek 
ovop,a  means,  as  frequently  in  the  Mischna  q^  S^?  Dtt?D>  D^tZJft' 
Dtl^>  f°r  tne  sake  of  anything : — and  in  this  that  faith  is 
presupposed  even  in  the  least  exhibition  of  love,  which  makes 
its  subjects  capable  of  the  reception  of  Christ  in  His  ser- 
vants, of  the  acknowledgment  of  His  name,  and  only  thus  of 
the   confession   which  will  be  rewarded.      He   who  has  done 

1  We  do  not  feel  ourselves  under  obligation  to  give  up  this  interpre- 
tation, so  conformable  to  the  context,  on  account  of  Lange's  opposition, 
whose  profoundly  abstract,  ideal  exposition  we  willingly  leave  our 
readers  to  compare  with  our  own,  and  prefer  it  if  they  may.  We  refer, 
on  our  part,  to  the  digest  which  we  have  given  above,  of  the  third 
portion  of  the  discourse,  according  to  which  the  great  conclusion  which 
extends  to  all  the  messengers  of  the  Lord,  naturally  requires  such 
"  various  degrees  beneath  the  high  Apostolical  dignity." 


58  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

good  to  the  confessors  of  Christ,  from  merely  natural  feeling, 
quand  m^me  not  parceque,  derives  not  from  thence  any  connexion 
with  His  legitimate  and  finally  victorious  kingdom.  Yet  does 
this  "in  the  name"  descend  in  its  comprehension  to  the 
lowest  grade  of  faith,  even  that  which  simply  fears  to  deny  to  a 
disciple  of  Christ  the  cup  of  cold  water ;  and  the  reward,  as  it  is 
expressly  declared,  bears  strict  relation  to  the  reception  which 
His  disciples  meet.  He  who  can  perceive  and  acknowledge  the 
prophet  as  a  prophet,  and  the  righteous  man  as  a  righteous  man, 
will  partake  of  his  reward — "  for  through  such  reception  he 
characterizes  himself  as  likeminded  with  him  whom  he  receives."1 
In  the  case  of  the  fjLL/cpol,  whose  ttotl&lv  is  here  something  dif- 
ferent from,  and  less  than  what  is  meant  in  ch.  xviii.  5,  the  Lord 
descends  below  the  actual  he^eaOai :  therefore  He  does  not  pro- 
mise to  such  the  reward  of  a  disciple,  but  simply  (as  Mar.  ix.  41), 
that  he  shall  not  lose  his  reward,  that  reward  which  is  appropriate 
to  him  for  that  act.  For  every  deed  actually  performed  in  love 
has  its  future  reward  (ch.  vi.  2),  if  the  right  to  it  is  not  extin- 
guished by  preponderating  sin  :  which  brings  to  mind  Lu.  xvi.  9 
(the  preparatory  reception  into  the  kingdom  of  peace,  even 
though  only  as  a  Gibeonite  and  drawer  of  water  cum  spe  ascen- 
dendi),  as  well  as  Matt.  xxv.  40  (where  mercy  will  rejoice  against 
judgment,  Jas.  ii.  13).  Suffice  that  though  the  manner  of  the 
fulfilment  of  those  sayings  remains  among  the  mysteries  of  the 
last  things,  thus  much  remains  clear  in  this  most  gracious  con- 
clusion of  far-reaching  promise,  that  the  Lord  designs  to  comfort 
His  own  with  His  assurance  that  they  are  regarded  by  Him  as 
precious,  and  that  the  estimation  in  which  they  are  held  by  man, 
will  be  matter  of  man's  final  judgment ;  that  the  least  thing  as 
well  as  the  greatest  in  the  development  of  His  struggling  king- 
dom, and  in  the  fates  of  those  who  struggle  for  it,  is  regarded  and 
recorded  in  their  favour !  There  will  come  finally  a  day  of 
reckoning  which  will  superabundantly  reward  all  that  will  deserve 
reward.  Against  that  day  the  Lord  gives  His  disciples  the  bond 
of  His  third,  "  verily  I  say  unto  you,"  as  the  seal  of  His  eternal 
Amen  : — "  I  Jesus  have  said  it  with  mine  own  mouth,  I  will  re- 
pay it."     (Philem.  19).      Thus  speaks  He  in  His  grace  only  of 

1  Krummacher's  Elias,  drittes  Bandchen.  p.  210. 


MATTHEW  XI.  4—30.  59 

recompence ;  but  lets  also  the  undertone  of  denunciation  against 
those  who  despise  proclaim  itself  to  those  who  understand — ver. 
15.     (Lu.  x.  16). 


THE  REPLY  AND  DISCOURSE  CONCERNING  JOHN  S 
IMPRISONMENT. 

Matt.  xi.  4—30 ;  Lu.  vii.  22—35  (xvi.  16,  x.  13—22). 

The  opinion  was  first  broached  by  Tertullian,  that  John  him- 
self in  his  prison  had  become  subject  to  weakness  and  obscura- 
tion of  faith,  and  had  admitted  into  his  mind  doubts  concerning 
Christ's  person, — an  opinion  which  was  often  refuted  in  earlier 
times,  and,  indeed,  might  seem  to  be  very  easy  of  refutation.  We 
should  be  disposed,  if  it  were  urgently  demanded,  to  concede 
whatever  truth  there  might  be  in  its  fundamental  principle,  viz., 
that  the  manifestation  of  Christ's  kino-dom  was  to  his  mind  too 
long  deferred,  and  that  he  would,  by  this  public  and  solemn 
question,  challenge  the  Lord  to  answer  him  by  quicker  action. 
Scarcely  have  we  declared  this,  however,  but  we  must  again 
retract  it,  in  deference  to  our  own  clear  convictions.  Presuppos- 
ing the  contents  of  Jno.  i.  and  hi.  27 — 36  to  be  true,  it  seems 
impossible,  both  on  grounds  of  human  psychology  and  Divine 
administration,  that  this  Witness  to  the  coming  Light,  created 
by  God  and  sent  as  such,  in  order  that  all  might  believe  in  it, 
should  have  afterwards  scandalized  the  world  by  his  own  un- 
belief. It  is,  moreover,  just  as  impossible,  that  imprisonment 
should  have  proved  too  severe  for  the  Man  of  the  Wilderness,  or 
that  the  Meek  and  Lowly  One,  whom  His  Forerunner  had 
instantly  felt,  when  He  came  to  His  baptism,  to  be  the  Lamb  of 
God,  the  appointed  atonement,  should  ever  have  been  thought  by 
that  Forerunner  too  meek  and  too  lowly  in  His  journeyings  of 
mercy.  It  is  equally  impossible  that  he  who  from  beginning  to 
end,  bowed  in  such  undoubting  and  profound  homage  before 
Christ,  as  the  servant  before  His  Lord,  as  the  earthly  before  the 
heavenly,  should  ever  have  ventured  to  think  of  interfering  with 
the  Lofty  One,  by  the  slightest  word  of  human  impatience.  But 
let  us  now  directly  observe  how  the  Lord  in  His  discourse  inline- 


60  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

diately  commences  in  honour  of  John.  He  disclaims  for  him  (not 
without  a  design  Himself  to  contradict  the  misunderstanding  of 
his  message,  which  might  possibly  arise),  in  ver.  7,  all  inconstancy, 
and  in  ver.  8,  all  impatient  desire  of  better  days  than  he  then 
saw,  with  a  reference  to  his  well-known  character  from  the  very 
beginning.  Let  us  go  on  to  hear,  with  ears  rightly  disposed,  the 
impressive  confirmation  of  vers.  11 — 19,  where  the  testimony  of 
the  Forerunner  come,  is  made  the  foundation  for  the  assurance  that 
the  Messiah  is  also  come ;  and  we  can  no  longer  permit  ourselves 
to  regard  the  warning  of  ver.  6,  as  a  hint  which  the  Baptist 
himself  required,  and  which  might  meet  his  own  case.  They 
who  still  think  so,  have  not  yet  understood  aright  the  whole 
discourse  of  our  Lord,  which  indeed  as  a  continuous  answer  most 
decisively  explains  the  meaning  of  the  question  which  had  been 
sent.  No,  John  acts  in  the  prison,  where  He  had  heard  from 
his  disciples  what  He  had  received  as  no  other  than  the  "  works 
of  the  Christ"  (Lu.  vii.  18),1  in  precise  conformity  with  his  own 
great  function,  to  point  his  disciples  to  this  Christ.  Because, 
while  they  are  dependent  on  himself,  they  are  not  thoroughly 
disposed  to  trust  to  his  own  words  alone,  he  sends  them  to  Christ 
that  they  may  ask  Him  themselves  ;  and  for  their  encouragement 
in  going,  He  meekly  permits  them  to  do  this  as  from  himself, 
and  by  his  commission  ;  careless  of  any  misconstruction  which 
might  ensue,  and  leaving  its  solution  to  His  Lord  who  well 
knows  his  mind. 

Nearly  thus  was  the  question  viewed  by  Chrysostom,  Euthy- 
mius,  Uieophylact,  &c,  among  the  Fathers.  Now,  indeed,  I 
stand  almost  alone  (even  since  the  first  edition  of  the  present 
work)  in  the  maintenance  of  this  opinion  ;  since  most  even  of 
the  later  orthodox  expositors,  with  strange  earnestness  declare 
themselves  for  an  actual  doubt  on  the  part  of  the  Baptist,  a 
wTavering  or  defeat  of  his  faith,  a  "reaction  from  his  earlier 
position,"  &c.2     They  can  bring  many  arguments  for  their  view, 

1  Alford  is  not  quite  right  when  he  says  that  "  this  is  the  only  place 
where  that  name  (tov  xpto-roi)),  standing  alone,  is  given  to  our  Lord  in 
this  Gospel."  Properly  speaking  it  is  not  so  given  here,  but  it  is  only 
designed  to  say,  that  John  heard  "  the  Messiah- works  (of  this  Jesus). '» 

2  Lange  adheres  undeviatingly  by  his  opinion  a  that  even  the  Baptist 
must  be  regarded  as  having  been,   for  a  moment,  among  those  who 


MATTHEW  XL  4 — 30.  CI 

and  some  of  them  containing  much  truth  in  themselves.  As  a 
general  position,  for  instance,  we  are  willing  to  admit  that 
believers,  men  of  God,  may  fall,  and  from  time  to  time  have 
fallen,  into  such  obscurations  of  faith :  but  we  cannot,  by  any 
means,  admit  the  application  of  it  to  the  present  case.  This 
would  not  be  a  sudden  paroxysm  of  weakness  in  faith,  such  as 
every  Christian  knows  by  experience,1  but  would  involve  the 
deliberate,  palpable,  public  scandal  of  the  retractation  of  the 
testimony,  officially  given  at  an  earlier  time,  and  of  the  utmost 
importance,  by  the  same  Person  "who  came  for  a  witness" 
(Jno.  i.  7)  :  and  such  an  anomaly  would  be  without  precedent 
among  all  the  prophets,  messengers,  and  witnesses  of  God. 

The  excellent  Nearider,  even,  expresses  his  opinion,  that  while 
"  scientific  knowledge  and  judgments,  once  obtained  by  logical 
induction,  can  never  again  be  lost,  while  the  powers  of  the  mind 
remain  unimpaired,"  the  convictions  of  faith,  which  spring  from 
processes  of  the  higher  life,  are  not  so  secure  and  lasting ;  but 
what  shall  we  say  to  this,  with  the  shifting,  changeable  scientific 
perceptions  and  logical  inductions  of  our  learned  philosophers 
before  us !  We  rather  maintain,  with  the  fullest  assurance  of 
rightj  that  what  comes  to  us  from  above  as  revelation,  is  far  more 
immovably  rooted  in  the  mind  than  our  philosophy  and  logic : 
and  that  most  assuredly  what  is  revealed  for  the  administration 
of  a  testimony  of  the  highest  importance  could  never  be  left 
exposed  to  the  consequences  of  the  human  infirmity  of  the  wit- 
ness, and  thereby  to  the  eventual  public  contradiction  of  that 
testimony.  The  Divine  permission  may  allow  it  to  be  so  with 
us  preachers  and  theologians ;  but  the  Baptist  whose  preroga- 
tive it  was  to  herald  the  Messiah  into  the  Jewish  nation  and  the 
world,  occupied,  in  the  counsels  and  plans  of  God  for  His  king- 
dom, so  high  an  official  position,  that  we  cannot  suppose  him  to 
have  been  permitted  by  God  to  sink  below  it  for  a  moment. 
We  beg  that  this  point  may  be  carefully  observed,  as  it  is  generally, 
in  consequence  of  a  want  of  adherence  to  the  entireness  of  this 

misapprehended  Christ  " — against  which,  the  second  verse  of  St  Mat- 
thew, well  weighed,  already  protests.     Ficker,  in  his  Sermons,  "  The 
Doubters  of  the  New  Testament,"  devotes  to  our  text  the  third  of  his 
sermons,  and  places  the  Baptist  himself  among  the  doubters. 
1  Thus  Hengstenberg  in  his  Christologie. 


62  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

plan,  most  unwarrantably  overlooked.  When  John  the  Baptist 
testifies  of  Christ  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  testimony  must  rest 
upon  a  perception  unclouded  and  distinct,  penetrating  into  the 
Scripture  truth,  and  firmly  held  in  the  spirit :  a  perception  and 
assurance,  to  say  the  least,  as  little  likely  to  be  lost  as  any  logical 
induction  !  In  Neander  himself  we  perceive  traces  of  a  suspi- 
cion that  his  view  is  untenable  and  discordant,  since  he  ventures 
to  affirm  that  the  author  of  the  report  of  the  doubting  question 
could  not  have  been  acquainted  with  the  earlier  testimony  borne 
by  the  Baptist  to  Jesus,  else  he  would  not  have  failed  to  notice 
it  in  his  account ! !  How  little  disposed  we  are  to  concede  such 
ignorance  in  the  Evangelists,  our  readers  well  know. 

According  to  von  Gerlach,  "  John,  notwithstanding  his  illu- 
mination for  the  earlier  testimony,  stood  yet  within  the  economy 
of  the  Old  Covenant,  and  had  the  same  internal  conflict,  as  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  had  afterwards  ;  for  he  found  that,  quite  con- 
trary to  his  supposition,  the  Kingdom  of  God  did  not  appear  in 
external  manifestation  of  power."  Actually  the  same,  does  he 
think,  as  that  of  the  disciples  while  yet  receiving  their  training 
and  not  yet  installed  into  their  office  ?  And  did  not  his  prophetic 
illumination,  about  which  we  hear  nothing  in  the  case  of  the 
disciples,  his  official  grace  and  official  consecration  make  any 
difference  in  his  favour  1  The  Ambassador  and  his  public  cha- 
racter as  such  are  too  much  lost  sight  of  in  the  mere  personal 
man.  Nor  is  there  the  slightest  trace  in  his  earlier  public  testi- 
monies of  any  proof  that  he  did  intend  to  announce  a  kingdom 
of  external  authority.  They  say  further  that  "  in  his  tempta- 
tion he  lost  the  tokens  of  the  divine  enlightenment" — but  I 
would  ask  again  whether  an  Isaiah  in  the  economy  of  the  Old 
Testament  would  have  lost  again  such  tokens  ?  Now  the  Bap- 
tist is  greater  than  all  the  Prophets  before  him,  and  stands  upon 
the  very  threshold  of  the  New  Covenant.  That  single  word  con- 
cerning-the  Lamb  of  God  reveals  to  us  a  degree  of  certain  know- 
ledge, which,  while  in  harmony  with  the  illumination  of  all 
former  prophecy,  left  no  room  for  the  Messianic  expectations  to 
which  the  Jews  of  that  age  gave  up  their  minds,  and  into  which 
the  disciples  themselves  also  fell.  If  the  utmost  were  granted, 
that  he  for  a  while  doubted,  pondered,  wavered  in  his  prison 
(which,  however  we  do  not  believe)  ;  yet  the  open  and  public 


MATTHEW  XI.  4—30.  63 

question  could  never  have  been  permitted  of  God !  Von  Gerlach 
again  makes  a  move  in  the  right  direction,  when  he  says  that  "  it 
was  his  desire,  at  the  same  time,  to  direct  his  disciples  to  Jesus, 
through  the  resolution  of  the  doubt" — to  this  we  also  adhere, 
but  if  he  had  desired  the  satisfaction  of  any  mere  doubt,  for  his  own 
sake,  he  would  not  have  asked,  in  a  plain,  broad  question, — art 
thou  or  art  thou  not  the  Messiah  ?  It  is  rather  the  very  striking 
point  of  the  question,  which  appears  to  be  the  doubting  converse 
of  his  own  previous  testimony  (This  is  He !),  that  in  its  back- 
ground it  presupposes  him  to  mean  (as  all  the  people,  after  the 
discourse  of  Jesus  would  observe)  : — For  my  own  part,  I  know 
and  have  borne  my  witness,  but  let  Him  tell  you  Himself,  my 
disciples,  that  ye  may  believe,  (Jno.  i.  7.)  Every  thoughtful 
mind  must  have  thus  understood  this  question  put  by  this  witness  ; 
must  have  supposed  that  another  meaning  lay  beneath  it ;  some- 
thing as  if  the  minister  of  state  should  let  the  king  be  asked,  if  he 
were  really  king. 

Finally,  it  is  said  that  the  "  obscuration"  which  befell  the 
"  witness  of  the  light,"  did  not  consist  in  any  uncertainty  as  to 
the  person  of  the  Lord  (this,  however,  is  the  literal  sense  of  his 
question,  which,  consequently,  is  given  up  in  its  letter),  so  much 
as  in  a  kind  of  "  impatience"  which  could  not  await  the  critical 
time  j1  but  we  have  radical  scruples  about  this,  for  not  only  must 
it  necessarily  have  sprung  from  a  dreary  lack  of  spiritual  per- 
ception in  John,  but  it  would  further  involve  a  contradiction  to 
that  ever  humble  relation  of  John  to  the  Lord,  which  would  have 
rendered  such  reminding  and  prompting  utterly  impossible  to 
him.  Lossel2  lately  has  put  this  in  the  most  objectionable  form  : 
"  Scarcely  was  he  in  the  prison  than  the  time  began  to  seem 
already  long,  before  Jesus  began  to  glorify  Himself  in  him  (?), 
and  thus  failing,  he  not  only  entertained  doubts  himself,  but  in- 
fected his  disciples  also."  This  is  thoughtless  and  foolish  lan- 
guage concerning  the  greatest  Prophet,  who  himself  well  knew 
His  fate  as  a  prophet,  and  suffered  patiently,  all  the   more 

1  To  Hase,  "  it  was  not  doubt  but  monition."  As  Lange  thinks 
"  the  question  of  John  has  not  been  sufficiently  considered  in  the  light 
of  an  impatient  desire  for  Christ's  open  manifestation. 

2  In  his  Wochenblatte :— Der  Fischer.     1845.  No.  50. 


64  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

patiently  as  he  had  announced  for  the  Messiah  only  the  death  of 
a  victim. 

In  opposition  to  all  these  various  hypotheses,  whether  strongly 
or  firmly  held,  of  otherwise  orthodox  men,  I  cannot  but  take  my 
stand  with  Niemeyer  who  in  his  Charakteristik  der  Bibel  (new 
edit.,  i.,  p.  57)  firmly  adheres  to  the  right,  against  all  these  un- 
tenable views,  and  though  not  following  the  hitherto  orthodox  in 
other  respects,  does  so  with  great  simplicity  of  judgment;  and  with 
Schleiermacher,  who  sets  out  with  the  assertion  that  "  John  him- 
self could  not  have  entertained  doubts  as  to  the  Messiahship  of 
Jesus,"  although  he  then  hazards  the  supposition  that  the  words 
of  the  messengers  have  been  by  abbreviation  placed  in  that  false 
light.  We  think  this  latter  idea  not  at  all  necessary.  As  those 
words  lie  in  the  record,  John  does  not  merely  permit  a  question 
to  be  asked  "  for  appearance,"  an  idea  which  is  instantly  rejected, 
but  with  an  earnestness  which  both  Jesus  and  the  people  under- 
stood, bids  his  disciples  to  go  and  ask  Him  themselves.  We  can- 
not see  anything  inappropriate  in  this  view,  and  its  acceptance 
alone  makes  the  whole  procedure  conceivable  and  comprehensible. 
u  To  direct  his  disciples  to  Jesus,  nothing  more  would  be  wanting 
than  distinctive  explanations  from  their  master,"  is  the  opinion  of 
Braune,  but  we  cannot  agree  to  this,  for  in  the  case  of  the  greater 
part  of  John's  disciples,  who  were  not  induced  to  go  to  Christ,  the 
direct  contrary  was  the  fact !  Nor  was  it  a  "  circuitous  way," 
but  the  only  one  which  would  succeed  with  some,  to  send  them 
directly  to  the  Lord.1 

But  enough  of  preliminary  polemics  and  defence,  let  us  go  to 
the  text.  What  St  Matthew  communicates  in  this  entire  chapter, 
is  a  progressive  series  of  sayings,  spoken  in  continuation,  just  as 
they  are  here  connected :  aud  forming  one  great  concerted  dis- 
course, gradually  advancing  towards  its  climax,  which,  in  vers. 
27 — 30,  gives  the  most  complete  answer  to  the  question  which 

1  Alford  will  not  altogether  accept  my  view,  but  concedes  that  "  the 
idea  of  his  faith  being  weakened  by  his  imprisonment  is  quite  incon- 
sistent not  only  with  John's  character,  but  with  our  Lord's  discourse  in 
this  place."  Be  it  so!  If  he  now,  being  himself  convinced,  only 
desired  a  declaration  from  our  Lord's  own  mouth,  this  declaration  cer- 
tainly was  not  intended  for  his  own  sake,  but  for  his  disciples,  to  settle 
them,  to  "  set  them  at  rest"  as  Alford  himself  says.  Wherein,  in  that 
case,  do  we  differ  ? 


MATTHEW  XI.  4 — 30.  65 

had  been  received.  The  Evangelist  plainly  asserts  this  in  vers. 
7  and  20,  (in  both  cases  alike  rjp^aro),  and  in  ver.  25,  iv  eiceivco 
tu>  fcaipw  aTTOicpiOel?  ;  and  it  is  no  objection  to  this  that  St  Luke, 
who,  in  ch.  vii.,  gave  the  greatest  part  of  this  discourse  in  literal 
unison  with  St  Matthew,  has  afterwards  recorded  sundry  repeti- 
tions of  it  as  actually  uttered  on  another  occasion,  ch.  x.  and  ch. 
xvi.  16.  We  do  right,  therefore,  to  regard  the  whole,  as  it  here 
lies  before  us,  as  the  discourse  of  Jesus  on  occasion  of  the  message 
of  John ;  and  shall  take  a  general  glance  at  the  process  of  thought 
in  its  advancing  development,  before  we  enter  on  the  exposition 
itself.  The  well-disposed  reader,  to  whom  our  summaries  have 
already  commended  themselves,  will  find  this  arrangement  con- 
firmed, by  reading  it  again  after  the  exposition  has  been  read. 
The  one  fundamental  theme  from  beginning  to  end  may  be  thus 
expressed.  The  Lord  speaks  of  the  faith  and  unbelief  of  His 
own  generation,  in  the  twofold  testimony  extant  in  it,  which 
both  prepared  for  and  offered  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  the  king- 
dom which  was  as  assuredly  come  as  the  two  ep^ofievot  were. 

The  whole  resolves  itself  into  three  main  sections — for  in  the 
things  of  God,  we  find  almost  everywhere  a  trichotomy.  First 
is  the  direct  answer  to  those  who  were  sent  (vers.  4 — 6),  as  an 
introductory  preface,  wrhich  already  intimates  all  that  follows  : 
then  (vers.  7 — 19),  the  continuous  discourse  to  the  people  con- 
cerning John  and  the  Christ,  in  their  harmony  with  one  another, 
and  consentient  testimony;  finally,  from  ver.  21  onwards,  the 
conclusion  addressed  to  the  faith  and  unbelief  of  His  own  age, 
uttered  with  the  highest  contrasts  of  severity  and  gentleness. 

I.  The  answer  to  the  messengers  points  out  the  manifest  signs 
of  Him  who  has  come,  both  in  His  dignity  and  in  His  humility — 
as  shown  in  miracles  and  in  preaching,  whose  agreement  both 
with  prophecy  and  with  each  other,  should  be  evidence  enough 
for  faith ;  and  in  that  lowliness,  also  the  subject  of  prophecy,  at 
which  unbelief  takes  offence.  In  this  the  two  following  section 
are  already  sketched  and  prepared  for,  which  may  be  defined  as 
first,  intelligence  concerning  the  marks  of  the  testimony  now 
among  them,  but  which  so  few  believed,  and  then  warning 
against  unbelief;  at  the  close  of  the  whole,  however,  there  is 
an  additional  invitation  to  faith,  proceeding  from  most  obvious 
mercy  and   grace.      The  indication   of  the  signs  in   working 

VOL.  II.  E 


66  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

is  directed  apparently  to  John  at  first,  from  whom  the  ques- 
tion came ;  as  the  gracious  One  was  not  willing  harshly  to  disclose 
before  the  people  by  any  word  of  His  the  state  of  things  in  the 
messengers  themselves,  to  their  shame  and  offence.  First,  it  is 
given  generally,  those  things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see ;  then 
foll.ows  specific  statement  in  consistency  with  prediction.  In 
ver.  6,  however,  there  follows  another  sign  of  the  appearance  of 
the  Messiah,  also  the  subject  of  prophecy,  but  which  is  a  stum- 
bling-block to  men :  and  the  Lord  uses  such  an  expression  as  must 
refer  to  the  disciples  of  John,  first  of  all,  (a  slight  contrast  with 
their  Master  being  implied),  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  all  who  are 
unbelievers.  Warning  and  promise  to  unbelief  and  to  faith,  are 
here  interwoven ;  and  consequently  we  may  regard  yuaKapios  as 
being  a  prelude  to  the  gracious  invitation  which  in  vers.  28 — 30 
forms  the  conclusion.1 

II.  In  order,  however,  decisively  to  prevent  all  misunderstand- 
ing of  the  mission,  and  that  He  may  take  the  question,  in  the 
sense  in  which  John  put  it,  as  occasion  for  a  further  and  true 
answer  to  it,  the  Lord  proceeded,  when  the  messengers  had 
departed,2  to  speak  to  the  people  concerning  John.  But  He 
speaks  of  John  as  the  Forerunner  who  had  come,  and  conse- 
quently, at  the  same  time,  and  afterwards  more  expressly,  con- 
cerning Himself  as  also  come.  This  is,  so  to  speak,  the  predo- 
minant instruction  and  disquisition  in  the  middle  of  the  discourse, 
which  lays  the  foundation  for  the  warning  and  promise  of  its 
decisive  close.  The  substance  of  its  contents  is  : — the  public, 
though  generally  discredited,  testimony  of  the  days  of  John  the 
Baptist,  and  of  Christ  for  their  contemporaries,  in  its  convincing 
connexion  and  harmony.  Specific  instruction  (vers  7 — 15  pre- 
cedes, and  a  progressive  reference  to  unbelief  and  faith  (vers.  16 
— 19)  prepares  for  the  following  most  emphatic  threatening  and 
promise. 

1  Not  that  our  Lord  Himself  consciously  and  purposely  so  ordered 
it.  The  harmony  and  significance  which  are  preserved  in  a  poetical 
work  of  art  through  all  its  detail,  is  not  regarded  as  the  result  of  an 
elaborate  arrangement  marked  out  either  before  or  during  the  writing 
of  it;  but  our  comments  upon  the  organism  of  the  words  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  have  been  foolishly  misunderstood,  as  if  some  such  thing  as  this 
was  signified. 

2  As  St  Matthew  significantly  does  not  omit  to  remark  ! 


MATTHEW  XI.  4 — 30.  67 

1.  The  instructive  comment  speaks  in  vers  7 — 11  of  John,  in 
vers.   11 — 15  of  Christ;    but  the  latter  reference  is  veiled,  as 
always,  before  the  people,  so  that  the  name  "  Christ "  is  avoided  : 
yet  all  who  had  ears  to  hear  must  have  heard  in  His  words  evi- 
dence enough  as  to  who  that  "  Son  of  Man"  (ver.  19)  could  be, 
who  came  as  John  had  come!     Concerning  John,  first,  what  he 
is  not,  convincingly  to  refute  the  misapprehension  which  might 
arise  among  the  people  then,  (and  expositors  now)  :  by  an  earlier 
figure  describing  the  earlier  John,   the  unshaken  Man  of  the 
Wilderness   (ver.  7),  and  then,  in  plainer  and  stronger  terms, 
describing  John  as  he  then  was,  and  now  is,  the  same  man  in 
imprisonment,  who  even  there  is  consistent  with  his  former  self, 
and  does  not,  through  inconstancy  or  desire  of  freedom,  put  a 
question  concerning  that  now,  which  he  had  then  so  fearlessly  testi- 
fied, (ver.  8.)  Assuredly,  a  most  plain  and  undeniable  argument ! 
Then  follows  positively,  and  based  upon  this,  what  he  is :  not 
only  a  prophet,  like  one  of  the  prophets,  (  still  in  transition  from 
the  negative  ver.  9),  but  the  greatest  among  all,  and  after  all  the 
messengers  of  God  down  to  this  time ;  the  forerunner  of  Christ 
(ver.  10)  himself  predicted  by  other  Prophets,  the  only  one 
enjoying  this  honour  save  that  One,  who  is  emphatically  6  ip- 
'XjbfjLevos;    and  therefore  the  greatest  of  all  the  Prophets,  the 
Baptist!  (ver.  11).     And  if  this  man  has  fulfilled  his  function 
(for  in  his  prison  he  is  even  now  drawing  nigh  to  the  end  of  his 
mission),  who  then  am  I  ?  The  Lord  does  not  now  utter  openly 
this  question,  yet  it  is  decisively  involved  in  these  words,  which 
only  derive  their  full  exposition  from  a  general  view  of  the  whole 
connexion  and  spirit  of  the  context. 

And  now,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  itself  arises  before  us  in  its 
altogether  new  dignity,  so  that  he  in  it  that  is  least,  is  greater  than 
the  greatest  who  are  without,  and  at  its  threshold,  as  we  find  it 
still  in  ver.  11.  It  enters  in  with  power:  that  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  designedly  obscure  sentence  (ver.  12),  which  is  so 
arranged  as  to  embrace  the  mighty,  constraining  witness  which 
had  been  borne,  and  its  results,  both  in  the  mighty  opposition  of 
unbelief,  and  the  mighty  pressing  in  of  faith :  blending  the  whole 
into  one  vivid  description  of  the  great  crisis,  which  thus  was 
declared  to  have  arrived.  It  is  the  lime  of  Fulfilment !  The 
time  of  prophecy,   of  preparation  is  past  (ver.  13) ;  the  Fore- 


68  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

runner,  who  is  himself  a  portion  of  this  fulfilment  is  come,  (ver. 
14)  ;  and  therefore — but  the  remainder  scarcely  needed  to  be 
expressed:  He  that  has  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear!  (ver.  15). 
This  is  the  conclusion  of  the  comment  upon  the  circumstance 
which  had  transpired ! 

2.  There  now  follows  a  reference  to  the  unbelief  and  the  faith 
which  responded  to  that  mighty  testimony  which  was  so  publicly 
given  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  this  important  age.  That 
reference,  however,  is  predominantly  to  the  -predominant  unbeliej 
of  the  generation  as  a  whole  ;  for  the  circumstances  of  the  case 
required  this,  the  few  who  believed  in  the  midst  of  so  overwhelm- 
ing a  majority  of  unbelievers  not  being  in  the  first  instance 
regarded  at  all.  The  universal  unbelief  of  the  childish  children 
of  this  age,  which  had  nevertheless  beheld  and  heard  the  most 
wonderful  things,  appears  as  uttering  its  own  condemnation,  dis- 
honouring itself  while  dishonouring  God.  The  two  ivho  had 
come  are  placed  in  opposition  to  their  own  generation,  which,  in 
its  infatuation,  would  neither  hear  the  law  nor  the  Gospel,  neither 
submit  to  repentance  nor  accept  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  this 
opposition  being  first  exhibited  in  a  vivid  and  convincing  simile 
(vers.  16, 17),  and  then  in  a  direct,  explanatory  declaration,  (vers. 
18,  19).  But,  finally,  there  is  an  encouraging  glance  at  the  rare 
and  infrequent  faith,  by  which  the  child-like  children  of  wisdom 
— her  truly  docile  and  instructed  scholars  — justify  the  revelation 
of  God  in  the  two-fold  unity  of  its  exhibition,  and  are  themselves 
evidence  and  seals  of  the  truth  of  the  testimony  both  of  John  and 
of  Christ  (Jno.  hi.  33). 

III.  The  sublime  and  impressive  conclusion  is  now  sufficiently 
prepared  for,  which  is  put  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Father  into  the 
lips  of  the  Son,  His  soul  being  first  moved  to  holy  wrath,  and 
then  by  quick  transition  to  gentle  and  inviting  meekness.  That 
which,  in  ver.  6,  was  expressed  as  a  combination  of  threatening 
and  promise,  learning  and  invitation,  is  now  distributed  in 
detail ;  the  blessed  is  he  being  resolved  into  woes,  denounced 
against  those  who  have  been  offended  in  Him,  and  gracious  invi- 
tation to  corresponding  blessedness  for  such  as  come  to  Him  and 
accept  His  yoke. 

1.  The  threatening  of  impending  judgment  upon  the  general 
unbelief  \s  as  yet  confined  within  the  limits  of  Galilee  (with  allu- 


MATTHEW  XI.  4 — 30.  69 

sion  to  ch.  x.  1 5),  the  immediate  scene  of  our  Lord's  first  won- 
derful works ;  the  towns  being  named  first  (two  of  them  being 
selected  as  example  vers.  21,22),  and  then  the  proud  capital  (vers. 
23,  24),  the  specification  of  which  contains  a  latent  reference  to 
Jerusalem. 

2.  The  invitation  to  blessedness  and  rest  for  the  soul,  which 
does  not  cease,  even  in  the  midst  of  general  unbelief,  to  sound 
forth  in  accents  of  meekness  and  patience,  is  put  by  the  Father 
into  the  mouth  of  the  Son,  through  an  internal  consolation, 
which  He  received  at  the  same  moment,  stilling  the  holy  vio- 
lence of  His  indignation  by  the  view  of  the  Father's  never-fail- 
ing honour  in  His  simple  ones.  Hence,  the  Lord  first  answers 
this  secret  inspiration  (ver.  25,  26),  by  a  lowly  yet  sublime  glorifi- 
cation of  the  Father,  which  penetrates  the  good  pleasure  of  God's 
counsel  as  the  ground  of  the  procedure  depicted  in  vers.  16 — 19, 
and  of  the  resulting  faith  and  unbelief,  though  its  wisdom  the 
wise  cannot  comprehend.  This  is  followed  by  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  to  the  poor  and  the  wretched  (ver.  5),  bursting  as  a 
stream  of  love  from  the  depths  of  this  profound  and  mysteri- 
ous principle.  The  Lord  descends  from  the  high  contempla- 
tion of  His  eternal  dignity,  and  the  Father's  eternal  counsel,  to 
the  wretched  objects  of  His  gospel  of  mercy.  The  Father  hath 
delivered  all  things  to  the  Son,  He  reveals  and  imparts  blessedness 
only  through  Him  :  but  the  Son  invites  all,1  all,  that  is,  who  feel 
their  misery  and  their  need  of  Him,  in  order  that  they  may  find 
refreshment  and  rest  under  his  easy  yoke,  and  his  light  burden  ! 

Here,  then,  the  answer  to  John's  question  reaches  its  fullest 
emphasis  and  expression  : — I  verily  am  He,  come  unto  Me,  and 
wait  for  no  other !  Here,  also,  the  Gospel  of  St  Matthew  (which 
being  the  first  was  yet  written  with  the  same  aim  as  the  last,  to 
produce  the  belief  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God), 
reaches  its  first  impressive  concluding  point,  so  that  we  may  fitly 
make  it  the  close  of  the  first  portion  of  our  exposition.2  We 
might  pause  here  to  remark  and  to  adore  the  Divine  wisdom, 
also,  in  the  arrangement  of  the  Gospels :  especially  to  observe  the 

1  Not  merely  the  Son  of  David,  and  the  seed  of  Abraham  (ch.  i.  1). 

2  Although  in  another,  and  more  formal  relation,  the  beginning  of 
the  Parables  in  ch.  xiii.  might  have  well  formed  the  commencement  of 
a  section. 


70  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

significant  conclusions  of  St  Matthew's  chapters,  as  they  pro- 
gressively follow.  Ch.  i.  closes  with  the  most  holy  name  of  Jesus 
— ch.  ii.  with  that  of  the  despised  Nazareth — ch.  iii.  gives  the 
Voice  from  heaven,  which  testifies  over  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
TJiis  is  my  beloved  Son  I  Upon  this  trilogy  of  introduction,  ch. 
iv.  follows  with  its  close,  designating  and  opening  up  the  scene  of 
His  words  and  works — ch.  vii.  gives  the  grand  conclusion  of  the 
first  great  discourse — ch.  ix.,  after  the  first  cycle  of  examples  of 
His  miraculous  works,  which  already  excited  the  enmity  of  the 
Pharisees,  casts  at  its  close  the  glance  of  mercy  upon  the  great 
harvest  then  waiting  in  the  land — ch.  x.,  at  the  end  of  the  first 
mission,  directs  that  glance  into  the  far  Future,  where  nothing 
should  remain  unrewarded — and  ch.  xi.  closes  with  this  sublime, 
Come  unto  Me  !  And  so  also  may  it  be  seen  in  the  same  way 
how  ch.  xii.  (chs.  xiii.  and  xiv.  in  contrast  with  each  other)  chs. 
xvi.,  xix.,  xxii.,  xxiii.,  xxv.,  terminate  respectively  in  the  most 
significant  conclusions. 


Ver.  4  is  indeed  spoken,  corresponding  as  it  does  with  the 
words  of  the  message,  as  if  the  Lord  regarded  the  pregnant  ques- 
tion as  actually  the  question  of  John  himself,  and  directed  to  him 
also  His  answer.  But  this  is  only  the  result  of  His  gracious  con- 
descension to  the  weakness  of  the  messengers,  with  which  He 
sympathises  even  as  their  master  had  done ;  and  we  cannot  so 
regard  it  as  to  say  (with  Alford)  that  the  Lord  would  not  have 
thus  answered,  had  not  the  question  come  directly  from  the 
Baptist  himself.  Or,  are  we  to  receive  the  words  of  St  Luke 
(vers.  18, 19),  according  to  their  plain  letter,  which  in  TrpovKaXe- 
<rdfievo<;  eVe/uAjre,  and  yet  more  in  hvo  rivd?  seems  to  intimate  that 
the  whole  matter  proceeded  directly  from  John  ?  No,  St  Luke, 
although  He  has  not  recorded  the  Baptist's  earlier  direction  of 
his  disciples  to  Jesus,  and  here  appends  an  explanation  of  the 
subject  in  all  its  relations  (vers.  29,  30),  yet  presupposes,  from  his 
earlier  (ch.  iii.  22J,  as  well  as  from  the  immediately  following 
discourse  of  Jesus,  that  his  thoughtful  readers  will  understand 
him  aright,  when  he  thus  objectively  relates  the  circumstance. 
The  individual  Evangelists  naturally  presuppose  and  take  for 
granted  rather  too  much  than  too  little  in  their  compressed  re- 


MATTHEW  XI.  4 — 30.  71 

flectionless  narratives :  and  we  must  remember  that  we  have  the 
whole  under  our  eye.  Nothing  had  lain  nearer  the  Baptist's 
heart,  since  the  first  public  manifestation  of  Jesus,  than  to  direct 
his  own  disciples  to  Him,  with  an  incessantly  repeated — Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God !  This  is  He !  We  perceive  this  once  and 
again  in  Jno.  i.  29 — 37,  and  Jno.  iii.  24 — 36  is  an  example  and 
testimony  instar  omnium,  of  the  manner  in  which  John  from  that 
time  to  his  imprisonment,  dealt  with  and  spoke  to  those  of  his  dis- 
ciples whose  minds  were  not  yet  clearly  convinced  as  to  the  claims 
of  Jesus.  Consequently,  those  who  were  still  his  disciples,  who  re- 
mained attached  to  him,  and  would  rather  adhere  to  him  in  his 
imprisonment  than  go  over  to  the  Nazarene,  were  eo  ipso,  only 
such  as  could  not  and  would  not  believe,  that  that  Nazarene  was 
the  Christ.  When  St  Luke,  therefore,  writes  Bvo  riva<;  twv 
fiaOrjTwv  avrov,1  He  takes  it  for  granted,  by  a  presupposition 
natural  enough  to  himself,  though  perhaps,  if  we  may  say  so,  not 
sufficiently  mindful  of  Theophilus,  that  the  Forerunner  had  on 
good  grounds  sent  these  men  to  Christ.  John,  who  had  said 
before, — but  I  must  decrease !  and  who  had  a  clear  perception 
from  beginning  to  end,  of  his  one  only  duty  to  prepare  the  way, 
in  his  own  entire  course,  for  Him  who  was  to  come,  knew  that  he 
should  only  fulfill  his  course  through  imprisonment  and  death,  that 
thus  he  must  contribute  to  destroy  all  carnal  expectations  of  the 
Messiah,  and  then  make  way  for  Him  to  whom  his  own  mission 
referred.  It  is  an  object  deeply  impressed  upon  his  heart,  to  send, 
before  his  own  expected  death,  all  such  as  were  not  by  himself 
convinced  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  to  Jesus  Himself;  and  He 
selects,  from  his  own  impulse,  two  among  the  number  of  those 
thus  situated,  possibly  two  pre-eminent  doubters,  for  this  decisive 
mission.  His  question,  like  that  of  the  Lord  Himself,  in  Matt. 
xvi.  13,  has  the  benefit  of  the  disciples  in  view.  But  when  the 
Lord  makes  answer — Go  and  show  John  again  those  things  which 
ye  do  hear  and  see,  He  only  refers  them  again,  for  their  convic- 
tion and  humiliation,  to  what  they  had  already  done : — Tell 
him  again,  that  he  may  again  tell  you — these  are  the  works  of 

1  The  reading  dia  t&v  ixadr^Tcov,  in  St  Matthew,  though  now  preferred, 
is  to  us  doubtful.  At  most  it  only  freely  describes  the  circumstance  as 
it  appeared — the  disciples  were  permitted  to  ask  as  in  John's  name. 


72  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Christ!  The  question  was,  Do  we  look  for  another,  are  we,  by 
renewed  weary  waiting,  to  expect  a  Future  which  never  appears ! 
The  answer  cries  in  impressive  response  :— No.  He  is  here, 
whom  ye  look  for,  all  that  was  to  come  is  manifestly  before  you, 
to  be  heard  and  seen  :  prophecy  has  become  reality  and  history 
before  your  eyes  and  ears,  as  well  as  those  of  all  the  people !  Lu. 
iv.  21.  The  hearing  refers  first  of  all  to  the  rumour  which 
(according  to  Lu.  vii.  17)  had  gone  forth  throughout  all  Judea, 
and  throughout  all  the  region  round  about,  concerning  the 
wonderful  works  of  Jesus,  and  which  had  been  reported  to  John. 
The  seeing  adds  to  this  the  then  present  confirmation  to  their  eyes; 
for  in  the  same  hour,  St  Luke  tells  us,  he  cured  many  of  their  in- 
firmities and  plagues,  so  that  no  further  answer  was  in  realitv 
needed  than — open  your  eyes,  and  ye  find  it  so  !  But  then  the 
words  which  follow,  further  embrace  both  the  hearing  and  the 
seeing  in  one ;  and  it  is  not  without  significance  that  what  they 
hear  comes  first,  thus  placing  the  last-mentioned  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  before  the  miracles  seen.  (For  here  St  Matthew  is  more 
exact  than  St  Luke,  who  inverts  this  order).  To  speak  quite 
strictly,  the  seeing  must  turn  to  hearing,  the  miracles  must 
become  words,  and  the  works  must  be  witnesses,  that  so,  by  hear- 
ing them,  faith  may  come.  The  miracles  confirm  the  preaching, 
but  the  preaching  explains  their  significance  :  hence,  in  ver.  15  it 
is  only — he  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear  ! 

Ver.  5.  The  Lord  had  indeed,  in  a  certain  sense,  said  all  in 
this  first  word,  but  He  graciously  points  with  His  finger  to  evi- 
dences of  His  mission,  Himself  in  deference  to  their  desire  per- 
forming for  Himself  the  work  of  the  Baptist  to  John's  disciples. 
In  exhibiting  these  in  detail  He  refers  to  passages  in  the  Prophets 
as  fulfilled ;  but  with  a  grandeur  of  application  which  should  be 
evident  to  our  modern  scribes,  in  proportion  as  it  is  free  from 
any  such  petty  exhibition  of  personal  marks  and  signs,  as  their 
wisdom,  in  a  certain  sense,  rightly  repudiates.  The  same  Isaiah 
to  whom  the  Baptist  had  appealed  when  his  authority  was 
questioned,  out  of  whose  prophecy  he  had  taken  his  testimony 
to  the-  Lamb  of  God,  is  on  that  very  account  brought  forward 
again  by  Jesus  Himself.  He  predicts  in  ch.  xxix.  the  siege 
and  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (but  not  merely  of  that  which 
was  immediately  impending,  comp.  ver.  3  with  Lu.  xix.  43) ; 


MATTHEW  XI.  5.  73 

then  the  blinding  and  delusion  of  Israel ;  then  the  great  change 
which  will  twice  take  place  between  the  forest  and  the  field,  the 
fruitful  field  and  the  wilderness, — first  in  the  rejection  of  Israel 
and  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles,  then  finally  vice  versa  when 
Israel's  hardness  passes  away,  so  that  the  deaf  again  hear  the 
words  of  the  book,  the  eyes  of  the  blind  see,  and  the  meek 
(wrcoxol)  shall  have  joy  in  the  Lord.  The  same  prophecy  recurs 
with  additional  emphasis  in  ch.  xxxv.,  the  sublime  concluding 
chapter  of  the  first  portion  of  Isaiah's  prophecies.  When  Idumea 
is  judged,  the  desert  shall  blossom  abundantly,  and  the  salvation 
of  God  shall  appear :  when  the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be  opened, 
and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  shall  be  unstopped,  then  shall  the  lame 
man  leap  as  an  hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  sing  praise  ! 
That  which  in  these  two  passages,  pointing  far  forward  to  the  final 
restoration  of  Israel,  is  predicted  obviously,  as  we  say,  in  a  spiritual 
meaning,  as  typical  of  internal  spiritual  healing  (though  the 
second  of  them  includes  external  prosperity),  our  Lord  indicates 
?iere  to  have  received  also  a  physical  fulfilment,  or  as  embodied 
in  His  miracles  of  healing.  He  quotes,  in  the  same  manner  as 
His  Evangelist  does,  Matt.  viii.  17  :  for  in  the  living  relation  be- 
tween prophecy  and  fulfilment  there  is  a  reciprocal  alternation, 
so  that  prophetic  announcements  which  were  delivered  in  sensible 
figures  are  illustrated  in  their  spiritual  reality,  and  on  the  other 
hand,  predictions  not  intended  in  their  external  sense,  are  never- 
theless fulfilled,  over  and  above,  in  physical  embodiment.  (The 
entrance  of  Christ  into  Jerusalem  upon  the  ass,  as  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  is  an  instance  in  point).  The  Messiah's  miracles  of  healing, 
as  such,  and  as  physical  in  themselves,  could  not  be  predicted, 
since  prophecy  deals  with  the  internal  meaning  and  mystery  of 
things  ;  they  could  only  be  contemplated  in  the  same  signification 
which  they  bear  to  those  who  behold  them  in  their  external  and 
actual  appearance,  viz.,  as  symbols  of  spiritual  healing.  The 
accordance,  first,  between  Christ's  preaching  of  salvation  to  the 
poor  and  the  miserable,  and  His  beneficent  miracles  of  healing, 
and  then  the  accordance  of  both  these,  of  what  is  both  heard  and 
seen  in  Him,  with  the  Scriptures  concerning  Him  who  was  to 
come,  constitute  His  works  a  sign  and  testimony  that  it  is  He. 

The  Lord,  proposing  to  give  examples  of  His  wrorks — the 
miracula  prwdicta,  benejica,  multaA  varia  (Ben gel)  which  testify 


74  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

of  Him,  constructs  a  gradation  of  three  members,  each  being 
two-fold  by  the  conjunction  of  nai,  (which  St  Luke  does  not  ob  - 
serve).     He  mentions  the  blind  and  the  lame  first,  out  of  the 
prophecies,  one  being  taken  from  each ;    He  then  connects  the 
deaf,  found  in  both  these  passages,  with  the   lepers,  found  in 
neither.     Isaiah's  saying  concerning  the  dumb  is  passed  over,  as 
also  much  else  in  the  reality  of  fulfilment :     For  instance,  the 
casting  out  of  devils  (which  in  St  Luke,  ver.  21,  had  just  taken 
place  before  their  eyes)   is  included  in  the  healing  of  the  sick. 
For  the  Lord  who  takes  no  delight  in  the  detailed  relation  of 
His  own  works,  though  He  must  now  condescend  to  it,  hastens 
with  profound  meaning  to  that  greatest  act,  which  transcended 
all  prophecy  or  expectation — the  dead  are  raised  up — in  order 
to  connect  it,  for  its  right  interpretation,  with  the  7tto)%oI  euay- 
jeXi^ovTac.     For  it  was  already  a  proverb  among  the  Jews,  that 
God  always  goes  beyond  His  promised  grace,  and  gives  ever  in 
addition  something  new  and  still  greater.     There  must  of  course 
have  taken  place  more  awakenings  of  the  dead  than  one,  when 
the  Lord  said  this  ;  we  read  of  the  first  in  Matt,  ix.,  St  Luke 
has  recorded  the  other  at  Nain,  and  this  also  was  included  in  all 
those  things  which  the  disciples  of  John  shewed  him  of.1     Now, 
because  the-wrorks  of  Jesus  had  gone  so  far  as  the  raising  of  the 
dead,  and  yet  he  did  nothing  further  for  the  expedition  of  His 
kingdom  or  the  deliverance  of  their  imprisoned  master,   the 
disciples  of  John  told  him  of  these  things  with  some  mixture  of 
displeasure  and  offence  at  such  a  procedure,  just  as  before  in  Jno. 
iii.  26.     The  Lord  penetrates  all  this.      He  does  not  now  say — 
and  captives  have  deliverance  preached  to  them,  according  to 
His  quotation  from  Isa.  lxi.  1  at  Nazareth,  where  the  spiritual 
meaning  was  plain.      Still  less  does  He  say — and  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  made  manifest,  which,  uttered  now,  neither  the  people 
nor  the  disciples  were  capable  of  understanding.     But  He  quite 
unexpectedly,  though  rightly,  according  to  prophecy  and  fulfil- 
ment, appends  to  the  greatest  miracle  of  raising  the  dead  that 
last  and  greatest  of  all  testimonies,  which  itself  exhibits  the  true 

1  It  is  equivalent  to  certain,  by  internal  evidence,  that  the  young 
man  at  Nain  was  raised  after  the  daughter  of  Jairus  :  and  so  the 
various  reading  tg)  for  777  egrjs,  Lu.  vii.  11  (overlooked  by  Ebrard) 
acquires  a  decisive  significance  in  the  harmony. 


MATTHEW  XI.  6.  75 

significance  of  all  the  former — the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor!1  This  last  is  taken  at  once  from  Isa.  lxi.  1,  and  xxix.  19  : 
the  evayyeXl^ovrao  falling  at  the  close  of  the  answer,  carries  with 
it  the  emphasis  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  come :  the  7ttcoxol 
are,  first  of  all,  the  externally  mean,  to  whom,  without  money 
and  without  Rabbinical  price,  the  joyful  tidings  are  announced  as 
a  free  gift,  but  also,  and  essentially,  the  poor  and  mournful  in 
spirit,  such  as  those  of  which  Isa.  lxi.  1  speaks.2  The  preaching 
of  repentance  went  forth  also  to  the  rich  and  the  exalted,  yea, 
rightly  understood,  to  those  distinctively  :  the  Gospel  belongs  to 
the  low  and  the  miserable.  The  preaching  continues  ever  to 
this  day,  and  produces  in  men's  souls  all  these  works  of  Christ, 
of  which  history  is  full,  and  more  abounding  and  truly  than 
might  then  have  been  heard  and  seen  with  bodily  eyes  and  ears. 
The  blind  see  (Acts  xxvi.  18)  <&c,  the  dead  arise,  hearing  the 
voice  of  the  Son  of  God  (Jno.  v.  25),  which  is  immediately  con- 
nected with  the  former  by  /cat.3  Those  who  sit  in  the  prison- 
house  hear  of  it  when  it  is  announced  to  them  by  those,  who  yet 
know  not  themselves  the  meaning  of  what  they  say.  Or  who 
will  not  know  and  embrace  it,  for  there  follows  one  more  teal, 
which  introduces  the  critical  seventh  member  of  the  paragraph. 

Ver  6.  This  nal  is  not  But: — the  offence  of  many  at  the 
humble  circumstances  of  the  Messiah,  notwithstanding  all  His 
wonderful  works,  is  also  a  token  and  sign  of  His  person  derived 
from  prophecy.  (Isa.  Hi.  13,  14,  liii.  2,  viii.  14.)  The  Lord 
gives  utterance,  thus,  to  what  he  had  ofttimes  experienced  since 
His  first  manifestation  in  Nazareth,  to  what  had,  alas,  become  now 
as  well  known  as  His  works  themselves.  But  it  is  not  included 
in  that  which  they  had  heard  and  seen,  and  should  tell  John 

1  For  thus  must  it  be  translated,  comp.  2  Sam.  xviii.  31,  LXX ; 
and  with  another  subject  in  the  passive,  Lu.  xvi.  16.  That  the  poor 
preached  the  Gospel,  cannot  be  the  question  here. 

2  Certainly  not,  as  Schleiermacher  supposed  :  "  Those  who  are  not  in 
condition  in  the  legal  sense  to  shine  out,  7rrcoxoi  Kara  vofxov  <ai  napd- 
boo-iv-" 

3  This  is  the  true  element  in  Schleiermacher's  strange  idea  that  the 
raising  of  the  dead  is  only  to  be  taken  figuratively,  since  otherwise  there 
would  be  a  tone  of  vain-glory  quite  foreign  to  the  manner  of  Jesus. 
How  has  this  great  theologian  stumbled  and  lost  his  way,  when  the 
true   exposition  of  Scripture  is  concerned  I 


76  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

again,  but  (as  if  to  intimate  that)  this  manner  of  speaking 
passes  into  warning,  which  might  be  applicable  to  the  disciples 
themselves  whom  He  addressed.1  I  know  well  that  ye  have  yet 
somewhat  in  your  hearts  against  me ;  else  would  ye  not  have 
come  to  ask,  when  the  answer  which  ye  have  received  had  been 
already  so  plainly  given.  The  truly  poor  understand  the  Gos- 
pel message,  and  receive  it  in  faith,  so  that  they  rejoice  in  the 
Lord.  To  all  others  the  works  testify  aloud :  This  is  He  !  yet 
the  preaching  which  they  also  hear,  being  no  more  than  preaching, 
so  that  even  the  raising  of  the  dead  is  no  more  than  a  call  to  dead 
souls  to  life  in  God,  shows  them  the  great  truth,  that  He  is  not 
such  a  Messiah  as  they  expected  and  would  have  !  To  him  who 
gives  not  his  heart  to  the  preaching,  all  miracles  are  vain  for  its 
explanation,  and  remain  themselves  misunderstood.  Thus,  then, 
the  Lord  gave  a  plain  and  concise  answer  to  a  plain  and  concise 
question — and  the  concluding  words  precisely  touch  the  spirit 
that  put  the  question.  Instead  of  crying — I  am  He  !  (which 
indeed  would  have  been  but  of  little  service),  He  searches  out 
in  these  disciples,  and  in  the  people  (with  regard  to  whom  this 
last  saying  was  a  transition  to  the  following  discourse)  all 
that  unbelief  and  delusion  which  stood  in  the  way  of  the 
acknowledgment  of  Himself,  in  order  that  their  faith  might  be 
excited  to  overcome  all  offence,  and  respond  to  him —  Yea,  Thou 
art  He  /  To  Him,  who  presently  afterwards  proclaims  His  won- 
derful I  in  kingly  majesty  over  all  things  and  over  all  persons, 
but  now  for  the  time  restrains  it,  though  with  all  His  humility 
it  cannot  but  come  forward  in  the  final  words  of  His  reply,  in 
the  <jKav$a\ia0r}  lv  e/juoL 

Ver  7 — 11.  Now  first,  as  the  disciples  departed  or  when  they 
had  gone,  Jesus  began  to  speak  concerning  John  :  by  which  the 
Evangelist  would  assure  us,  in  an  undertone,  that  He  had  not 
referred  to  the  Baptist  before,  especially'  not  in  His  last  saying 
touching  offence.  But  why  did  He  let  them  first  depart,  and  not 
utter  what  follows  in  their  hearing  ?  The  Evangelist's  observa- 
tion makes  a  latent  design  perceptible,  without  anticipating, 
however,  the  thought  of  the  reflecting  reader  by  any  direct 

1  There  is  no  ground  whatever  for  referring  this  warning  to  the 
Baptist  himself,  and  thence  to  derive  a  supposed  proof  that  he  himself 
had  been  offended  in  Jesus. 


MATTHEW  XI.  7 — 11.  77 

reflexion  of  liis  own.  The  disciples  of  John  had  obtained  what 
they  wanted,  a  decisive  answer  to  the  desire  of  their  question, 
which,  if  not  directly  expressed,  would  be  plain  enough  to  their 
after-meditation.  Anything  further  said  for  themselves  or  done 
in  their  presence,  would  have  had  evil  effect.  Would  it  have 
been  fitting  that  the  Lord  should  endeavour,  by  detailed  and 
continued  explanations,  to  ripen  or  hasten  the  development  of 
the  slowly  struggling  faith  of  these  not  insignificant  "  men" 
(Lu.  ver.  20),  upon  whom  their  master  had  already  expended 
much  pains.  This  would  have  been  far  less  effectual  than  the 
brief  message  with  its  piercing  point  at  the  close ;  and  would 
have  assumed  before  the  people  the  unbecoming  appearance  cf 
exceedingly  sedulous  anxiety  concerning  them  on  His  part.  Or, 
was  any  thing  further  requisite  to  be  communicated  to  John  I 
Assuredly  not,  for  both  the  Angel  of  Preparation  and  the  Angel 
of  the  Covenant  understood  one  another  perfectly  well,  accord- 
ing to  a  far  better  plan  of  common  operation  than  that  which, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  many  fools,  they  had  concerted  in 
the  lodges  of  the  Essenes.  That  which  our  Lord  goes  on  to  say 
concerning  John,  it  was  needless  that  his  disciples  should  carry 
to  him  for  his  consolation ;  and  its  appearance  would  have  been 
that  of  adulation  to  the  people.  But  so  much  the  more  neces- 
sary was  it  that  the  people,  in  whose  minds  the  great  question 
had  excited  many  thoughts,  should  have  a  further  testimony  and 
assurance  that  John  was  not,  as  at  first  sight  it  might  have 
seemed,  in  doubt  concerning  Jesus.1 

The  entire  transaction  with  the  Baptist,  which  at  the  time 
caused  so  great  a  sensation,  had  now  to  a  great  extent  faded 
away  and  become  old ;  the  Lord,  therefore,  wisely  takes  this 
occasion  to  bring  it  back  to  the  people's  thoughts,  and  speaks 
concerning  it  in  a  manner  similar  to  ch.  xxi.  24,  25.  He  com- 
mences by  giving  his  due  honour  to  the  man  who  in  this  incon- 
stant, childish  generation  had  fallen  into  unhonoured  oblivion  , 
and  by  pointing  out  the  permanent  dignity  of  the  prisoner,  whom 
he,  however,  does  not  release.  He  founds  upon  the  testimony 
of  His  forerunner,  which,  without  miracles  (Jno.  x.  41),  had 

1This  correct  view  is  found  distinctly  and  expressly  maintained  in 
Chrysostom  (Horn,  xxxvii.) 


78  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

awakened  so  universal  a  response,  the  evidence  of  His  own 
Messiahship,  and  of  the  presence  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
The  general  concourse  of  the  people  to  the  preacher  in  the 
wilderness,  however  little  permanent  effect  resulted  from  it,  was 
a  public  confession  on  which  an  appeal  to  them  might  always 
afterwards  be  founded ;  they  had  willingly  heard  the  announce- 
ment "  repent  ye,"  they  had  for  the  most  part  submitted  to  bap- 
tism, and  thereby  confessed  not  only  that  they  were  sinners,  but 
that  they  admitted  repentance  to  be  the  only  way  to  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  All  this  they  are  reminded  of  by  the  Lord's  questions, 
and  by  the  sharp  sayings  which  recall  the  scene,  and  vividly 
paint  it  before  their  memory  : — how  was  it  then,  when  ye  flocked 
to-  the  wilderness  I  While  he  thus  speaks  concerning  John,  He 
is  in  reality  speaking  also  concerning  them,  and  piercing  their 
hearts  and  consciences. 

Vers.  7 — 9.  These  words  of  our  Lord  belong  pre-eminently  to 
those  of  His  discourses  which  most  illustriously  exhibit  His 
wisdom  in  teaching.  Under  a  simple  and  popular  expression, 
the  essential  meaning  of  which  every  one  who  heard  it  must 
have  understood,  and  the  strongly  marked  form  of  which  would 
cleave  to  the  memory,  there  is  concealed  an  endless  fulness  of 
deep  thoughts  and  of  interwoven  relations  which  only  by  degrees 
would  rise  before  the  thoughtful  attention.  The  thrice  repeated 
— What  went  ye  out  for  to  see  !  is  itself  a  most  emphatic  refer- 
ence to  the  impulse  which  urged  them  to  go  forth,  and  alsox  to 
what  they  learned  from  thus  going  forth,  bringing  forcibly  to 
their  minds  both  the  one  and  the  other.  But  that  which  follows 
each  similar  question  in  progressive  development,  is  arranged 
with  a  precise  and  specific  purpose.  The  discourse  proceeds 
from  the  reed  of  the  wilderness,  from  the  external  scene  thus 
vividly  recalled,  to  the  man  or  the  person  who  was  to  be  seen 
there,  and  then  advancing  still  further,  to  the  dignity  of  his 
personality,  as  a  prophet.  The  great  point  here  to  which  the 
rest  leads  is  this — to  mark  out  this  man  in  the  wilderness  in  the 
well-known,  deeply-stamped  character  of  his  whole  life,  first  in 
his  constancy  in  opposition  to  men,  then  in  his  self-denying 
severity  against  himself,  and  finally,  in  his  high  office  and  calling 
of  God.  Nor  is  this  enough — a  third  climax  is  observable.  The 
first  question  joins  issue  with  the  secret  thought  and  expectation 


MATTHEW  XI.  7 — 9.  79 

of  many  that  the  rigour  of  this  new  preacher  of  repentance  would 
soon  relax,  and  that  he  would  not  stand  immoveably  firm  to  his 
first  appeal  I1  But  the  second  question,  after  the  former  has 
shamed  their  secret  suspicion,  introduces  by  the  aXkd  (which 
thus  receives  its  full  force),  another  application  and  turn  of  His 
challenge.  The  under  tone  of  the  first  was---"  Is  it  not  true, 
that  such  was  your  first  thought,  and  that  it  would  have  well 
pleased  you  to  find  it  so  ?"  The  second,  on  the  other  hand,  con- 
versely signifies,  "  Is  it  not  true,  that  ye  assuredly  did  not,  and 
could  not  have  desired  that,  when  ye  sought  the  man  in  the 
wilderness,  having  already  heard  of  his  clothing  and  manner  of 
life  I"  Finally,  the  third  question  does  not  seize  their  external 
impression  of  his  personality  as  they  found  him,  but  takes  hold 
of  the  conviction,  which  the  preacher's  words  had  produced  in  all 
their  minds,  that  he  was  a  prophet  (ch.  xxi.  26).  u  Is  it  not  true, 
that  ye  found  in  Him  a  prophet,  and  were  constrained  to  acknow- 
ledge Him  as  such  1  But  rising  above  all  is  the  circumstance 
that  the  Lord  only  says  they  went  out  to  see  somewhat,  using, 
indeed,  first  the  strong  OedaaaOai  (as  if  they  had  gone  to  a  spec- 
tacle), which  is  afterwards  softened  to  the  more  customary  Ihelv, 
while  He  does  not  say,  though  it  would  have  better  befitted  the 
going  out  to  a  prophet,  that  they  went  out  arcoveiv.  This  is 
spoken  with  the  same  tone  in  which  the  Lord  had  formerly 
rebuked  the  superficial,  inconstant,  and  capricious  conduct  of  the 
people  ( Jno.  v.  35)  ;  and  prepares  the  way  for  the  similitude  of 
the  sporting,  childish  children  given  below.  Men  should  go 
forth  to  hear  a  prophet ;  but  this  was  far  from  their  thoughts : 
and  here  lay  their  great  fault,  in  spite  of  all  their  crowding  forth, 
their  astonishment,  their  confession,  and  their  baptism.  Again, 
taking  the  other  side : — they  went  to  see,  and  yet  did  not  rightly 
see  :  for  in  a  true  prophet  the  prophet  is  truly  to  be  seen,  and  in 
this  case  the  whole  manifestation  of  the  life  of  the  preaching 
pointed  to  his  great  message.  All  these  thoughts  the  Lord's 
words  would  excite — how  much  could  He  say  with  His  few 
words  !     (Jno.  vii.  46). 

1  Roos :  "  We  shall  see  how  long  this  new  preacher  of  repentance 
will  carry  on  his  preaching.  He  will  presently  become  tired  of  it,  will 
abate  his  severity,  and  become  again  like  one  of  ourselves." 


80  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

The  reed  shaken  with  the  wind,  in  the  first  question,  should 
be  understood  at  once  literally  and  figuratively  ;  for  the  expres- 
sion, which  is  certainly  taken  from  the  locality  of  the  wilderness 
near  the  Jordan,  just  before-mentioned,  included  both.  Assur- 
edly it  was  not  to  see  the  reeds  out  in  the  wilderness  that  ye 
went  forth — or  did  ye  suppose,  did  ye  wish,  to  find  in  the  man 
who  was  there  a  compliant,  changeable  prophet  of  the  people,  a 
man  like  yourselves,  and  not  a  firm  and  stedfast  prophet  oi  God  f 
(Eccles.  v.  11).  That  would  have  been,  in  its  kind,  no  better 
than  a  mere  reed !  No,  though  there  was  the  appearance  of  this, 
it  was,  at  the  same  time,  another  impulse  which  sent  you  out,  a 
presentiment  of  that  which  you  actually  saw  there  and  found ! 
This  first  question  is  followed  by  no  such  responsive  antithesis  as 
the  others ;  for  the  answer  is  sufficiently  understood  in  itself  : — 
the  man  in  the  wilderness  stood  like  an  iron  pillar,  and  like  a 
wall  of  brass  against  the  whole  land,  against  the  priests  and  coun- 
cillors as  well  as  against  the  common  people  (Jer.  i.  18) — he 
adhered  immoveably  to  his  first — Repent  ye  I  This  the  people 
well  knew.  And  this  of  itself  was  convincing  testimony  that 
this  same  man  could  not  have  been  moved  by  the  temptation  of 
persecution  to  exchange  his  witnessing — "  This  is  He"  I  for  a 
doubtful,  and  questioning — "  Art  thou  He  V  It  was  not,  then, 
from  doubt  that  he  put  the  question  !  But  that  it  was  not  from 
impatience  to  be  released  from  prison,  what  follows  goes  on  to 
show.  He  who  was  so  severe  against  others,  was  equally  rigor- 
ous against  himself.  Ye  remember  well  that  as  the  sedges  of  the 
desert  were  around  him,  so  also  that  his  garment  was  of  camel's 
hair,  with  the  leathern  girdle  about  his  loins  :  there  was  no  fia- 
\cuca  Ifidna,1  no  l/juano-fibs  evSogo?  koX  rpvfyr)  (as  St  Luke 
explains).  Assuredly  ye  did  not  expect  a  secular  forerunner  of 
a  Messiah  coming  in  worldly  pomp  ?  Such  an  one  would  not 
be  sought,  would  not  be  found  in  the  wilderness  :  and  if  the  man 
of  the  wilderness  is  now  imprisoned  by  Herod,  he  did  not  fall 
into  this  imprisonment  as  a  courtier,  whose  desire  was  upon 

1  Which  phrase  appears  similarly  in  Homer.  Odyss.  d  437.  Iliad.  u> 
796,  and  other  Greek  authors,  e.g.,  Diodor.  ^Virgil  also  designates 
the  Serica  as  molles  lanas  :  Plautus.  Baach.  i.  1,  38,  speaks  in  the 
same  way. 


MATTHEW  XI.  7—9.  81 

worldly  good  living  (though  there  he  would  better  fare  than  upon 
his    locusts),  but   in   consequence    of  his  rigid    preaching  of 
repentance  to  the  king.     Behold,  yonder  in  Herod's  court  are 
worldlings  and  flatterers  enough,  for  king's  houses  are  the  place 
for  them  i1  there  the  rule  still  holds  good,  which  ordered  in  the 
time  of  Ahasuerus,  that  none  might  enter  into  the  king's  palace 
clothed  with  sackcloth  (Esther  iv.  2) ;    then  cry  they  to  the 
prophets  as  they  did  to  Amos : — Prophecy  not  here,  for  it  is  the 
king's  court !  (Amos  vii.  13).     But  John  has  been  the  Elijah  of 
this  Ahab  : — The  Lord's  words  thus  graze  the  edge  of  condem- 
nation upon  the  thoughtless  court  of  the  day,  though  without 
letting  fall  a  single  expression  which  might  have  been  capable  of 
an  unseemly  construction  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  as  spoken 
against  the  king  himself,  for  He  does  not  speak  in  the  singular  at 
all.     His  only  care  is  to  obviate  the  people's  offence  against  the 
imprisoned  John.    He  only  intimates  briefly  : — such  are  in  king's 
houses  well  received,  but  come  not  into  king's  prisons  :  and  thus, 
regarding  the  Man  of  the  Wilderness  and  the  Man  imprisoned  as 
one,  and  consistent  with  himself,  He  paves  the  way  to  the  third 
great  word — a  prophet !     In  this  he  only  gives  expression  to  the 
truth  which  was  at  last  admitted  by  all ;  but  confirms  it  with 
His  own  vol  \eyco  v/xcv ;  and  immediately  goes  beyond  it  by  His 
still  greater — more  than  a  prophet !  (irepvaaoTepov  is  here,  as 
always  in  the  New  Testament,  neuter,  and  thus  corresponds 
with  the  threefold  t/).   This  was  something  new  and  unexpected, 
a  text  which  instantly  required  further  illustration.     The  .people 
might  immediately,  if  the  Lord  had  paused  here,  have  hurried 
His  words  to  the  conclusion — Is  he  then  the  Messiah  himself? 
And  yet  has  he  sent  to  ask  thee,  and  challenged  thee  as  the 
Messiah  ?    What  dost  thou  say,  and  which  is  it  of  the  two  ?    For 
what  is  there  between  Prophet  and  Messiah  ?     But  the  Lord 
leaves  no  space  for  their  foolish  imaginings,  but  immediately  adds 
His  own  impressive  solution  of  the  mystery : — For  he  is,  what 
he  himself  testified  in  his  question  of  deep  meaning,  the  Fore- 
runner who  prepares  the  way  for  the  Messiah  ! 

1  There  is  no  evil  in  his  wearing  the  costly  garments,  who  is  horn 
for  and  called  to  the  court.     Com  p.  Hamann  i.  324,  and  iii.  75. 

2  We   cannot   understand  how  this  should  intimate,  according  to 
Schleiermacher,  that  John  was  not  yet  in  prison. 

VOL.  II.  P 


82  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Ver  10.  As  such  he  is  irepiaaorepov  7rpo<j)rjTOv  in  a  twofold 
respect,  according  to  external  designation  in  the  Scripture,  and 
internal  relation  of  His  office,  the  one  corresponding  to  the  other. 
It  is  his  pre-eminence  among  the  Prophets,  that  it  is  written  by 
them  concerning  him,  so  that  he  is  also  consequently  an  e/o^o/tez/o?, 
one  who  was  to  come.  John  had  with  his  uniform  humility  in- 
cluded himself  in  the  expectant  "  we,"  and  by  speaking  of  look- 
ing for  another,  if  Jesus  were  not  He,  had  once  more  said — I  am 
not.  He  had  formerly  chosen  that  one  of  the  two  passages 
which  predict  his  coming,  in  which  the  humble  and  unpretend- 
ing character  of  the  voice  is  given  to  him,  not  that  of  a  prophet 
or  a  servant  sent  of  God.  The  Lord  now  graciously  rewards 
him  for  this  by  placing  Himself  on  a  level  with  him  (afterwards 
vers.  18,  19),  as  sent  like  himself,  and  by  giving  prominence  to 
the  other  passage  which  calls  him  the  angel  or  messenger  of  God. 
O  fyxofjievos  was  the  general  expression  for  the  Messiah,  derived 
from  many  such  places  as  Ps.  cxviii.  26,  xl.  8  ;  Hab.  ii.  3,  &c. ; 
but  the  fundamental  passage  which  at  the  close  of  all  prophecy, 
brings  into  prominence  and  finally  seals  this  appellation,  is  Mai. 
iii.  I.1  The  Baptist  could  not  but  have  thought  of  this  Scrip- 
ture wThen  he  framed  his  question,  and  therefore  our  Lord  em- 
phatically shows  that  John  is  there  exhibited,  with  Himself  and 
before  Himself,  as  also  a  TjN^ft,  and  in  the  very  place  where  the 
HHjn  ytifaQ  is  sP°ken  of  5  and  thus  He  gives  him  back  the 
outo?  ear i,  which  the  servant  had  formerly  ministered  to  his 
Lord.  But  as  it  refers  to  Himself,  the  prophecy  in  the  Lord's 
lips  is  curtailed,  and  its  full  meaning  concealed.  He  speaks  in 
precisely  such  a  manner,  as  to  utter  the  consciousness  with  which 
He  beholds  Himself  in  this  Scripture,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
His  humility  as  the  Son  of  Man  is  involuntarily  and  undesignedly 
exhibited :— He  so  changes  the  text  that  instead  of  the  Hebrew 
and  Sept.  reading  V£7j  ^P0  ^poaoairov  fj,ov,  standing  alone,  it  is 
thrice  said  irpo  irpoawirov  aov,  6$6v  gov,  6ji7rpoa6ev  crov.2  The 
Lord  who  speaks  by  the  Prophets,  in  Malachi  announces  Himself 
as  the  coming  angel  of  the  covenant :  my  messenger  shall  prepare 

1  Compare  Hengstenberg's  Christology  on  Malachi. 

2  The  perfect  harmony  of  the  two  Evangelists,  in  a  citation  so  strik- 
ingly deviating,  is  very  remarkable. 


MATTHEW  XI.  10.  83 

the  way  before,  me  (comp.  Lu.  i.  16,  17,  to  go  before  the  Lord 
their  God,  and  also  ver.  76)  ;  but  this  the  Lord  who  is  come  as 
the  Son  of  Man  may  not  as  yet  openly  declare,  it  is  enough  that 
by  the  threefold  gov  He  signifies  that  He  is  marked  out  and 
referred  to  by  the  Father.  See  how3  without  directly  uttering  it, 
He  nevertheless  announces  His  iyco  elfic  in  His  sublime  humility  ! 
And  note  how  that  necessary  humility  by  which  He  exalts  the 
Baptist  to  the  highest  point  of  honour,  by  placing  him  on  a  level 
with  Himself,  becomes  the  loftiest  testimony  to  His  own  dignity : 
for  that  greatest  thing,  which  makes  John  more  than  a  Prophet, 
consists  in  nothing  but  this — "  because  he  is  My  Forerunner !" 

And  that  is  the  internal  relation  of  his  office,  for  the  sake  of 
which  the  Scripture  pointed  him  out,  and  wrote  beforehand  con- 
cerning Him.      The  Prophets  prophesied  from  afar  (ver.  13), 
but  this  man  announces  the  instant  coming  of  Him  who  was 
already  born,  testifies  of  Him  who  was  already  in  their  midst,* 
points  with  his  finger  to  the  Messiah  as  He  walks,  stands  as  the 
friend  of  the  Bridegroom  by  the  Bridegroom's  side.     ( Jno.  iii. 
29).     He  prepares  His  way — that  is  the  substance  in  common  of 
both  passages,  which  were  written  concerning  him.     In  uttering 
this  finally,  our  Lord  gave  the  key  to  the  preceding  words  con- 
cerning the  preaching  to  the  poor,  and  the  offence  taken  against 
Himself,  and  similarly  paA^ed  the  way  for  what  subsequently  fol- 
lows concerning  the  unbelief  of  the  present  generation.     Repen- 
tence !  repentance  I  that  is  the  preparation  of  the  Lord's  way, 
and  the  way  of  His  kingdom,  as  the  voice  in  the  wilderness  testi- 
fied loudly  enough  to  all  consciences.      They  only  who  through 
repentance  had  become  poor,  ta*ke  no  offence  against  the  Gospel. 
This  great  word  which  recurs  to  the  mind  continually  in  this 
discourse  concerning  the  Preacher  of  Repentance,  finally  appears  in 
ver.  21,  as  the  point  of  final  decision  between  God  and  men. 
Let  it  be  further  noted  in  connexion  with  the  next  verse  that  if 
John,  the  Preacher  of  Repentance  kot  i^oyfiv^  understood  the  whole 
relations  of  his  preaching  more  fully  and  profoundly  than  all 
others  before  him,  so  also  he  could  not  have  been,  in  the  know- 
ledge of  the  humble  Messiah,  who  proceeded  to  spiritual  victory 
through  the  path  of  suffering  and  self-renunciation,  less  than 
some  of  them,  for  example,  Isaiah ! 


84  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Ver.  11.  "The  Baptist"  was  a  cognomen  which  John  had 
soon  received  among  the  people  and  his  disciples,  from  the  strik- 
ing and  hitherto  unheard  of  character  of  his  public  function. 
Probably  at  first  a  name  of  reproach  or  blame  on  account  of  his 
presumption  (Jno.i.  25),  it  had  passed  into  a  general  descriptive 
appellation,  and  among  his  own  disciples  (Lu.  vii.  20),  was  used 
as  a  title  of  honour,  since  their  Master  had  included  his  whole 
mission  under  that  term  (Jno.  i.  33).       The  three  first  Evan- 
gelists give  him  this  name :  but  here  the  Lord's  own  mouth  con- 
firms twice  in  succession,  this  title  of  honour  as  the  highest  and 
best  designation  of  this  man's  dignity  and  position.     He  does  not 
say, — the  Preacher  of  Repentance ;  for  this  would  not  have  dis- 
tinguished him  from  other  prophets,  and  the  Lord  would  leave 
that  to  speak  for  itself  in  the  consciences  of  the  people,  till,  in  ver. 
21,  He  plainly  utters  it  Himself.     The  baptism  of  John,  that  to 
which  the  people  submitted,  involved  the  general  confession  of 
the  people,  which  was  forced  from  them  by  the  divine  authority 
(Matt.  xxi.  25)  of  this  Forerunner ;  and  thus  they  justified  God. 
Lu.  vii.  29.      Concerning  this  Baptist,  the  Lord  now  utters  the 
impressive  word,  confirming  it  by  the  single  ''Afxrjv  in  the  midst 
of  this  discourse  (stronger  than  the  vai  ver.  9,  afterwards  vers. 
22 — 24  only  ir\r)v  Xey&>  v/mv)  ; — among  them  that  are  born  of 
women    (earthly,  mortal  men,  like  n$N  *Tt^  ^°^'  x^v*  h  xv* 
14),  there  hath  not  risen  a  greater  than  he,  none  greater  hath 
been  especially  raised  up,  sent  and  commissioned  of  God.1  \E7et- 
peaOai  used  by  the  Prophets,  (Lu.  vii.  16,  Jno.  vii.  52),  hence 
also  of  Jesus  Himself  Acts  v.  30  (as  also  per  catachresin  of  false 
prophets  Matt,  xxi  v.  11 — 24),  as*  itself  closely  connected  with 
being  born,  (Matt.  iii.  9)  inasmuch  as  God  provides  and  appoints 
His  servants  from  their  mother's  womb,  summons  and  sends  them 
forth  whensoever  he  will,  already  qualified  by  nature  according 
to  His  predetermined  purpose.     In  this  Q^pri  according  to  Old 
Test,  language,  both  the  human  birth  and  the  divine  ordination, 
are  included.     Among  all  those  who  were  born  of  women  and 
called  by  God  to  their  office  and  its  function,  there  had  been 

1  Let  the  progression  of  the  whole  discourse  referring  to  him  be  well 
observed — a  man — a  prophet — the  greatest! 


MATTHEW  XI.  11.  85 

none  greater  than  the  Baptist,  whose  difference  from  all  his  pre- 
decessors is  by  that  one  word  defined.  He  is  not  simply  regarded 
as  the  greatest  among  them,  but  as  standing  alone.  We  shall 
hear  presently  in  ver.  xii.  13,  how  that  "his  days"  are  already 
the  introduction  of  a  new  period,  and  that  he  stands  opposed  to 
the  law  and  the  Prophets,  being  beyond  their  circle.  And  yet 
even  this  high  elevation  of  John  is  only  a  transition,  in  this  dis- 
course which  rises  from  greater  to  yet  greater  things,  to  that  final 
and  highest  utterance:  notwithstanding  he  that  is  least  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  he  !  Not  so  much  for  John's 
own  sake  has  all  this  been  said,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  testimony 
to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  now  come.  Not  that  the  people  were 
to  attach  themselves  to  John  as  his  disciples,  when  they  could  no 
longer  go  forth  to  him,  because  the  Lord  had  called  him  from 
his  work ;  but  that  they  should  come  to  Him,  whose  way  the 
Baptist  had  prepared. 

And  is  He  then,  is  Christ  Himself,  the  fictcporepo^  who  in 
regard  to  the  Baptist  is  yet  more  externally  humble  and  unre- 
puted  than  he ;  who  coming  after  him  is  yet  preferred  before 
him ;  and  in  his  existence  from  the  beginning  is  in  a  superabun- 
dant sense  fieifyv  amov  ?  The  words  were  thus  understood  by 
such  Fathers  as  Chrysostom  and  Augustin,  and  by  old  expositors 
as  Euthymius  and  TlieophylacL  Menken  also  has  lately  undertaken 
to  support  this  view,  with  ingenious  and  specious  arguments. 
But  however  this  might  seem  to  suit  ver.  6  at  the  first  glance,  a 
deeper  penetration  shows  that  it  does  not  in  reality ;  and  a 
thorough  and  full  exposition  overturns  it  altogether. 

First,  let  it  be  observed  that  the  comparative  may  not  be  thus 
immediately  and  absolutely  taken  for  the  superlative ;  and  this 
of  itself  undermines  all  those  views,  which  (after  Imthers  text), 
elsewhere  rightly  enough,  but  inappropriately  here,  speak  of 
Christ  as  having  humbled  Himself  to  the  uttermost.  Thus  under- 
stood, the  comparative  must,  in  any  case,  have  immediately 
referred  to  John  ;  and  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  strictly  correct, 
that  Jesus  was  inferior  among  the  people  to  John,  who  had  now 
declined,  or  had  been  so  when  John  was  the  centre  of  the  people's 
concourse  (for  see  Jno.  iii.  26 ;  Matt.  iv.  25,  viii.  27,  ix.  26 ; 
Lu.  v.  1,  vii.  16,  17).  Further,  it  will  commend  itself  to  all 
right  feeling,  as  quite  dissonant  from  the  whole  spirit  and  tone  of 


80  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

this  discourse,  that  the  Lord  should  now  throw  off  the  veil  of 
humility  which  He  had  assumed  from  the  beginning,  and  sud- 
denly break  forth  with  the  open  declaration —  Verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  I  am  nevertheless  greater  than  He !  The  less  can  He  be  sup- 
posed to  say  this,  as  this  and  more  than  this  is  self-understood  in 
the  Isacred  dignity  which  pervades  the  whole  discourse.  Again, 
it  is  not  an  external  manifestation  and  repute  among  the  people 
which  is  spoken  of  in  ver.  11 : — neither  as  it  regards  the  Baptist 
nor  the  fit/cporepos,  for  it  immediately  follows — in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  !  Thus  it  is  an  actual  position  and  estimation  before  God 
in  that  kingdom,  or  in  relation  to  it,  which  is  referred  to.  We 
have  it  significantly  in  St  Luke — jiel&ip  irpo<f>rjT7]^  ovhds 
ear iv,  and  John  is  thereby  not  simply  placed  in  the  rank  of  the 
Prophets,  but  before  them  and  above  them  :  consequently,  that 
which  is  placed  in  contradistinction  and  superiority  to  him,  must 
indicate  an  altogether  new,  and  yet  higher,  degree  and  dignity. 
It  is  not  the  Lord's  design  to  decide  whether  John  is  greater,  in 
his  own  proper  personality,  in  his  nearness  of  communion  with 
God,  in  the  degree  of  his  holiness,  than  Abraham,  or  Moses,  or 
David  :  He  only  assigns  to  him  a  peculiar  and  pre-eminent  rank 
as  it  respects  his  office1  as  Baptist,  and  Forerunner  of  Him  who 
was  to  come.  (He  does  not  say  directly — John  is  greater  than 
all  these ;  but  merely — no  one  among  them  is  greater  than  he — 
not  expressly: — no  one  is  equal  to  him).  As  the  "greater"  in 
the  former  part,  being  a  proper  comparative  pre-supposes  the  less, 
just  so  the  distinctly  contrasted  6  Be  ubiKporepos  implies  the  greater 
with  respect  to  itself,  and  that  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  It  is 
decisive,  finally,  upon  this  point  that  Jesus  as  its  King  could 
never  speak  of  Himself  (no  parallel  can  be  found  of  the  kind),  as 
being  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  even  the  greatest  in  it — just  as 
a  king  might  be  termed  the  highest  in  the  state.  He  is  not  in 
the  kingdom,  He  comes  not  into  that  kingdom  ;  but  the  kingdom 
itself  comes  in,   and  with,  Himself.      We  have  examples  of  the 

1  Thus  much,  in  any  case,  must  be  supplied  after  juifa*  in  St  Mat- 
thew, if  not  just  npocpTjTTjs  in  the  strict  sense,  since  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment there  are  no  more  prophets,  properly  speaking.  The  discourse 
here  runs  upon  official  position  and  corresponding  degree  of  knowledge  : 
it  is  that  which  is  meant  by  7rpocj)r}TTjs  in  St  Luke,  which  addition,  there- 
fore, is  not  incorrect. 


MATTHEW  XI.  11.  87 

Lord's  use  of  the  expressions  concerning  the  greater  and  the  less 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  in  the  plain  parallels  of  Matt.  v.  19, 
x.  42,  with  which  the  question  of  the  disciples,  and  this  answer 
in  ch.  xviii.  1,  4  will  harmonize.  Consequently,  6  /M/cporepos  iv 
rfj  fiaaike La  does  not  signify  him  that  is  externally  and  apparently 
less  in  regard  to  the  ancient  prophets  or  the  Baptist ;  but,  accord- 
ing to  its  obvious  and  literal  sense,  him  that  is  less  in  comparison 
with  others  greater  by  his  side  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Then 
comes  in  the  natural  significance  of  the  article,  making  the  com- 
parative equivalent  to  a  superlative  : — he  that  is  less  than  all 
others  connected  with  him,  must,  consequently,  be  the  least.  As 
we  might  say — which  is  he  who  is  the  wiser  (than  all  others)  in 
this  room  %  But  the  emphasis  falls  sharply  upon  the  contrast  of 
the  two  comparatives  :  the  less  and  the  least  in  the  kingdom,  is 
yet  greater  than  all  who  are  without,  even  greater  than  he,  who 
among  those  without  has  no  superior. 

And  thus  we  find  the  simple  and  important  ground-thought  of 
the  whole  saying,  in  the  emphatic  iv  ;  in  the  contrast  between 
the  within  and  the  without.  Now,  but  also  now  first,  is  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  come,  present,  and  thrown  open  to  the  entrance 
of  all,  (ver.  12).  There  are  then  two  ranks  : — all  the  Prophets 
raised  up  by  God,  and  John  at  the  last  immediately  before  and 
at  the  introduction  of  this  kingdom, — but  now  also  the  disciples  of 
Christ,  who  are  the  first  within  this  kingdom,  its  actual  subjects  and 
citizens  upon  earth.  Here  comes  in  a  new  birth  above  the  being 
"born  of  women"  (John  hi.),  here  is  that  better  thing  provided 
for  us  (Heb.  xi.  40),  here  do  the  disciples  of  Christ  see,  and  hear, 
and  possess  all  that  which  so  many  Prophets  and  righteous  men 
were  obliged  to  wait  for  (Matt  xiii.  16,  17),  that  which  John  him- 
selfj  who  dies  in  prison  without  becoming  His  disciple  to  Whom 
he  sent  all  men,  received  not  upon  earth.  Let  the  remarkable 
passage  in  Zech.  xii.  8  be  compared,  to  which  we  may  almost 
suppose  the  Lord  was  referring.  It  was  the  high  prerogative  of 
Moses  to  hear  the  Lord's  words  mouth  to  mouth,  and  not  in  dark 
speeches,  and  to  behold  His  similitude  (Num  xii.  6 — 8) ;  but  now 
every  disciple  in  this  respect  is  already  as  Moses  the  greatest  of 
the  Prophets  (Matt.  xiii.  11 ;  Mar.  iv.  11).  He  hears  and  sees, 
however,  in  addition,  much  greater  things  than  ever  Moses  did. 
A  Christian  scholar  and  catechumen,  who  has  in  childlike  sim- 


$&  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

plicity  learned  his  Our  Father,  knows  and  enjoys  more  than  the 
whole  Old  Testament  could  give ;  and  so  far  stands  nearer  to 
God  than  even  John  the  Baptist,  whose  position  was  the  thres- 
hold between  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  standing  at  the  door 
without  himself  entering  in.  This  holds  good,  however,  not  merely 
of  "knowledge"  (von  Gerlach),  but  of  the  whole  position  as 
before  God,  of  the  possession  of  the  better  things  of  grace,  even 
though  in  connection  with  little  knowledge.  For  the  having  and 
being  is  here  the  true  knowledge. 

Ver.  12.  By  this,  which  is  the  only  correct  exposition  of  the 
preceding  verse  we  have  laid  the  foundation  for  a  thorough  com- 
prehension of  that  which  follows.  The  kingdom  of  heaven — this 
is  still  in  continuation  the  fundamental  idea,  that  is,  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  as  come,  and  among  them.  It  is  not  Doctrine  only 
that  the  Lord  brings  and  offers  to  His  hearers,  but  a  new,  long- 
promised,  long-prepared,  now  first  established  institution.  A 
new  condition  of  things  begins  with  this,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  come  upon  earth  !  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  great  now,  dpn, 
vvvl  Be,  which  He  cries  from  this  time  forward.  It  began,  pro- 
perly speaking,  with  His  own  days,  the  days  of  the  Son  of  Man 
(Lu.  xvii.  22) ;  yet  He  reckons,  in  His  gracious  lowliness,  the 
days  of  John  the  Baptist  as  included  in  them,  between  the  airo 
and  the  eW.  These  days  are  of  course  the  whole  period  of  his 
official  activity,  which  being  now  drawing  to  its  close  in  his  im- 
prisonment, might  be  spoken  of  as  concluded.  It  may,  however, 
be  asked,  whether  the  Lord  reckons  the  amb  from  the  beginning 
or  from  the  end  of  this  period.  But  when  it  is  considered  that 
the  Baptist  appeared  to  Israel  not  very  long  before  the  Lord 
Himself,  and  that  for  a  certain  space  their  testimonies  ran  toge- 
ther, and  that  the  Forerunner  was  distinguished  from  all  the 
other  Prophets  as  coming  to  Him  who  was  to  come,  and  belong- 
ing to  Him,  we  cannot  hesitate  longer  to  include  the  Baptist's 
term  in  the  great  new  age.  It  is  the  prelude  to  the  opening  of 
the  kingdom,  the  actual  beginning  of  the  immediately  following 
now,  and  John's  announcement  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as 
nigh  at  hand  was  already  an  invitation  which  the  Lord  Himself, 
and  by  His  disciples,  only  took  up  and  continued. 

The  Lord  goes  on  to  say,  that  in  this  great  era  now  opened, 
the  kingdom   of  heaven  {3id&Tai — and  what  is   that  ?      Ver- 


MATTHEW  XI.  12.  89 

bally,  it  is  uncertain,  whether  it  is  in  the  passive  or  middle 
voice,  and  in  what  signification  it  is  used.  First  of  all,  fiid&iv 
or  more  commonly  /3id£ecrdai,  means  to  use  violence  upon  a  per- 
son or  thing,  to  overmaster,  constrain,  do  violence  to ;  hence 
also,  to  pursue  anything  with  the  greatest  earnestness  and  zeal 
(iElian.  H.  V.  xiii.  32.  Joseph.  Ant  vii.  9,  2,  Philo  Cherub,  p. 
127  c).  In  the  passive  voice,1  the  meaning  here  might  be,  as 
Luther  gives  it,  and  either  in  a  good  or  bad  sense  : — the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  outraged  and  opposed,  or,  they  strive  and  use 
violence  to  enter  into  it.  But  then  fiid^eaOai  in  the  middle  voice 
signifies  to  do  anything  with  vehemence,  to  use  violence,  in  the 
accomplishment  of  anything,  as  Lu.  xvi.  16.  (Hence  /3m£o/iei>o9 
or  puMrdfAevos  is  connected  with  the  verb  as  an  adverb — power- 
fully). Let  us  now  compare,  for  the  first  time,  the  parallel  in 
Lu.  xvi.  16,  where  the  word  is  commonly  received  in  the  good 
sense,  (ei?  avrrjv  fiia&Tai  equivalent  to  /3m£o//<ei>o?  ap7ra&i,  that 
is,  breaks  into  it,  may  press  in  unhindered,  as  the  counterpart  to 
Ex.  xix.  24  Sept.  which  Grotius  refers  to),  and  there  it  must 
indicate  an  unfriendly  violence  against  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
For,  first  of  all,  the  7nx?  in  that  passage  can  only  thus  be  pro- 
perly explained.  The  language  of  John  iii.  26,  that  all  men 
came  to  Him,  might  indeed  be  the  unmeasured  words  of  the 
envious,  but  the  Lord  Himself  could  not  possibly  have  said  that 
— every  man  presses  with  violence  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,2 
which  would  ill  accord  with  the  lamentation  over  the  prevalent 
universal  unbelief  which  St  Matthew  records.  Further,  that 
that  interpretation  would  contradict  the  whole  connection  of  St 
Luke's  discourses  from  ch.  xiv. — ch.  xviii.  We  shall  at  that 
place  show  in  detail,  but  now  must  take  it  for  granted,  that  the 
sayings  recorded  there  were  not  unskilfully  gathered  together 
from  a  variety  of  occasions,  but  were  actually  connected  together 
by  the  Lord  Himself,  introducing  designed  repetitions  with  new 
meanings  and  connexions.  The  parables  of  Lu.  xv.,  xvi.  form  a 
complete  whole,  to  which  the  intermediate  and  interposed  words 

1  The  preference  of  which  Schweizer  Stud.  u.  Krit.  1836.  1,  has 
maintained. 

2  To  qualify  it  (as  Bengel  does)  with  the  addition — nets  (3ia{of*evos — 
every  one  of  the  few  who  seek  to  enter ;  attains  it  only  by  violence — 
is  in  the  highest  degree  forced. 


90  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

strictly  belong.  The  sinner's  repentance  or  punishment,  how  lie 
is  either  gained  or  is  lost,  is  spoken  of  first  in  parables  addressed 
to  penitent  sinners  and  self-righteous  Pharisees.  In  the  third 
parable,  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  three,  the  love  of  God  in  seek- 
ing the  sinner  is  exhibited  as  yet  bearing  with  the  eldest  son : 
then  does  the  householder  set  before  the  new  and  unconfirmed 
disciples  the  prudence  of  the  sinner,  to  save  him  from  the  danger 
which  threatens  him  even  after  his  conversion,  by  a  lesson  of 
fidelity  in  earthly  and  heavenly  good :  the  last  parable,  finally, 
exhibits  the  punishments  which  all  accrue,  when  the  sinner,  like 
the  Pharisees,  in  proud,  practical  unbelief  in  God's  revelation, 
has  despised  the  love  of  God  which  seeks  him  and  calls  him  to 
repentance ; — and  this  last  the  Lord  introduces  by  some  prepara- 
tory words  to  the  mocking  Pharisees  !  Ye  self-righteous  ones 
are  all  the  worse  sinners  before  God  (ver.  15),  for  ye  despise  the 
revelation  of  the  divine  love !  Law,  Prophecy,  Gospel  are  all 
before  you,  but  ye  receive  nothing  aright,  ye  rage,  and  blaspheme 
against  the  kingdom  of  God  which  is  preached  to  you,  because 
ye  have  for  your  lusts  (ver.  18)  weakened  and  set  aside  that  law 
(ver.  17)  which  the  kingdom  does  not  abolish  but  establish. 
With  regard  to  you  it  may  be  said  : — all  men  outrage  and  oppose 
that  kingdom,  instead  of  meekly  hearing  and  accepting  it.  Cer- 
tainly, even  if  this  deeper  connexion  is  not  admitted,  the  but 
which  in  ver.  17  follows  the  ?ra?,  decisively  shews  that  ver.  16 
can  only  be  designed  to  blame  the  conduct  of  the  Pharisees. 
Consequently  St  Luke's  meaning  is  like  St  Matthew's  in  ch. 
xxiii.  13; — compare  ver.  12  in  the  latter  with  ver.  15  in  the 
former, 

But  hastily  to  conclude  that  the  /Staferat  here  in  St  Matthew 
must  consequently  have  the  same  bad  sense, — that  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  suffereth  the  violence  of  opposition,  and  is  mightily 
repelled,  would  be  to  set  out  with  the  false  supposition,  that  the 
two  places  must  necessarily  use  the  expression  in  one  and  the 
same  meaning.  When  our  Lord  repeats  His  earlier  utterances 
in  another  connection,  it  is  rather  His  wont  to  apply  them  in  a 
different  way,  to  exhibit  another  aspect  of  their  comprehensive 
and  many-sided  meaning.  And  one  of  those  pregnant  and  pro- 
found sayings  we  have  here  in  this  fita&fOai.  In  St  Matthew 
the  Lord  proceeds  immediately  afterwards  to  speak  of  the  believ- 


MATTHEW  XI.  12.  91 

ing  acceptance  of  the  convincing  and  public  testimony  then 
extant  concerning  the  kingdom  of  heaven  then  present ;  but  the 
one-sided  reference  to  the  violent  resistance  to  that  kingdom 
would  have  been  an  irrelevant  introduction  to  that  topic,  would 
rather  have  diverted  the  thought  from  it.  The  view  which 
Luther  takes,  and  which  has  predominated  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  church ;  viz.,  that  men  struggle  to  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  (as  Luke  xiiL  24,  and  they  who 
use  violence  obtain  it  and  take  it  by  force)  (Hesych.  /3ta- 
^erai,  fiuuco?  fcparelrai,),  suits  the  connexion  to  a  very  great 
extent,  better  indeed  than  the  former,  but  not  altogether.  The 
essential  and  fundamental  thought,  which,  pervades  the  whole 
passage,  vers.  10 — 15,  is  the  mighty  and  convincing  witness 
which  the  kingdom  of  heaven  bears  to  itself,  and  not  the 
resulting  faith  or  unbelief,  which  first  begins  to  be  spoken  of 
in  ver.  16.  Further,  we  must  regard  the  first  member — f) 
fiaaiXeia  toov  ovpavcov  /3id^eraL,  as  referring  to  something  per- 
taining to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  now  published,  in  itself;  other- 
wise the  second  member  would  be  only  a  tautological  repetition, 
which  would  be  utterly  out  of  keeping  with  the  pregnant,  pointed 
brevity  of  these  striking  and  new  announcements.  The  Lord  is 
speaking  of  the  great  and  assured  fact  that  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  has  come,  that  it  openly  proclaims  and  offers  itself  (ver. 
15)  ;  and  it  is  this  which  He  places  in  opposition  to  the  pro- 
phecying  of  the  Prophets,  and  the  preparation  of  Elias.  St 
Luke — euayyeXl^erao : — it  is  preached  as  joyful  tidings,  by  deed,' 
and  word,  and  all  the  signs  of  this  great  crisis!  This  is  the  pro- 
per parallel  of  the  first  ftia^erat,  in  this  place :  this  is  the  central, 
all-comprehending,  and  fundamental  idea,  which  would  be  with- 
out its  corresponding  expression,  if  that  is  not  found  in  the  fiia^e- 
rac.  And  what,  then,  is  its  full  meaning  ?  The  word  signifies 
here  no  more  and  no  less  than  its  active  sense  which  passes  into 
the  middle  : — the  kingdom  of  heaven  proclaims  itself  loudly  and 
openly,  breaking  in  with  violence ;  the  poor  are  compelled  (Lu. 
xiv.  23)  to  enter  in ;  those  who  oppose  it  are  constrained  to  take 
offence.  In  short,  all  things  proceed  urgently  with  it,  it  goes  with 
"  mighty  movement  and  impulse"  (as  Draseke  preaches),  it  works 
effectually  upon  all  spirits  in  both  directions  and  on  all  sides. 
Bengel  says   well,  though  somewhat  onesidedly,    sese  vi  quasi 


92  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

obtrudit — for  the  ftid^ecrOai  embraces  as  well  the  drawing  as  the 
repulsion  of  men's  minds ;  both  are  at  once  its  one,  mighty 
working.1 

It  may  be  hoped  that  the  first  member  of  the  paragraph  is  now 
made  sufficiently  clear  by  lexicon,  parallels,  and  context,  and  the 
second  now  remains  to  be  investigated,  kcu  fiiacrTal  apir dtpva iv 
avrrjv.  It  is  immediately  evident  that  the  ^taaral  are  not  rob- 
bers by  violence  (perverse  expositors  have  actually  thought  that 
such,  converted  from  their  former  life,  are  intended,  for  what  do 
we  not  find  in  exegesis  I)  ;  but  ftiaaTr)?  has  its  usual  Greek  force, 
one  who  shows  and  uses  his  own  strength,  one  who  applies 
violence  to  anything,  consequently  in  the  obvious  transition  of 
the  continuous  discourse,  it  is  strictly  equivalent  to  fiiaaaixevoi.2 
Are  we  then,  now  at  least,  to  translate  with  Luther  in  a  good 
sense?  Bat  the  apTruQe.iv  for  cupide  et  violenter  arripere  only  in 
a  praiseworthy  and  commanded  sense,  will  not  altogether  har- 
monise ;  in  that  case  we  might  have  expected  the  more  precise 
and  distinguishing  6l  ^taarai ;  and  the  parallel  in  St  Luke 
eh  avrrjv  (Sid^eaOai  altogether  fails  to  accord  with  this  dpiraCpiv. 
It  is  our  opinion,  in  consequence,  as  the  two  vocabula  so  entirely 
correspond,  that  ^laajai  must  have  the  same  full  and  double 
meaning  as  /^csjercu,  as  indeed  is  indicated  by  the  absence  of  the 
article,  which  leaves  it  indefinite.  In  a  case  where  exegesis  per- 
severingly  disputes  which  of  the  two  views  of  a  passage  capable 
of  two  senses  is  correct,  it  is  generally  found  that  both  are  in  a 
third  meaning  one,  and  that  the  disputants  in  both  cases  have 
both  right  and  wrong  in  their  argument.  Our  view  does  not 
necessitate  any  tautology  in  the  two  sentences.  The  first  speaks 
of  that  mighty  excitement  which  the  breaking  in  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  in  itself  occasions  ;  the  second  points  out  inferentially 
(and  this  is  the  tendency  of  the  whole  discourse)  the  result  as 
seen  flowing  from  this  cause  in  the  present  age,  and  thus  consti- 
tuting signs  of  the  time.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  breaks  in  upon 
the  age  with  power ;  and  what  this  signifies  with  regard  to  its 

1  Von  Gerlach's  expression — "it  spreads  itself  abroad  with  power," 
adheres  rather  too  much  to  the  one  side. 

2  As  no  article  is  prefixed,  the  two  personalities  of  Jesus  and  John 
cannot  (as  Lange  thinks)  be  intended,  as  if,  by  their  means,  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  was  "  violently  brought  to  light."'' 


MATTHEW  XI.  12.  93 

first,  and  proper  introduction,  we  find  continually  repeated  in 
narrower  circles,  as  it  approaches  a  land,  a  town,  or  a  house,  and 
begins  to  spread  its  fame.  Its  constraining  power  does  violence 
to  all :  but  it  excites,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  case  of  many, 
obstinate  opposition.  He  who  will  not  submit  to  it,  must  be 
offended  and  resist ;  and  he  too  who  yields  to  it,  must  press  and 
struggle  through  this  offence.  Thus  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
does  and  suffers  violence,  both  in  its  twofold  influence  :  it  exerts 
a  mighty  power  itself,  and  a  mighty  power  must  be  put  forth 
towards  it,  whether  it  be  of  faith  or  of  unbelief,  for  its  testimony 
produces  an  instant  separation  between  these  two.  When  the 
preaching  of  repentance  has  preceded,  and  the  Lord  Himself  has 
come  after,  then  is  the  critical  time  for  such  jScd&aOai,  as  is  seen 
in  the  ftiaarafc  for  and  against.  Then  men  begin  to  contend 
about  it,  and  no  man  can  keep  aloof  from  this  general  movement. 
This  contention  and  strife,  apiratpLv  avTrjv  is  consequently  in  both 
directions,  for  and  against :  it  is  the  common  expression  of  the 
enmity  of  unbelief  and  the  struggle  of  faith  together ;  and  in  Lu. 
xvi.  the  Lord  takes  only  one  of  the  sides  for  his  immediate 
object.  The  best  translation  into  German  is — the  kingdom  of 
heaven  braucht  Gewalt,  rises  and  requires  force,  and  those  who 
use  force  seize  upon  it ;  and  the  intermediate  struggle  between 
unbelief  and  faith,  the  false  apird^euv  of  the  Messiah,  Jno.  vi.  15 
(as  if  His  kingdom  was  to  be  thus  apirarfinv  set  up),  is  also 
included.  If  this  twofold  meaning  (which  is  explained  by  a  refe- 
rence to  Matt.  x.  21  and  35)  is  not  quite  clear  to  us,  we  must 
finally  consider,  that  not  only  do  both  exhibit  themselves  in  facts 
connected,  but  that  they  necessarily  in  their  mutual  influence 
occasion  one  another : — when  some  would  enter,  others  oppose 
them  ;  and  when  those  oppose,  the  former  struggle  all  the  more 
vehmently  against  them.  Bengel,  in  order  to  maintain  the 
exclusively  good  sense  of  apirat^iv  (in  Neander  "  to  struggle  for 
it  with  all  the  soul"),  says  that  the  lamentation  over  unbelief 
and  opposition  only  begins  with  ver.  16 ;  but  this  is  not  true, 
inasmuch  as  the  whole  discourse  in  its  two  aspects  as  exhibited 
in  the  paragraphs  beginning  with  vers.  20  and  25,  is  prepared 
tor  and  given  in  germ,  not  only  in  ver.  6,  but  also  in  ver.  12. 
Nitzsch  (System  §  142)  will  not  be  prevented  by  Schweizer  from 
finding  in  this  passage  a  commendable  violence  put  forth,  and  we 


94:  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

perfectly  agree  with  him,  concurring  also  in  his  position,  drawn 
from  the  depth  of  our  Lord's  discourse,  that  "  the  seizing  with 
violence,  of  which  the  Lord  speaks  (Matt.  xi.  12),  presupposes 
the  days  of  John  and  of  Christ,  or  their  calling"  (we  would 
rather  have  said — their  drawing  and  seizing  men,  their  doing 
violence),  and  that  thus  nothing  Pelagian  is  to  be  attributed  to 
the  proper  power  of  man.  But  if  he  discerns  in  the  Pid&aOat, 
and  dpird^iv  only  this  one  meaning,  actively  and  passively 
opposed,  only  the  kingdom  of  heaven  suffering  violence  from 
those  who  seize  upon  it  violently,1  we  must  demur,  and  assert 
that  the  Lord  signifies  also  the  excitement  which  it  creates,  as 
seen  in  the  opposition,  and  that  in  the  /3id£eadai  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  there  is  first  of  all  an  active  sense  of  its  coming  and 
influence,  even  that  which  Nitzsch  is  obliged  to  presuppose  in  the 
call  of  the  days  of  John  and  of  Christ. 

Vers.  13 — 15.  John  has  been  from  vers.  9  more  and  more 
expressly  designated  as  standing  alone  in  his  relation,  now  he.  is 
most  decisively  so :  he  is  not  included  among  "  all  the  Prophets." 
They  have  prophecied,  continuing  to  do  so  after  their  death  in 
their  Scriptures  ;  their  prophecy  came  to  an  end,  first  of  all,  with 
Malachi,  until  Zacharias  the  father  of  John,  and  Simeon  spake 
the  last  prophecies,  of  which  the  last  of  all,  Simeon's  word, 
already  passed  over  into  an  announcement  of  Him  who  was 
come.  Thus,  until  John,  that  is,  looking  at  the  time  (as  before  &>? 
apTi),  until  the  days  of  the  Baptist.  But  also,  looking  at  the 
substance  of  their  prophecies,  until  this  point  of  boundary  be- 
tween time  past  and  the  after  time,  between  prophecy  and  fulfil- 
ment, between  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments:  for  the 
messenger  who  prepares  the  way,  the  Elias  in  Malachi's  last 
words  at  the  end  of  the  Old  Testament,  is  actually  its  winding 
up  and  transition  to  the  New,  the  preaching  of  repentance  in 
order  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  the  internal  unity  of  the  law 
and  the  Prophets,  inasmuch  as  both  foreannounce  the  future 
time  and  Him  who  was  to  come.  Hence,  Mai.  iv.  4  comprehends 
all  in  the  one  word — remember  ye  the  law  of  Moses  !  We  have 
shown  at  length  on  Matt.  v.  17,  in  what  sense  the  law,  as  well 

1  As  von  Meyer,  also,  wrote  to  me  :  "I  prefer  decidedly  the  passive 
and  good  sense." 


MATTHEW  XI.  13—15.  95 

as  the  prophets,  prophecies;  in  St  Luke  the  law  precedes,  accord- 
ing to  common  usage,  but  here  it  follows,  partly  because  the 
sentence  passes  on  from  speaking  of  the  Prophets,  partly  for  the 
sake  of  giving  emphasis  to  this  point — and  also  the  law !  The 
man  who  stood  on  the  threshold  between  the  two  economies 
represents  both :  as  the  preparer  of  the  way  for  the  Messiah  lie 
is  on  a  level  with  all  the  Prophets  (to  whom  in  a  certain  sense 
Isa.  xl.  3  already  applied),  and  yet  as  the  distinctively  last  pre- 
parer of  the  way  who  was  to  come,  he  is  himself  the  beginning 
of  the  New  Testament,  of  the  new  time  of  the  laws'  fulfilment. 
Mar.  i.  1 — 2.  Ver,  14,  as  the  fullest  conclusion  of  all  that  had 
been  said,  signifies  this  ;  and  gives  its  most  significant  explanation 
by  means  of  and,  which  is  here  equivalent  to  for.  But  the  open 
declaration,  that  John  is  himself  actually  (avros)  the  Elias 
prophecied  in  Malachi,  is  again  mysteriously1  limited  by  the 
formula — it  OeXere  Be^aadai,  that  is,  if  ye  will  receive  it  and 
understand  it  as  it  was  intended,  if  ye  will  receive  him,  as  ye 
should,  temporarily  as  such.  That  is  until  in  a  second  later  ful- 
filment the  actual  Elias  shall  come.  For  our  Lord  will  no  more 
contradict  John's  negative  (Jno.  i.  21),  than  His  own  declaration 
Matt.  xvii.  11 — 12,  where  He  himself  testifies  both  that  Elias 
will  come ,  and  that  in  the  person  of  John  he  has  already  come 
once.  The  definite  article  in  Malachi,  ^v^n  H^N  riN>  must 
indicate  the  actual,  historical  person  of  the  Tishbite,  and  the 
Jewish  expectation  expressed  in  Ecclus.  xlviii.  10,  has  its  founda- 
tion in  truth.  This  the  Lord  designedly  leaves  open,  by  not  only 
saying  HXi'as  without  the  article,  but  also  by  pointing  in  6  jue\- 
\cov  ipxeaOai  to  a  yet  future,  and  proper  coming  of  Elias.2 
Avtos  iaTLv  is  less  than  ovtos  iari,  ver.  10.  Thus  much  only 
will  He  say,  that  in  the  person  of  John  "  The  Elias  to  come," 
exhibited  himself  for  this  time :  and  He  thereby  uttered  the  last 
wrord  on  this  subject  that  was  to  be  uttered,  for  Elias  and  the 

1  With  an  intimation  which  did  not,  as  was  formerly  thought,  contain 
an  accommodation  to  Jewish  expectation  and  mode  of  speech,  but  in- 
volved something  quite  different. 

2  Our  Lord  was  far  from  intending  to  say — ye  shall  expect  no  other 
Messiah!  (As  according  to  BengeVs  interpretation  fieWav  is  spoken 
simply  tanquam  e  prospectu  Vetcris  Testamenti  in  novum — to  which 
Alford  correctly  opposes  Matt.  xvii.  11). 


96  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Messiah  pertain  to  one  another,  as  the  mockers  under  the  cross 
(ch.  xxvii.  47)  also  knew.  The  question  had  not  expressed  itself 
openly,  crv  et  6  xptcrro? ;  and  the  answer  does  not  openly  express 
that  which  was  to  be  yet  veiled  from  the  people  on  account 
of  the  carnal  expectations  which  hung  around  it,  but  it  went  far 
enough  to  enable  every  understanding  hearer  to  think  the  rest, 
and  to  hear,  as  if  it  had  been  spoken,  koI  ejco  el/M  6  ^piercs-. 
Then  does  the  word  break  off,  saying  all  by  saying  nothing,  and 
by  expressive  silence  crying  aloud,  the  truth — he  that  hath  ears 
to  hear,  let  him  hear  !  This  formula,  in  common  use  among  the 
Jews,  and  which  often  recurs  in  the  Apocalypse,  does  not 
challenge  to  obedience,  as  many,  reaching  too  far,  would  interpret 
it — qui  inielligit,  obediat ;  but  at  this  point  only  qui  audit,  intel- 
ligat !  Enough  is  given  for  faith  to  hear,  and  yet  something 
remains  over  for  personal,  voluntary  hearing,  understanding,  and 
accepting  ;  for  the  spiritually  deaf  cannot  be  made  true  hearers 
by  any  operation  of  power  from  without.  All  the  mightily  en- 
forcing testimony  of  the*  kingdom  of  heaven  leaves  yet  room 
enough  for  that  wonderful  coguntur  volentes,  which  applies  to  the 
relation  between  God  and  man,  and  which  was  previously  ex- 
pressed in  el  dekere.  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  matter  of  con- 
viction ;  conviction  is  matter  of  conscience ;  conscience  is  matter 
of  freedom"  (Dniseke). 


Between  this  first  pause  in  the  discourse,  which  ver.  11  in  St 
Matthew  defines,  and  the  complaint  and  reproof  which  then 
begins  in  impressive  contrast — but  the  men  of  this  generation  will 
neither  receive  the  Elias  nor  the  Messiah,  have  ears  to  hear  but 
hear  not — St  Luke  interposes  a  paragraph  which  is  not  recorded 
as  spoken  by  Jesus  Himself.1  The  el-ne  Be  6  Kvpios  is  at  least  a 
correct  gloss,  if  not  the  genuine  reading,  in  order  to  indicate  the 
end  or  the  parenthesis  inserted  by  St  Luke.  It  is  his  purpose  to 
explain,  for  Gentile  readers  especially,  the  name  BaTrriaTTJs,  and 
the  relations  of  the  whole  subject  to  which  the  Lord's  discourse 
is  directed.     He  places  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes  in  opposition 

1  Although  Grotius,  de  Wette,  Meyer,  for  example,  unnaturally 
maintain  this. 


MATTHEW  XI.  16 — 17.  97 

to  all  the  people  and  the  Publicans,  or  the  multitudes  and  the 
private  man.1  This  was  the  report  of  St  Luke  in  his  third 
chapter,  and  does  not  contradict  the  other  report  (Matt.  iii.  7), 
which  does  not  say  that  the  Pharisees  were  actually  baptized, 
but  the  contrary — compare  ver.  6.  The  mere,  coming  to  his 
baptism  such  as  that  of  the  Pharisees,  John  did  not  accept :  that 
they  proudly  and  hypocritically  came,  and  yet  did  not  truly 
come,  was  their  rejecting  of  the  counsel  of  God,  and  their  sin ; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  common  people's  hearing  and  justifying 
God  was  good  in  itself,  a  confession  which  all  the  more  surely 
came  from  their  conscience,  as  the  Preacher  of  Repentance  had 
without  any  preparation,  and  contrary  to  all  expectation,  com- 
menced his  severe  and  stern  announcement  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Notwithstanding,  if  this  vox  populi  as  vox  Dei,  made 
the  unbelief  of  the  Pharisees  all  the  more  blameable,  it  only 
served,  as  it  regards  the  people  themselves,  who  did  not  perse- 
vere, but  after  their  first  submission  abandoned  John  again  and 
believed  not  in  Christ,  to  condemn  them  by  their  own  acts,  as  a 
foolish  generation,  in  earnest  about  nothing. 

Vers.  16,  17.  What  kind  of  men  are  these,  what  kind  of  a 
generation  is  this  ?  To  go  out  into  the  wilderness,  to  hear,  to 
justify  God,  to  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  repentance — and 
not  to  repent !  To  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  repentance 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  which  the  gracious  Son  of  Man  imme- 
diately comes  and  preaches  to  all  the  poor  as  His  gospel,  to  flock 
around  Him,  to  behold  His  miracles,  to  hear  His  words — and 
then  to  be  offended  in  Him  because  He  is  not  a  Messiah  after 
their  mind,  and  preaches  not  a  kingdom  of  heaven  without  the 
condition  of  repentance  !  Is  there  any  thing  like  this  by  which 
it  may  be  understood,  with  which  it  may  be  compared  ?  Thus, 
as  it  were  in  His  astonishment,  the  Lord  uses  the  Rabbinical 
formula  of  which  the  first  traces  had  already  been  found  in  the 
Old  Testament,  Lam.  ii.  13  (Ecclus.  xxv.  15;  Gr.  ver.  11) — Tlvi 
he  o^joiuau,  as  we  find  it  also  in  Mar.  iv.  30 ;  Lu.  xiii.  18 — 20  ; 
with  an  echo  of  it  in  Matt.  vii.  24,  and  elsewhere.  In  St#Luke 
it  follows,  and  what  are  they  like  ?  for  the  Lord  will  only  use  a 
comparison  which  is  strictly  according  to  truth,  and  in  His  mouth 
what  the  Rabbins  say  has  its  full  and  perfect  meaning,  nEHK  nu? 

1  'A/tovo-as  of  course  refers  to  the  people,  which  once  heard  him,  the 
Baptist. 

VOL.  II.  G 


98  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

or  j-tf3"T  W\7l  »Tj>     And  what  is  the  answer  in  the  following 

V  T     I 

similitude  ?    Strictly  only  this — they  are  like  themselves,  a  <yevea 
avrrj,  alone  in  their  kind  !  But  if  they  are  spoken  of  in  the  gentlest 
terms,  the  similitude  of  the  folly  of  their  own  children,  when  per- 
verse and  fickle,  would  suit  them,  though  far  from  meeting  the  case 
in  its  deep  reality:  when  the  old  exhibit  the  childishness  of  chil- 
dren, it  becomes  something  far  more  than  mere  childishness  !     It 
cannot  but  be  noted,  further,  that  the  Lord,  nihil  humani  a  se 
alienum  putans,  as  He  took  notice  of  the  rending  of  the  mended 
garments,  (Matt.  ix.  16),  and  the  domestic  concerns  of  the  chil- 
dren in  their  bed  (Lu.  xi.  7),  so  also  observed  the  children's  play 
in  the  market-place,  and  finds  in  every  thing  the  material  for  the 
analogies  of  His  wise  teaching.     As  the  play  of  the  children  re- 
presented the  actions  of  their  elders  (here  counterfeiting  wedding 
and  funeral,  the  merry  music  and  the  dirge  after  their  manner), 
the  Lord  contemplates  in  it  an  instructive  and  real  pattern  and 
likeness   of  human  nature:   as  we   might   often   say,   looking 
thoughtfully  at  the  doings  of  the  children — Even  such  are  men  ! 
The  universal  reference  to  the  dispositions  of  men  generally 
St  Luke  retains  in  the  avOpdairov^  but  the  more  specific  reference 
to  which  St  Matthew  adheres  in  the  yeveav  ravTrjv,  was  to  the 
generation  living  in  that  then  extant  and  most  important  age. 
To  this  generation  both  John  and  Jesus  belonged  as  having 
come  to  it  and  been  born  in  it,  and  this  so  far  justifies  the 
simile,  in  which  the  complaining  children  must  signify  them, 
whose  severe  or  gentle  preaching  was  displeasing  to  the  residue 
of  the  age.      It  has  been  endeavoured,  though  without  any 
foundation  and  with  no  result,  to  explain  away  this  most  striking 
application.     Olshausen  understands  by  both  classes  of  children, 
those  who  make  advances  and  those  who  reject  them,  the  capri- 
cious contemporaries  of  Jesus,  and  will  have  the  meaning  to  be, 
that  the  one-half  of  this  generation  desires  this,  the  other  that,  and 
thus  no  concerted  influence  can  be  brought  to  bear  among  them, 
for  they  are  like  a  band  of  peevish  children  :  but  this  is  in  direct 
contradiction  to  the  explanation  immediately  and  suitably  given 
in  vers.  18,  19.     Lange1  would  reconcile  the  explanation  with 

1  In  the  Biblischen  Dichtungen  (Scriptural  Poems)  which  generally 
give  such  admirable  exegesis,  more,  indeed,  than  many  a  commentary 
but  on  this  occasion  the  point  is  not  hit. 


MATTHEW  XI.  16 — 17.  99 

the  simile  by  an  inversion  of  the  relation  ;  as  the  one  set  of  chil- 
dren requires  from  the  other  dancing  or  lamenting,  according  to 
the  tune,  so  does  this  generation  desire  that  their  Prophets  should 
direct  their  voice  according  to  its  caprice  ;  but  this  is  foreign  to 
the  simplicity  of  a  popular  similitude,  and  explains  away  the 
deep  meaning  of  this  simile,  which  is  uninverted  by  the  Lord 
Himself  in  His  application.  To  compare  the  preaching  of  God 
to  the  world  with  the  play  proffered  by  children  to  children,  and 
thus  to  place  the  two  personages  who  had  come  to  it  in  the  very 
midst  of  their  generation,  is  a  profound  exhibition  of  their  lowli- 
ness and  condescension,  and  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the 
actual  fact.  Was  it  not  thus  with  them  both  ?  Did  they  not 
stand  thus  as  men  among  men,  each  in  His  own  way  condes- 
cending to  the  age,  to  its  need  and  its  desire  I  It  was,  indeed, 
with  full  publicity  that  they  proclaimed  their  offers,  eV  ay  opals 
that  is  in  the  streets  and  broad  ways  (Cant.  iii.  2,  Sept.  for 
DNTto  instead  of  which  a  various  reading  derived  from  St  Luke 
has  in  St  Matthew  also  iv  ayopa  in  the  market-place.  The 
fundamental  idea  that  first  strikes  us  must  be  this  : — Play,  foolish 
child's  play  without  earnestness  or  perseverance,  is  the  character- 
istic of  the  spirit  and  doings  of  this  age.  But  there  follows  im- 
mediately a  second  thought : — He  who  has  come  from  God  to 
this  age,  a  man  among  men,  comes  into  their  midst  and  offers 
them  a  most  solemn  and  earnest  play.  Then  finally  comes  the 
complaining  conclusion  : — He  is,  alas,  only  regarded  and  treated 
as  having  invited  to  mere  pastime,  and  on  that  account  He  is 
not  understood,  and  therefore  is  rejected.  For  it  is  implied  in 
the  background  that  they  cannot  but  observe  that  this  dancing 
or  weeping  is  something  different  from,  more  earnest  and  real 
than,  their  play :  therefore  they  are  not  pleased  with  it  now, 
though  otherwise  pleased  with  so  much  in  Him.  The  children 
who  invite,  and  play  to  the  others,  are  not,  when  we  narrowly 
investigate  it,  designated  as  the  foolish  and  self-contradictory 
ones  i1  but  the  blame  falls  upon  the  others,  who  in  both  instances 
are  displeased,  to  whom  nothing  is  right,  not  even  their  own  just 

1  As  Lange  (Leben  Jesu  ii.  2.  761)  has  said  in  opposition  to  me. 
They  are  not,  by  any  means  the  same  individual  children  in  the  appli- 
cation, but  by  the  "  children n  generally  first  the  former,  then  the 
latter  proposal,  is  rejected. 


100  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

explained  self-will.  We  must  adhere  to  the  plain  explanation 
which  the  Lord  Himself  gives  in  vers.  18,  19  ;  and  must  not  be 
diverted  by  the  turn  of  the  language,  which  less  logically  than 
picturesquely,  includes  all  in  one — this  generation  is  "  like  unto 
children" — for  this  is  only  designed  to  say  in  general,  as  we  often 
find  in  the  other  parables  : — it  so  proceeds  with  this  generation, 
that  this  is  the  effect  produced. 

Piping  and  mourning,  graciously  to  invite  to  joy  and  to  peace, 
or  rebukingly  to  command  repentance :  these  are  the  two  alter- 
nating and  blending  key-notes  of  all  God's  preaching  to  man  ; — 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  preaching  of  the  law.  The 
preaching  of  the  law  reached  its  most  rigorous  conclusion  in 
John,  the  Gospel  began  to  sound  forth  its  richest  grace  from  the 
lips  of  Jesus.  But  both  these  methods  approve  their  perfect 
accordance,  in  these  two,  whom  the  wisdom  of  God  sent  in  succes- 
sion yet  together,  into  an  age  of  crisis  and  decision.  The  Baptist 
baptized  unto  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  proclaimed  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  and  spoke  of  the  Bridegroom :  Jesus,  on  the  other  hand, 
refrained  not  from  crying,  at  the  beginning,  through  the  process, 
and  at  the  close  of  His  ministry,  Repent  ye  !  and  denounced  His 
woes  upon  the  same  generation  of  vipers,  which  had  heard  the 
same  denunciations  from  John.  The  unison  of  the  two  preach- 
ings is  ever  this,  through  repentance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ! 
But  this  internal  unity  of  the  law  and  the  Gospel  the  world 
understands  not,  and  therefore  rejects  both.  We  have  piped  and 
mourned  unto  you,  according  to  one  concerted  plan — thus  pro- 
perly speaking,  they  cry  together :  and  to  this  juxtaposition  with 
John  the  Lord  again  condescends,  when  He  proceeds  with  the 
rj\6e,  used  alike  in  both  cases.  But  why,  finally,  does  not  the 
mourning  stand  first,  as  the  preaching  of  repentance  had  taken 
precedence  1  Because  the  offer  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  has  been 
from  the  beginning  the  joyful  ground-note  of  all ;  it  led  the 
people  into  the  wilderness  first.  God  can  say,  now  as  ever,  that 
He  begins  with  grace :  even  the  Ten  Commandments  were  pre- 
faced by — I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  ! 

Vers.  18,  19.  The  <ydp  as  demonstrating  ofMola  earl,  indicates 
a  simple  and  apt  interpretation  of  the  simile,  in  the  sense  in  which 
we  have  already  explained  and  defended  it.  It  is  not  now  said 
— John  the  Baptist,  for  that  would  have  required  a  corresponding 


MATTHEW  XI.  18,  19.  101 

epitheton  for  the  Son  of  Man.  which  it  is  not  His  purpose  now 
to  assume,  Further,  it  is  not  said  expressly — Christ  came.  The 
two  ivho  had  come  present  themselves  before  us  in  their  entire 
personality,  and  according  to  all  that  went  before  upon  them,  the 
one  who  should  come,  before  the  other  who  should  come.  This 
designation  would  at  the  sametime  assure  the  people,  if  it  were 
necessary,  that  the  one  who  had  come  must  certainly  know  who 
the  other  is,  and  did  not  put  the  question  from  any  private  doubt. 
'Ea0iG)v  and  itlvcov,  in  both  cases  the  present  participle,  not  as  in 
the  German  Bible  distinguished  as  preterite  and  present :  for  the 
two  forms  continue  in  conjoint  testimony  before  the  eyes  of  this 
generation,  just  as  their  twofold  preaching  is  in  strict  accordance. 
Now  in  his  imprisonment  John  has  not  become  an  eater  and 
drinker  ! l  The  hyperbolical  expression — neither  eating  nor 
drinking,  probably  thus  spoken  by  our  Lord,  receives  in  St  Luke 
the  further  explanation  which  bread  and  wine  furnishes  ;  and  in 
this  we  discern  a  reference  to  his  food  in  the  desert  (which  St 
Luke  has  not  mentioned  elsewhere),  as  well  as  to  the  word  of  the 
angel  which  dedicated  him  to  be  aNazarene  with  spiritual  power, 
even  as  Samson  had  been  a  Nazarene  with  physical  strength. 
He  did  not  eat  and  drink  ordinarily  like  other  men :  No  man 
ever  saw  him  eat,  so  that  he  stood  as  it  were,  above  and  confront- 
ing all  other  men,  just  as  Jesus  walked  in  their  midst.  It  was  the 
same  condescension  in  John  as  in  Jesus,  only  in  another  form  ; 
the  contrast  and  unison  of  them  both  constituted  the  fullest  exhi- 
bition of  the  condescension  of  God  to  the  need  and  the  cry  of  this 
generation.  The  legal,  strict  ascetics  receive  the  man  of  their 
choice,  who  should  have  suited  them  ;  though  it  was  only  to 
humble  their  pride  by  telling  them  that  all  their  strict  severity, 
wherein  none  of  them  could  excel  himself,  would  not  avail  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  without  repentance  !  They  who  were  wait- 
ing and  longing  for  the  consolation  and  joy  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  received  their  preacher  in  Jesus,  who,  with  all  His  Mes- 
sianic i%ov<ria  in  word  and  work,  yet  dealt  with  them  so  entirely 

1  To  conclude  from  this  present  tense,  that  John  must  have  still  been 
actively  engaged  in  his  baptism,  is  entirely  wrong.  Yet  Sepp,  who 
knows  nothing  of  the  harmony,  brings  this  forward,  for  the  sake  of 
casting  an  aspersion  on  the  German  Bible  ! 


102  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

as  the  Son  of  Man  (and  not  as  *?jnSd)>  tnat  He  must  have  been 
after  their  mind,  if  they  had  been  in  themselves,  or  had  been  made 
by  John,  poor  in  spirit  and  prepared  for  His  Gospel.  But  they 
would  only  play  :  and  that  their  oion  old  play,  each  one  after  his 
own  fashion,  only  seeing  and  never  hearing  !  They  who,  at 
other  times,  were  so  easily  moved  to  dance  or  to  mourn  at  the 
sound  of  any  pipe;  now  that  God  proposes  to  them  the  true 
play,  find  neither  the  one  side  of  it  nor  the  other,  after  their 
mind.  Of  the  severe  they  say — Baifioviov  e^et.  Not  indeed 
immediately,  for  at  first  they  were  constrained  to  say — He  speaks 
truth,  he  is  a  prophet !  for  his  words  of  lamentation  sink  deep 
into  the  heart.  But  they  would  not  smite  upon  their  breasts, 
and  therefore  they  soon  come  to  say — But  He  carries  it  too  far 
with  his  enforced  and  strange  mode  of  life,  he  is  altogether  too 
gloomy ;  and  finally,  as  the  result  of  all,  they  stopped  not  short 
of — He  is  possessed,  he  hath  a  devil  and  is  mad,  why  hear  ye  him  f 
( Jno.  x.  20,).  We  learn  here,  that  such  was  the  eventual  esti- 
mate and  speech  concerning  John  among  the  mass  of  the  people, 
though  it  is  not  recorded  after  John  retires  before  Jesus  in  the 
narrative.  As  He  declares  it,  this  must  have  been  as  notoriously 
true  as  what  He,  in  his  patient  humility,  said  concerning  Him- 
self, that  they  scorn  him  as  (pd<yo$  teal  oivottottjs  (with  a,  behold, 
however,  preceding),  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners.  Thus 
this  generation  could  not  be  dealt  with  aright  by  God  ;  what  they 
find  wanting  in  John,  they  condemn  in  Jesus,  and  inversely : 
they  defend  themselves  against  the  severity  of  the  one  by 
thoughtless  levity,  and  against  the  graciousness  of  the  other  they 
pretend  to  assume  a  godly  strictness,  and  that  which  befell  these 
two  central  representatives  of  all  God's  ministers,  is  but  a  para- 
bolic exhibition  for  all  ages.  The  legal  element  is  too  rigorous, 
too  earnest,  too  morbid,  for  the  people ;  the  evangelical  too  lax, 
free  grace  being,  to  all  Christian  Pharisees,  a  suspicious  and  too 
liberal  charter  for  all  kinds  of  sinners.  To  this  day  the  servant 
of  Christ  finds  one  and  the  other  true  as  it  regards  the  tone  of 
his  preaching  and  the  manner  of  his  life.  One,  according  to  the 
spirit  which  God  endues  him  with  in  sending  him,  has  more 
severity  in  his  tone  ;  another  more  gentleness,  though  both  agree 
in    one.      But   those  who   have  no  ear,  no  heart    to  receive 


MATTHEW  XL  18,  19.  103 

the  truth,  have  all  the  more  mouth  and  boldness  to  condemn  its 
witnesses,  and  to  pronounce  their  rash  verdict  upon  them,  or 
upon  everything  else  : — This  or  that  is  too  violent  and  forced, 
too  severe  or  too  soft,  too  earnest  or  too  mild,  too  narrow- 
minded  or  too  expansive, — and  if  they  have  nothing  else  to  say, 
too  ordinary  and  human !  To  such  a  generation  as  this  the  true 
Messiah  never  comes,  though  with  His  Forerunner  He  has  been 
long  come ;  for  it  ever  thinks  of  still  another  than  this  true  one, 
and  they  look  for  this  other  or  do  not!  It  appears  as  if,  like  foolish 
children,  they  know  not  what  they  would  have ;  but  in  fact  they 
are  not  children,  and  know  very  well  what  they  would  not  have 
— neither  repentance,  nor  the  grace  which  repentance  obtains. 

But  are  all  men  actually  such,  so  that  God  has  sent  this 
preaching  upon  earth  altogether  in  vain  I  Did  no  man  justify 
God,  who  sent  John  and  the  Son  of  Man ;  did  no  man  submit 
to  the  truth  of  God  %  Did  all  stumble  at  the  offence,  so  that 
none  were  saved  ?  Did  not  the  /3td^ea6aL  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  awake  a  corresponding  good  fiLa&adat  in  any  hearts  ? 
The  parable  leaves  this  question  unanswered ;  but  as  the  preced- 
ing discourse  had  already  given  the  encouraging  answer,  we 
must  suppose,  in  order  to  harmonise  this  sorrowful  lamentation 
with  that,  that  the  Lord  would  add  some  complementary  word 
which  would  intimate  that  He  spoke  of  the  generation  as  a  whole, 
but  not  absolutely  without  exception.  With  such  a  well-founded 
pre-supposition  we  pass  on  to  the  concluding  sentence,  which  has 
been  as  much  confused  by  expositors  as  ver.  12  itself.  First, 
what  is  the  wisdom,  which  is  thus,  in  one  word,  so  plainly  con- 
trasted with  the  childish  folly  previously  depicted  ?  Assuredly, 
as  is  self-evident,  the  wisdom  of  God,  or  God  Himself,  as  He  is 
wisdom,  and  therefore  is  personally  spoken  of  as  having  Tewa. 
The  whole  similitude  had  been  a  profound  development  of  the 
saying  of  Solomon  (Prov.  xxix.  9),  that  "  if  a  wise  man  con- 
tendeth  with  a  foolish  man,  whether  he  rage  or  laugh,  there  is  no 
rest,"  he  cannot  gain  his  point;  and  our  Lord's  expression  evi- 
dently points  to  that  same  book  of  holy  writ,  in"  which  so  much 
is  written  concerning  "  wisdom."  (Let  ch.  i.  20 — 33  ;  viii.  1, 
&c,  &c,  be  just  consulted.)  Thus  God  now  is  opposed  to  men, 
that  is  in  the  persons  of  those  whom  He  sends ;  just  as  in  Lu. 


104  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

xi.  49,  the  wisdom  of  God  is  expressly  indicated  by  the  Lord  as 
the  wisdom  which  sends  the  Prophets.1  This  is  alf  that  is  meant 
here  according  to  the  whole  connexion ;  and  we  cannot  refer  the 
word  to  the  Son  of  God  as  the  essential  wisdom,  however  true 
that  is  in  itself,  for  such  a  reference  is  less  suitable  here  than  in 
the  passage  just  adduced  in  St  Luke.  For  how  can  we  suppose 
Him,  who  has  just  exhibited  Himself  as  the  eating  and  drinking 
Son  of  Man,  who  had  humbly  placed  Himself  through  the  whole 
discourse  in  juxtaposition  with  John,  thus  suddenly  speak  of 
Himself,  and  especially  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people  %  That 
wisdom  of  God,  which  sends  Prophets  and  Apostles^  Elias  and 
the  Messiah,^  now  e8i/caicoev.  Now,  though  in  the  Greek  this 
word  often  signifies  to  give  a  man  his  due  by  correction,  even  by 
condemnation  (as  in  Rom.  vi.  7),  it  never  signifies  blaming 
unjustly.  Many  expositors  have  perversely  forced  this  meaning 
upon  it,  and  even  Luther,  who  quotes  the  old  adage  about  the  egg 
being  more  cunning  than  the  hen,  as  if  the  lamentation  still 
continued,  and  the  Lord  would  say  that  wisdom  must  be  con- 
tent to  be  thus  condemned  and  opposed  by  her  children. 
The  New  Testament  Slkulovv,  like  the  Old  Testament  7WjV"T, 
permits  no  such  signification.  Thus  wisdom  is  justified,  that  she 
is  wisdom,  she  is  acknowledged,  and  her  due  honour  given  to 
her  (Scholium  :  in/j^Ot)),  just  as  St  Luke  (ver.  29),  had  pre- 
viously expressed  it.  And  who  are  her  children?  Solomon 
tells  us,  in  whose  words  Wisdom  so  often  addresses  her  disciples, 
my  son,  my  children  :  and  who  (ch.  xxvii.  11)  says,  "My  son,  be 
wise,  and  make  my  heart  glad,  that  1  may  answer  him  that  re- 
proacheth  me  !  This  is  strictly  applicable  to  our  passage.  Yet 
not  as  many  turn  the  thought,  that  she  is  justified  and  "defended, 
and  approves  herself  in  the  end  in  the  persons  of  her  children  ; 
that  is,  in  the  tone  of  lamentation  still — 5/ie  must  thus  be  justified!2 
The  emphatic  irdvrov  of  St  Luke  might  indeed  be  adduced  for 

1  This  is  decisive  against  Sepp's  application,  who,  combining  this 
with  Lu.  vi.  40,  would  read  :— yet  the  wisdom  of  both  these  masters 
(John  and  Jesus)  is  justified  by  all  their  children. 

2  In  which  sense  we  might  have  understood  Luther's  translation,  if 
he  had  not  unhappily  himself  explained  it  otherwise— as  we  have  men- 
tioned before. 


MATTHEW  XI.  18,  19.  105 

this : — it  is  incumbent  upon  them  all  to  stand  forth  in  her  demon- 
stration and  defence.1  But  iBiKaicoOn,  as  something  already  past, 
opposes  that  interpretation,  which  would  have  required  the 
future — they  will  justify  themselves,  even  the  publicans  and 
sinners,  whom  ye  now  so  much  scorn  !  Still  less  may  it  be 
understood  as  if  the  reicva  were  the  Prophets  and  witnesses,  on 
account  of  whom  the  justification  should  follow  :  for  the  children 
of  wisdom  are  her  disciples,  not  her  preachers  and  teachers,  and 
assuredly  Christ  Himself,  could  not  be  included  under  that  desig- 
nation. The  word  is  thus  simply  reduced  to  this  : — the  truly 
childlike,  docile  re/cva  (preparatory  to  the  vrprioi,  ver.  25),  are 
opposed  now  to  the  childish  7ratoYot9 :2  such  children  of  wisdom, 
who  yield  themselves  up  to  her  motherly  care  to  be  nursed,  and 
even  are  new-born  of  her,  understand  her,  acknowledge  her,  what- 
ever the  evil  world  may  say:  and  the  Ih  acaLwdn  simply  expresses  this 
internal  acknowledgment,  which  wisdom  receives  from  them.  It 
is  put  in  the  past  tense  to  add  to  its  force — it  has  been  so  from 
the  beginning,  whosoever  has  become  a  true  child  of  wisdom  has 
known  and  acknowledged  her,  (thus  giving  the  irdvrwv  of  St 
Luke  its  full  meaning)  :  consequently  even  in  this  foolish  gene- 
ration there  will  not  be,  there  are  not  wanting,  docile  souls 
who  give  God  His  glory.  Thus  the  tca£  is  to  be  taken  as 
dWd :  but  they  do  not  all  speak  thus,  some  there  are  who  wake 
up  from  the  frivolous  sport,  and  observe  God's  earnest  dealings, 
the  truth  of  God ;  find  in  repentance  (ver.  21),  the  key  which 
unlocks  the  preaching  of  John  and  of  the  Son  of  Man,  experi- 
ence the  refreshment  which  is  promised  to  the  weary  and  heavy- 
laden — in  short  give  wisdom  her  due  as  her  true  and  genuine 

1  As  Braune  says  :  "  Thus  the  weakest  Christian  must  help  to  assert 
the  honour  of  his  Lord,  and  to  stop  the  mouth  of  wickedness." 

2  Consequently  we  can  least  of  all  understand,  with  von  Gerlach, 
and  the  ancient  Greek  expositors,  bucaiovv  airb  ra>v  retcvtov,  as  if  the 
persons  here  stood  instead  of  their  charge  or  accusation  : — wisdom  shall 
be  absolved  from  the  charges  of  her  children,  that  is,  of  the  perverse 
Jewish  people !  The  objection  that  W  is  not  but,  has  no  force  when 
the  usage  of  the  New  Testament  and  its  Hebraizing  proverbial  forms 
are  considered,  although  Nitzsch,  who  generally  is  so  exact  in  his  deal- 
ing with  the  word  of  Scripture,  holds  (Predigten  V.  Auswahl  s.  123) 
that  M  Wisdom  must  justify  herself  against  her  children"  ;  but  this  is 
in  opposition  to  the  whole  context,  and  to  Solomon,  to  whom  reference 
is  also  made. 


106  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

children.  There  lies  in  the  o&ficopov,  by  which  wisdom,  which 
should  approve  herself  to  all,  yet  needs  justification  even  to 
those  who  acknowledge  her.  The  undertone  of  lamentation, 
which  the  teal  still  connects  with  the  preceding  words,  and  which 
has  confused  the  best  expositors  (as  Bengel's  obscure  and  diffuse 
comment  in  St  Luke  shows).  And  in  this  is  the  great  griev- 
ance, that  those  others  (as  Job  xxxviii.  2)  have  condemned  the 
wisdom  of  God,  and  darkened  it  by  their  revilings,1  so  that  their 
offence  must  be  pressed  through  in  order  to  that  justification, 
which  ought  never  to  be  necessary ;  and  the  children  of  wisdom, 
having  inwardly  acknowledged  her,  must  outwardly  also  bear 
witness  in  her  defence  against  that  opposition.  (For  this  also  as 
an  inference  is  included  in  the  Si/caiovv).  But  this  defence  is  far 
from  being  successful  in  any  <yeved :  for  the  same  offence  is  taken 
against  the  re/cva  as  against  the  ep^oiAevovs,  and  the  Pharisees 
ever  continue  their  taunt — Look  at  the  publicans  and  sinners, 
His  only  dependents !  or  the  Sadducees — See  the  people  who 
fast  and  who  pray,  the  disciples  of  the  Master  in  the  wilderness  ! 
What  remains  then  in  such  a  state  of  things  f  That  one  thing 
which  the  Lord  simply  declares — The  docile  and  obedient,  at 
least,  whether  many  or  few,  acknowledging  and  confessing  the 
wisdom  of  God  with  their  hearts  and  their  lips,  have  justified  that 
wisdom,  and  have  known  how  to  discriminate  all  varieties  of 
God's  preaching  like  true  hearers,  and  to  harmonise  like  true 
disciples  the  diversified  methods  of  the  preachers.  If  this  is  con- 
cealed from  the  mass  of  a  whole  generation,  if  they  deny  it  or 
utterly  reject  it,  yet  is  this  iSucauodri,  sl  permanent  and  steadfast 
fact.  Thus  have  we  already  the  prelude  in  the  soul  of  Christ,  to 
that  consolation  which  the  Father  reveals  to  Him  in  ver.  25 ; 
and  this  solace  is  the  fundamental  key-note  of  that  rest  and  calm 
which  concludes  the  whole  discourse. 


St  Matthew  has  more  reasons  than  one  for  not  immediately 
proceeding  with  what  follows,  but  interposing  as  it  were  a  new 


1  u  We  must  justify  wisdom,  though  such  ought  not  to  be  the  case 
and  is  itself  a  reproach  to  man :  for  he  who  requires  that  wisdom 
should  be  justified  to  him,  is  himself  a  fool."  (Roos). 


MATTHEW  XI.  18,  19.  107 

heading  to  his  discourse ; — a  practice  which,  we  well  know,  He 
very  sparingly  adopts.  He  makes  here  a  little  more  emphatic 
the  pause  which  here  and  there  is  to  be  understood,  though  only 
understood,  in  all  the  longer  discourses  ;  he  further  impresses  it 
upon  us  by  the  r/pgaro  (which  is  not  merely  a  note  that  the  sus- 
pended discourse  goes  on  again,  but  is  closely  connected  with 
oveiStgeiv),  that  the  Lord  now  assumed  a  tone  of  severity  in  con- 
demnation which  He  had  never  assumed  before ;  He  thus  gives 
an  explanation,  by  the  way,  concerning  those  many  miracles 
which  his  Gospel  had  not  specially  recorded  ;  and,  finally,  gives 
a  very  significant  intimation  that  the  ixeravoelv  afterwards  men- 
tioned by  the  Lord  was  the  great  and  essential  point.  On  the 
other  the  rore  rjp^aro1  leaves  no  room  for  the  supposition  that 
sayings  uttered  on  other  occasions  are  bound  together  here,  more 
especially  as  the  internal  connection  of  the  whole  of  the  chapter 
is  entirely  opposed  to  that  supposition.  According  to  Lu.  x.  13 
— 15,  21,  22,  the  Lord  repeated  all  this  on  the  mission  and 
return  of  the  Seventy,  nor  can  we  see  any  reason  why  that  repe- 
tition might  not  have  taken  place :  for  the  discourse  there  as  well 
as  here  is  consistent  and  connected,  and  we  find  within  the 
limits  of  each  individual  Gospel,  evidences  that  it  is  our  Lord's 
method  often  to  repeat  what  He  had  spoken  before.  We  find 
that  in  Matt.  x.  15  a  prelude  was  given  of  wrhat  in  ch.  xi.  is 
expanded  in  detail :  now  when  that  prelude  occurs  again  in  Lu. 
x.  12  what  could  be  more  natural  than  that  the  same  detail 
should  follow  it  once  more.  And  that  not  in  the  thoughts  of  the 
compiling  Evangelist,  collecting  together  the  sayings  of  the  Lord, 
but  in  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  Himself,  who  in  His  psedagogic 
wisdom  and  condescension,  already  had  begun  to  repeat  some  of 
His  most  impressive  and  important  sayings. 

St  Matthew's  exhibition  of  this  discourse  would  have  been 
without  its  full  and  perfect  close,  if  to  the  simile  of  vers.  16 — 19, 
there  had  not  been  added  a  yet  severer  denunciation  of  their 
guilt  (vers.  21 — 24),  followed  by  the  return  to  gentle  and  affec- 

1  Which  Alford  also  correctly  urges,  as  proving  it  to  be  "  quite  im- 
possible that  this  should  be  a  collection  of  our  Lord's  sayings  uttered 
at  different  times,"  and  regards  it  with  perfect  truth  as  rather  "  a 
token  of  the  report  of  an  zax-witness,  and  as  pointing  to  a  pause  or 
change  of  manner  on  the  part  of  our  Lord." 


108  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

tionate  invitation  (vers.  25 — 30).  The  Lord  first  lightly  con- 
demned the  unbelief  of  the  generation  as  childish  folly;  but  that 
must  not  suffice,  for  these  unbelievers  are  no  children,  and  their 
deeper  guiltiness  He  must  more  deeply  denounce.  His  bveihi- 
fav,  which  is  on  that  account  recorded  by  St  Matthew,  is  not 
merely  a  lamentation  over  labour  expended  in  vain,  although 
that  would  partake  of  the  human  passion  of  rebuking  love,  but 
is  pre-eminently  the  zealous  anger  of  holy  truth  against  their 
sin.  Gracious  as  is  the  Son  of  Man  in  His  exhibition  of  Him- 
self as  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners,  He  can  also  insist 
upon  repentance,  and  threaten  judgments  upon  the  impenitent 
as  severely  as  John  himself:  yea,  more  rigorously  and  severely 
than  he,  since  He  is  Himself  the  Judge.  There  is  no  other  who 
will  come  after  Him,  but  He  that  has  come  will  one  day  aome 
again  to  judgment ! 

Vers.  21 — 24.  The  Lord  utters  a  woe  which  is  the  antithesis 
of  the  blessed  in  ver.  6 ;  just  as  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
according  to  Lu.  vi.  24 — 26.  He  gives  a  pre-intimation  of  what 
the  desolate  end  will  be  (Matt,  xxiii)  ;  but  now  He  goes  not  be- 
yond Galilee,  where  the  great  light  had  hitherto  shone  most 
brightly  into  the  darkness.  The  Chorazin  here  only  mentioned, 
and  the  well-known  Bethsaida,  are  specified  as  representative, 
for  the  reason  which  St  Matthew  gives,  of  many  other  kco/jlo7t6- 
Xet?,  standing  in  similar  case:  in  contradiction  to  these  the 
capital  stands  alone,  with  its  more  definite  and  impressive  teal 
av,  as  we  said  before.  That  is  to  say  not  as  the  capital  of 
Galilee,  properly  speaking  and  in  the  ordinary  sense  (for  this 
was  Tiberias,  the  residence  of  Herod,  whether  the  Lord  on  that 
account  more  seldom  came)  ;  but  Capernaum  as  in  reality  greater 
and  more  proud,  which  had  taken  the  place  of  Nazareth  as  "  his 
own  city"  (ch.  iv.  13).  He  does  not  rebuke  Nazareth  by  name, 
though  so  malevolent  towards  Himself;  the  affectionate  and 
sorrowful  love  with  which  He  ever  thinks  of  it  forbids  that,  as 
also  His  wisdom,  which  would  avoid  every  appearance  of  evil. 
He  does  not  rebuke  such  as  have  injured  and  persecuted  Him- 
self personally,  but  such  as  have  refused  to  repent.  We  read  of 
no  enmity  or  persecution  to  which  He  was  subjected  in  Caper- 
naum ;  but  the  careless  and  indifferent  reception  of  His  word 
and  works  was  yet  worse,  and  more  condemnable  than  any  erup- 


MATTHEW  XI.  21 — 24.  109 

tion  of  malice  would  have  been ;  it  bespoke  that  slothful,  dead, 
impassive  indifference,  for  which  nothing  more  could  be  done. 
The  exaltation  of  Capernaum  to  heaven  is  generally  regarded  as 
referring  to  the  honour  which  had  accrued  to  it  from  being  the 
dwelling-place  of  Christ:  but  though  this  was  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  special  allusion  to  its  name,  we  cannot  admit  that 
allusion  in  this  expression.  The  Lord's  humility  would  have 
prevented  that ;  besides  which  the  contrasted  bringing  down  to 
hell  points  to  another  interpretation.  The  words  do  not  refer  to 
any  honour  which  He  had  put  upon  this  city,  but  to  a  state  of 
external  prosperity  which  would  come  to  a  frightful  end,  to  the 
imperious  and  sinful  pride  with  which  she  had  exalted  herself. 
According  to  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  Capernaum  lay  so  high,  that  at 
first  sight  it  appeared  higher  than  Carmel,  and  Nonnus  on  Jno. 
vi.  59,  calls  it  j3a6v/cp7)7rc<;  Ka^apvaovfi.  Probably  it  was  not 
without  figurative  allusion  to  this  external  pre-eminence  that  the 
Lord  indicated  it  as  the  Galilean  Jerusalem,  and  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  the  unnamed  city  on  the  hill  must  be  thought  of  when 
He  announces  its  coming  fate.  The  expressions  themselves, 
however,  are  taken  from  Prophetic  Scripture,  and  point  back  to 
the  pride  and  ruin  of  Babel  or  Babylon,  Isa.  xiv.  13 — 15 ; 
compare  as  to  Jerusalem  and  Israel,  Isa.  lvii.  9.1 

The  $vvd/j,€is  which  were  done  in  you,  which  were  done  in 
thee,  refer  back  to  vers.  5  and  12 ;  since  the  wonderful  works  of 
our  Lord  were  a  most  decisive  testimony  and  demonstration  of 
the  offered  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  they  constituted  in  them- 
selves a  most  effectual  preaching  of  repentance  and  faith.  How 
much  that  is  not  recorded  may  the  ifkeicrTai  of  ver.  20  include ! 
All  the  works  of  Christ  are  a  call  to  hear,  a  confirmation  of  the 
word  so  strong,  that  unbelief  is  by  them  rendered  the  more  in- 
excusable. Jno.  xiv.  10,  11,  24,  x.  37.  It  cannot  be  sophisti- 
cally  explained  away  that  the  Lord  manifestly,  both  here  and 
there,  assigns  to  the  miracles  which  their  eyes  beheld,  the  highest 
place  among  the  external  means  of  grace  which  were  appointed 
of  God.  As  He  indicates  in  the  fieravoeiv,  which  lays  the  ground 
of  the  7naT€veiv9  springing  also  from  a  preparatory  degree  of  it, 

1  We  find  traces  of  the  once  celebrated  city  Capernaum  in  the  earlier 
records  of  travellers  :  but  no  ruins  of  it  are  discernible  now.  (Comp. 
Robinson's  Palestine  on  this  point.) 


110 


THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 


the  decisive  and  distinctive  turning-point  on  the  side  of  man, 
(and  this  explanation  belongs  essentially  also  to  vers.  16—19), 
so  does  the  judgment,  take  its  rise  from  the  despising  of  God's 
miraculous  works,  a  judgment,  therefore,  more  fearful  than  that 
which  will  fall  upon  the  heathen  cities,  to  which  no  such  signs 
were  given. 

^  To  the  two  cities,  two  others  are  first  opposed :  and  then  one 
city  to  the  one.  Tyre  and  Sidon,  laid  waste  according  to  pre- 
diction, by  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Alexander,  lay  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  their  judgment  was  the  less  as  they  still  stood 
restored  in  a  measure  from  their  ruin.  Acts  xii.  20,  xxi.  3—7, 
xxvii.  3.1  Hence  it  could  only  be  said  of  Sodom  afterwards' 
with  increased  emphasis,  that  it  would  have  remained  to  this 
day.  ^  The  guilt  of  unbelieving,  contradicting  Israel  had  even  in 
old  time  been  represented  as  surpassing  that  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrha,  bye-words  among  the  Prophets  for  wickedness  ;  how 
much  more  may  the  Lord  so  speak,  now  that  they  have  consum- 
mated their  unbelief!  In  Deut.  xxxii.  32,  Israel  is  likened  to 
Sodom,  as  also  in  Isa  i.  10 ;  but  in  Lament,  iv.  6  and  Ezek.  xvi., 
it  is  further  added  that  Israel's  abominations  surpassed!  Let 
the  pride  of  Sodom,  as  it  is  depicted  in  Ezek.  xvi.  48—50,  be 
especially  observed ;  and  it  will  commend  the  view  of  the  exalta- 
tion of  Capernaum,  which  we  have  given  above. 

They  would  long  ago,  in  their  time,  when  the  judgment  was 
coming  upon  them,  have  repented  in  order  to  avert  it;  and, 
indeed,  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  like  Nineveh,  which  thus  escaped 
its  judgment.  Jonah  iii.  6  :  (comp.  2  Ki.  vi.  30;  Jer.  vi.  26; 
Dan.  ix.  3).  Many  regard  this  latter  addition,  not  as  strengthen- 
ing, according  to  the  tone  of  the  whole  discourse,  but  as  soften- 
ing the  expression  :  — They  would  have,  at  least  externally, 
humbled  themselves,  and  thus,  like  Ahab  (1  Kings  xxi.  27—29), 
made  propitiation ;  but  this  is  altogether  inapplicable  here,  for 
the  Judge,  as  in  Isa.  iviii.  5,  looks  at  the  sincerity  of  the  heart. 
Thus  much,  however,  the  addition  to  perevorjaav  tells  us,  that 

1  But  it  is  obvious  that  the  Lord  does  not  intend  these  new  cities  (to 
which  Sepp  thinks  He  might,  in  his  obscure  visitation  of  Phoenicia 
have  paid  an  acceptable  visit !)  but  the  ancient  cities,  which  the  Pro- 
phets rebuked,  and  which  had  been  laid  waste  :  for  these  are  the  proper 
parallel  with  Sodom.  r 


MATTHEW  XI.  2 1 — 24.  Ill 

the  penitent  expression  of  guilt,  true  penance  as  such,  is  to  be 
made  prominent  in  connexion  with  "  change  of  mind,"  and  con- 
sequently, Luther's  translation  may  be  justified.  Let  it  be 
further  observed  with  what  absolute  and  sublime  assurance  the 
Lord  speaks  as  Judge,  and  therefore  as  searcher  of  hearts  and 
as  knowing  all  hidden  things  :  the  Father  exhibits  to  Him  the 
coming  judgment,  and  gives  Him  at  the  same  moment  the 
glance  of  Omniscience,  so  that  He  can  speak  of  what  would 
have  taken  place  in  any  age,  among  any  people,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances. This  is  not  merely  a  common  mode  of  speech,  but 
must,  like  all  the  Lord's  sayings,  be  precisely  interpreted.  It 
directs  us  to  that  scientia  media,  de  futuro  conditionato  sive 
futuribili,  as  the  Schoolmen  have  it,  which  is  not,  however,  an 
invention  of  Jesuitical  casuistry,  but  the  only  true  reconciliation 
of  the  counsels  of  God  with  the  freedom  of  man.  The  history 
which  contains  the  visitations  of  God's  anger  against  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  and  the  destruction  of  Sodom  to  this  day,  rests  not  upon 
any  coherence  of  natural  events  simply,  nor  upon  the  uncondi- 
tional decree  of  God,  but  upon  the  freedom  of  man  ;  their  judg- 
ments were  drawn  down  upon  them  by  their  sin,  and  would  not 
have  fallen  upon  them,  if  the  doomed  had  repented  in  time. 

But  now  the  Lord's  words  rise  yet  higher : — they  would  have 
repented,  if  the  greater  means  of  grace  had  been  afforded  them  ! 
This  is  a  deep  saying,  and  of  vast  and  far-reaching  consequence  ; 
a  dictum  prolans  that  cannot  be  too  much  pondered,  against  all 
that  narrow  and  bigoted  dogmatism  which,  swifter  to  judge  than 
the  merciful  and  righteous  Lord  Himself,  would  rashly  decide 
the  eternal  damnation  of  the  heathen,  not  to  say  of  all  those  mul- 
titudes of  Christians,  who,  in  their  life-time,  never  had  what 
might  be  called  a  clear  testimony  of  the  truth.  To  say  that 
God  is  under  no  obligation  to  give  the  grace  of  life  equally  to  all 
sinners,  and  that  He  was  justified  in  punishing  Sodom  and 
Gomorrha  in  their  iniquity,  does  not  help  the  case ;  for  God  is 
under  obligation  to  no  sinner,  and  He  would  have  been  justified 
in  punishing  the  whole  world,  instead  of  redeeming  it : — but 
yet  He  did  redeem  it.  When  the  Redeemer  Himself,  whose 
coming  into  the  world  is  itself  the  great,  decisive  witness  of  all- 
merciful  love,  declares  that  the  failure  to  repent,  and  therefore 
the  want  of  salvation,  was,  in  the  case  of  many,  the  result  of  the 


112  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

lack  of  greater  grace — what  is  the  irrefragable  inference  which 
must  ensue?  Is  it  merely  that  the  half-permitted,  half-pre- 
sumptuous question  is  excited — wherefore  did  not  God  give 
it  to  them,  or  will  he  yet  give  it  to  them,  that  they  may 
repent !  No,  it  follows,  according  to  the  plain  answer  which 
He  Himself  appended,  that  it  will  be  more  tolerable  in  the 
day  of  judgment  for  Tyre  and  Sidon,  Sodom  and  Gomorrha, 
for  heathens,  Jews  and  Christians  who  have  been  hurried  in 
their  sins  to  eternity,  but  who,  with  fuller  grace,  might  have 
repented,  than  for  those  who  enjoyed  upon  earth  the  com- 
plete testimony  of  God's  will,  but  rejected  it  against  them- 
selves. This  word  stretches  far  and  deep.  There  is  promised 
to  Sodom  (in  Ezek.  xvi.  53,  55)  a  bringing  again  of  their  cap- 
tivity and  a  return  to  their  estate;  but  that  indefinite  Old 
Testament  expression  receives  here  its  true  meaning  and  ex- 
planation. The  day  of  judgment  can  only  be  the  last  day  of 
final  doom  ;l  as  there  will  then,  however,  be  no  more  room  for 
reaching  or  conversion,  but  only  the  full  revelation  of  what  had 
been  already  decreed,  it  might  seem  to  follow  that  an  interme- 
diate state  of  grace  and  corrective  judgment  must  be  presumed, 
between  their  judgments  recorded  in  history  and  their  final 
judgment,  between  the  death  of  the  sinners,  and  that  damnation 
of  unbelievers  which  will  follow  the  finished  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  Thus  does  the  Lord  speak  words  which  might  be 
thought  to  oppose  equally  the  false  dogmatics  of  condemnation, 
and  those  of  general  restoration  ;  those  carried  away  in  their 
sins  may  yet  find  space  of  repentance,  but  those  who  rejected 
the  full  testimony  of  the  Gospel  will  find  no  more  salvation. 
There  is  a  veil,  however,  thrown  by  our  Lord  over  the  whole 
subject  of  the  dealings  of  God's  judgment  beyond  time  (Rom.  xi. 
33)  :  He  only  uses  the  indefinite  avefcrorepov  earac  which  might 
be  applied  simply  to  degrees  of  condemnation  corresponding 
with  degrees  of  salvation.  He  does  not  predict  the  damnation 
of  any  particular  inhabitant  of  Chorazin,  Bethsaida,  or  Caper- 

1  In  the  external  judgment  upon  Israel,  to  which  these  words  have 
been  incorrectly  limited,  there  is  only  a  symbolical  exhibition  of  that 
which  is  here  indicated.  Otherwise  the  Lord  must  have  spoken  in  the 
pret.  instead  of  the  fut.  : — It  was  more  tolerable  for  Sodom,  than  it 
will  be  for  Galilee  and  Israel  when  their  calamities  come. 


Matthew  xr.  25,  26.  113 

naum,  for  He  speaks  only  of  those  cities  in  the  mass  :  no  more 
does  He  determine  the  conversion  and  salvation  of  any  indivi- 
dual inhabitants  of  Sodom  or  Gomorrha.  For  it  does  not  by  any 
means  follow  that  they  who  believed  not  when  the  long-suffering 
of  God  waited  for  them  in  the  flesh,  would  believe  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel  to  the  dead ;  so  far  as  irdXat  av  jxerevorjaav 
might  be  applied  to  them,  there  would  seem  to  be  some  room  left 
for  hope  in  that  mercy  of  God  which  never  forgot  mortal  man. 

Vers.  25,  26.  Olshausen' }s  confident  assumption  that  the  for- 
mula ev  e/ceivo)  tg3  /caipo) — occurring  in  a  similar  way  in  ch.  xii. 
1 — indicates  that  what  follows  was  uttered  on  another  occasion, 
springs  from  his  already- mentioned  idiosyncracy  concerning  St 
Matthew's  collections  of  our  Lord's  discourses,  and  is  refuted 
both  by  the  train  of  thought,  and  by  the  drroKpiOek,  which  can- 
not be  understood  of  anything  but  a  strict  connexion.  Every 
unbiassed  reader  must  discern  here  something  more  than  the 
mere  indefinite  beginning  of  a  discourse,  equivalent  to  the 
Hebrew  j-j^y  ;  nor  is  it  merely,  as  it  were,  a  third  rjp^aro  (after 
vers.  7,  20)  indicating  a  new  turn  in  its  sentiment ;  but  the 
internal  contrast  of  the  following  with  the  preceding  words  leads 
us  to  its  meaning.  The  Lord  answers  His  own  words,  which 
had  passed  from  lamentations  to  threatenings  of  judgment,  by  a 
composing  and  solacing  change  of  expression ;  submitting  Him- 
self to  the  Father's  righteous  decrees,  He  returns  back  again  to 
the  language  of  gracious  invitation.  If  we  were  to  regard  these 
new  words  as  addressed  to  the  Father,  the  answer  would  be  under- 
stood in  all  its  profound  meaning.  The  Father  has  previously 
spoken  to  His  Son  by  a  secret  inspiration  which  comforts  His 
soul,  and  stills  its  holy  perturbation ;  and  the  Son  now  responds 
to  that  secret  voice  by  His  e^ofioXoyodfMat  croi — even  so,  Father, 
Thy  council  is  right,  I  will  only  Thy  righteous  will  and  decree  ! 
Such  an  internal  process  in  the  soul  of  Jesus,  when  we  conceive 
it  aright,  prepares  the  way  at  least  for  the  sublime  words  of  ver. 
27  ;  and  on  their  repetition  (Lu.  x.  21),  the  consolation  seems  to 
have  been  strengthened  in  His  living  remembrance,  for  we  read 
fjyaWidcraTo  tw  irvevixan. 

This  is,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  first  public  invocation  of  the 
Father  before  all  the  people,1  and  the  only  one  that  occurred 

i  Roos :  These  precious  words   are  the  first  record  of  communion 
VOL.  II.  H 


114  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

before  that  final  period,  when  Jesus  twice  (Jno.  xi.  41 ;  xii.  28), 
thus  spoke  in  the  hearing  of  man,  and  the  last  instances  in 
Gethsemane,  and  on  the  Cross.  It  indicates  an  extraordinary 
emotion  excited  by  a  moment  of  sublime  and  critical  solemnity. 
He  calls  Him  Father,  but  not  adding  Lord,  in  the  absolute  sense, 
which  only  became  the  Son  under  the  veil  of  prophecy,  and  in 
the  deep  humiliation  of  His  humanity.  Lord  of  heaven  and 
earth  : — this  is  something  more  ;  it  is  generally  the  solemn  invo- 
cation of  prayer,  and  here  particularly  the  appropriate  reference 
to  that  sovereign  counsel  which  embraces,  penetrates,  directs  all 
things  that  are.  But  what  is  that  decree  of  the  righteous  Father, 
His  concurrence  with  which  the  Son  so  solemnly  declares,  with 
His  even  so  of  glory  and  praise  ?  That  not  all  can  be  saved,  and 
therefore,  indeed,  should  not,  that  salvation  is  only  given  to  the 
humble  who  receive  it,  but  denied  to  the  proud  opposers.  Did 
the  Son  find  His  solace  in  this,  and  shall  we  poor  children  reject 
it  %  Let  us  take  good  heed,  that  we  do  not  likewise  fall  into  the 
condemnation  of  the  wise  and  prudent !  Let  us  rather  endeavour, 
as  far  as  we  may,  to  enter  into  the  feeling  of  the  heart  of  the 
Godman,  which  blends  together  and  reconciles  sayings : — more 
tolerable  for  Sodom  than  for  thee,  and — Come  unto  me,  all  ye 
that  are  weary !  The  giving  or  denying  of  salvation  is  not 
expressly  mentioned,  yet  nothing  less  is  meant  by  the  revealing 
and  the  hiding,  inasmuch  as  all  must  depend  upon  the  knowledge 
of  the  counsel  and  plan  of  salvation.  In  the  deep  and  mysteri- 
ous ravra,  which  concisely  includes  the  impressive  contrasts  of 
the  preceding  discourse,  the  faith  and  unbelief,  the  paKapios  and 
oval,  and  the  things  concerning  them,  inconceivably  much  is 
said,  but  inconceivably  more  is  unspoken.  The  wise  and  pru- 
dent (aofyol  na\  crvveToi,  significantly  twofold)  are  obviously  those 
who  after  the  flesh  are  prudent,  the  proud  whose  blind  wisdom 
opposes  the  eternal  wisdom  of  God  (ver.  19;  1  Cor.  i.  19 — 21, 
27.  According  to  Hagada  schel  Pesach  pag.  5,  the  Jews  said 
every  year  at  the  Passover,  we  all  are  wise,  we  all  are  under- 
standing, we  all  have  knowledge  of  the  law  :  thus  perversely  ap- 
propriating (Deut.  iv.  6 — 8),  since  they  were  quite  ignorant  of 
the  very  essence  of  the  law,  knowing  no  more  of  the  preaching  of 

between  the  Son  of  God  and  His  Father,  which  the  Evangelists  have 
given  us. 


MATTHEW  XL  25,  26.  115 

repentance,  that  of  that  which  was  its  end  and  aim,  the  recep- 
tion of  grace  in  Christ.  In  the  grandest  and  most  general 
application  of  the  words,  the  Jews  must  appear  as  the  falsely 
wise,  the  heathen  as  the  docile  babes  ;*  although  the  word  pene- 
trates much  deeper,  and  found  its  first  application  in  the  distinc- 
tion of  the  scribes  and  the  common  people,  the  Jews  and  the 
Galileans ;  indeed,  in  our  own  day,  it  asserts  its  truth  in  ever 
new  distinctions  between  the  falsely  wise  and  the  truly  simple,  so 
that  the  revelation  may  be  concealed  even  from  many  a  doctor 
thought  to  be  orthodox.  It  is  the  Father's  will  to  reveal  His 
salvation  to  all,  even  as  it  is  the  Son's  to  give  rest  to  all ;  but 
just  as  only  the  heavy-laden  can  find  that  rest,  so  can  the  wis- 
dom and  truth  of  God  only  be  revealed  to  the  babes  and  simple 
ones.2  To  give  this  revelation  to  the  wise,  and  to  give  this  con- 
solation to  the  satisfied,  are  alike  impossible,  for  that  would  be  to 
give  to  those  who  will  not  receive.3  In  the  salvation  of  any 
man,  that  freedom  which  is  permitted  to  Him  by  His  Creator, 
must  exercise  a  deciding  influence :  and  this  is  the  inscrutable  and 
'  unimpeachable  counsel  of  the  Father,  which  must  ever  be  adored, 
even  when  through  the  opposition  of  a  free  agent,  the  revela- 
tion becomes  hiding,  and  instead  of  giving  is  withholding  (Deut. 
xxxii.  4,  5.)  Thus  will  the  righteousness  of  God  be  justified  to  the 
children  of  wisdom,  even  in  its  aTroKpyirreiv.  Nipriot,  are  the 
D^NJHD  °f  tne  QW  Testament  (Ps.  xix.  8,  cxvi.  6,  cxix.  130 ; 
Prov.  i.  4,  &c),  who  are  free  and  accessible  to  instruction,  who 
yield  themselves  up  like  little  children  to  be  taught  and  dis- 
ciplined :  and  in  this  word  the  Lord  has  in  view  that  great  pas- 
sage (Ps.  viii.  3),  which  He  afterwards  so  sublimely  explained. 
He  then  rises  from  this  little  band  of  fAi/cpoi,  who,  however,  under 

1  In  the  Clementines  (Horn.  viii.  6)  it  is  quoted  :  on  Ziepvyfras  ravra 
airo  aocpeov  7rpeafivTep<DV  Ka\  dTreKaXv^ras  avra  vrjTriois  6rjka£ov<nv — in  which 
Hilgenjield  rightly  regards  the  Jews  as  the  wise  elders,  and  opposed  to 
them  the  Gentile  Christians  (Comp.  Horn,  xviii.  15). 

2  "  Because  the  babes,  not  perverted,  are  in  reality  more  cultured 
than  the  wise  and  prudent  of  this  world."  Petersen,  Lehre  von  der 
Kirche  i.  135. 

3  Most  assuredly,  those  who,  wise  in  their  own  conceits,  are  here 
referred  to,  so  that  we  cannot  say  with  von  Gerlach  : — The  wise  might 
better  descend  to  the  level  of  the  babes,  than  these  rise  to  the  level  of 
the  wise.  It  is,  alas,  far  otherwise,  and  that  is  not  the  Lord's  meaning. 


116  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  training  of  God  will  become  men  and  conquerers,  to  the 
supreme  and  only  Father,  and  subsides  from  His  holy  indignation 
into  the  evhoKia  addressed  to  Him.  (Comp.  Lu.  xii.  32).  It  is  the 
same  sacred  will  of  the  Father,  which  shows  itself  as  good  and 
gracious  to  the  saved,  and  as  righteous  to  those  lost  through 
their  persistent  guilt ;  and  it  is  now  sealed  by  the  Even  so  of  the 
Son,  whose  will  was  so  entirely  to  save  them  all.  The  i^ofioXo- 
yovfiai,  (incorrectly  translated  by  Erasmus,  gratias  ago,  I  thank 
•  thee  ;  as  also  of  late  by  Ebrard ; — for  that  would  have  required 
ev^aptarco,  Jno.  xi.  41),  expresses  praise  which  springs  from,  and 
consists  in,  acknowledgment  and  accordance :  Bengel,  therefore, 
says  with  as  much  depth  as  truth — summa  igo/jLoXoyrjarecDS  filialis, 
nee  Pater!  This  is  the  decisive  yea  which  protests  against  all  the 
contradiction  of  worldly  wisdom,  and  will  be  justified  at  the  last 
day  and  through  eternity :  and  it  forms  the  transition  to  the 
following  words  concerning  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

Ver.  27.  Besides  in  this  place,  and  in  the  parallel  of  St  Luke, 
we  find  in  the  three  first  Evangelists  only  once  more  "  the  Son" 
occurring  absolutely,  and  that  is  in  Mar.  xiii.  32.  This  utterance 
of  our  Lord  is,  as  men  say,  entirely  Johannean ;  and  that  it  occurs 
in  St  Matt,  and  St  Luke  is  sufficient  to  show  the  unison  between 
these  gospels  and  the  Gospel  of  St  John.  We  find  an  evidence 
of  the  genuineness  of  these  words  in  their  obvious  correspondence, 
uttered  as  they  were  immediately  after  John's  message,  with  the 
testimony  which  he  had  once  given  to  his  disciples  concerning 
the  Father  and  the  Son  (Jno.  iii.  35,  36) ;  just  as  we  found  in 
Matt.  ix.  15,  a  similar  reference  to  Jno.  iii.  29.  No  exposition 
can  exhaust,  no  dogmatic  speculation  can  penetrate,  the  depths 
of  this  saying,  which  points  to  the  deep  things  of  the  Godhead  : 
We  do  better  to  spell  it  out  in  simplicity  with  the  babes,  and  to 
yield  up  our  souls  thus  to  the  mighty  and  effectual  revelation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  who  will  teach  us  what  is  the  confession  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son.  The  first  thing  which  such  child-like  read- 
ing must  emphasize,  is  the  distinctive  u  to  me"  and  seeking  Him, 
in  the  obedience  of  His  subsequent  revelation — come  unto  me  ! 
We  shall  find  Him,  and  in  Him  all  that  He  may  and  that  He  will 
reveal  unto  His  own.  Then  the  7rape&o6v,  as  inscrutable  as  it  is 
absolute,  which  by  no  means  applies  only  to  the  Son  of  Man  in 
His  humanity,  but  to  the  Eternal  Son,  who  also  as  the  Son  hath 


MATTHEW  XI.  25,  26.  117 

received  all  things  from  the  Father  (Jno.  v.  26).  Havra  is  just 
as  comprehensive  in  its  range  as  the  ravra  previously,  to  which 
it  corresponds  :  but  the  Son  cannot  simply  say,  that  all  things 
are  revealed  unto  Him.  He  Himself  is  the  Revealer,  even  as  the 
Father  is.  It  is  not  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth  (Matt,  xxviii. 
18)  which  is  immediately  contemplated  here ;  but  the  full  per- 
ception and  knowledge  of  eternal  truth,  and  the  justification  of 
the  supreme  wisdom  of  God's  counsel.  God  is  Himself  Truth 
and  Wisdom,  He  knoweth  Himself  in  the  Trinity  of  His  Being, 
reciprocally  as  Father  and  Son  in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit.  But 
the  third  Person  is  not  here  expressly  mentioned,  because  He 
was  not  yet  manifest,  as  the  Son  was  in  the  Son  of  Man  (ver. 
19).  What  completeness  does  this  give  to  the  discourse  of  this 
chapter,  compact  and  rounded  as  it  everywhere  is,  when  such  a 
testimony  to  His  divine  and  eternal  dignity  is  set  over  against  the 
deep  humiliation  of  Him  who  had  come  into  the  generation  of 
that  age  !  The  Son  hath  all  things  to  reveal  and  to  administer, 
but  as  given  Him  of  the  Father :  thus,  even  while  He  is  testify- 
ing of  His  own  supreme  dignity,  He  first  gives  honour  to  the 
Father,  and  then  proceeds  to  cry  :  Come  unto  Me,  for  only  with 
Me  and  in  Me,  is  every  thing  to  be  found ! 

Luther's  translation  "  kennet"  does  not  fully  correspond  to  the 
eiriyivcocrfcei,  which  signifies  a  perfect  and  living  perception  and 
knowledge  :  hence  we  have  in  Lu.  x.,  yivaxr/eei,  rfe  eariv,  that  is, 
what  the  names  Father  and  Son  would  signify  ad  intra.1  No  man 
knoweth  that: — a  gracious  and  earnest  warning  for  all  the  wise 
and  prudent,  who  conceive  themselves  qualified  to  investigate 
what  is  in  the  nature  of  God,  without  the  illumination  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  Well  had  it  been  if  Christian  dogmatics,  both 
before  and  since  Athanasius,  had  remembered  this  warning  of 
the  Son,  and  been  content  to  speak  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Trinity 
in  no  other  words  than  those  which  the  Son  reveals  to  the  babes, 
and  gives  to  the  heavy-laden  who  come  to  Him  as  their  living 


1  Thus  by  a  true  interpretation  we  repel  a  certain  recent  criticism, 
which  asserts  the  aorist  eyv<a  to  be  the  true  reading,  as  it  was  found  in 
many  ancient  quotations  of  the  Fathers  :  imagining  that  the  Evange- 
lists saw  themselves  constrained  to  change  the  expression  on  account  of 
its  dangerous  service  to  the  Gnostics  (in  their  notion  that  the  God  of 
Jesus  was  an  altogether  new  and  hitherto  unknown  God). 


118  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  life-giving  knowledge !  It  was  first  said,  no  man  knoweth 
the  Son  but  the  Father.  The  unexpressed  inference,  which  is 
necessarily  to  be  drawn  from  these  premises,  is,  that  we  must 
know  the  Father,  in  order  to  know  the  Son.  It  is  further  added, 
— but  the  Father  doth  not  reveal  Himself  immediately,  but  in 
the  Son.  Thus  it  remains  established,  as  it  is  testified  in  Jno. 
xiv.  8,  9,  vi.  46,  i.  18,  that  the  Son  alone  immediately  knoweth 
the  Father  as  such  and  in  Himself,  all  others  know  Him  mediately 
through  the  Son.  The  Son  revealeth  simply,  as  the  anroica- 
\vyjrat  at  the  end  (without  Luther's  addition — it)  is  designed  to 
signify  :  He  revealeth  Himself,  and  in  Himself  the  Father,  and 
iravra  ravra  of  eternal  wisdom  in  the  plan  of  salvation,  wThich 
have  their  issues  in  eternal  salvation  and  damnation.1  This  is 
the  mystery  of  God,  of  which  Col.  ii.  2  speaks,  be  the  true  read- 
ing whichever  it  may ;  and  this  is  the  internal  principle  of  that 
in  Rev.  x.  7  which  is  to  be  fulfilled  in  history.  It  might  have 
run  in  conclusion,  after  the  analogy  of  Scripture  usage  elsewhere, 
as  Matt.  xvi.  17,  Jno.  vi.  45, — and  to  whomsoever  the  Father 
will  reveal ;  but  this  form  of  expression  which  was  used  in  ver. 
25,  is  now  limited  to  its  only  possible  meaning  and  application, 
just  as  the  sentiment  of  ver.  46  immediately  follows  ver.  45  in 
Jno.  vi.  The  Father  only  revealeth  in  the  revelation  of  the 
Son.  But  whatever  appearance  of  arbitrary,  exclusive  election 
in  the  will  of  God  there  might  be  in  &  iav  fiovXyrai,  is  emphati- 
cally removed  by  the  words  which  immediately  follow  in  which 
the  Son  Himself  then  present  calls  all  to  Himself! 

Ver.  28.  This  sentence  is  as  universal  and  unconditional  as 
the  preceding.  But  it  must  be  attentively  observed  that  the 
Lord  does  not  continue  to  speak  of  revelation  and  knowledge : 
they  who  would  know  and  see,  must  come,  and  receive  the  reve- 
lation in  the  living  experience  of  the  avdiravai^  ;  that  only  being 
the  true  learning  of  God's  simple  ones.2     Only  by  living  expe- 


1  If  we  were  to  supply  avrbv  top  iraripa — which,  indeed,  cannot  but 
be  right  in  itself, — we  should  overlook  the  design  for  which  this  avrov 
is  omitted ;  that  is,  in  order  that  the  end  should  round  off  into  the  style 
is  the  beginning,  with  a  general  idea.  It  is  Revelation,  generally,  that 
of  concerned. 

2  As  Boos  has  very  beautifully  said,  "  Our  true  notion  of  the  Divi- 
inty  of  the  Son  depends  not  upon  any  hard  thought,  or  scholastic  sub- 


MATTHEW  XI .  2  8 .  119 

rience  of  God's  grace  can  we  know  God,  and  this  proceeds  from 
faith  to  faith.  What  then  is  the  way  to  faith  in  Him  who  has 
come,  in  which  the  offence  is  overcome,  and  salvation  is  attained 
through  Him  I  In  theory  it  is  the  casting  away  of  all  wisdom 
and  prudence  of  self  in  order  to  a  childlike  concurrence  with  the 
Nat  6  7rarr)py  which  the  Son  utters  for  our  example  :  but  in 
practice,  without  which  theory  has  no  value,  it  is  the  obedience 
of  the  word  of  that  same  Son,  the  acceptance  of  that  word  which 
the  Son  of  Man  in  meekness  and  humility  utters  to  the  children 
of  men  : — Aevre  irpos  fie. 

The  whole  of  this  comprehensive  conclusion  of  the  discourse 
(vers.  28—30),  is  a  text  inexhaustibly  to  be  preached  from ! 
Who  is  it  that  invites,  beseeches,  and  calls?  The  eternal  Son  of 
the  eternal  Father,  for  us  become  a  son  of  man !  Whom  does 
He  call  1  All,  all  who  will  know  themselves  to  be  what  they 
are,  weary  and  heavy-laden  !  What  does  He  promise  to  them  % 
Refreshment  and  rest  for  their  souls !  What  does  He  require  as 
the  condition  ?  Nothing,  absolutely  nothing  but  coming :  and 
when  they  are  come  and  have  already  received  His  consolation, 
only  the  abiding  with  Him,  learning  of  Him  ! 

In  Ecclus.  xxiv.  25 — 27  (in  the  corrected  German  text,  vers. 
21,  22,  Gk.  vers.  19,  20),  the  eternal  Wisdom  utters  her  own 
praise  and  invites  men  to  herself,  and  the  Lord  here  uses  words 
which  almost  seem  to  be  the  echo  of  that  passage  in  His  own 
Spirit,  for  He  had  often  read  those  words.  The  first  Aevre  irpo^ 
ue  is  uttered  with  Divine  majesty,  precisely  as  the  Lord  God, 
the  Holy  One  of  Israel  cries  (Isa.  xlv.  22)  : — SjV^ni  ^N~*0D 
V^N  ''DDN  />  ^n*s  smgle  word  in  the  mouth  of  one  son  of 
man,  calling  all  others  to  Himself  that  He  may  save  them  from 
all  their  n^ed,  is  ample  and  sufficient  testimony  that  He  is  more 
than  man  :  this  is  the  manner  of  man,  but  of  man  who  is  great, 
He  that  is  great,  even  the  Lord  God !  (2  Sam.  vii.  19,  22  ;  1 
Chron.  xvii.  18.)     He  only  who  could  speak  of  Himself  (ver. 

tilty,  but  upon  this — that  the  Son  be  in  such  sense  the  end  of  our 
coming,  believing,  desire  and  hope,  that  we  never  go  beyond  Him  for 
their  satisfaction."  In  which  connection  of  vers.  27  and  28,  we  may 
once  more  observe  that  the  Son  immediately  reveals  Himself  and  only 
in  Himself  the  Father. 


120  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

27)  could  follow  it  with  ver.  28.1  Oh  how  does  the  eternal 
mercy  of  God  express  itself  in  the  tenderness  and  grace  of  the 
Saviour's  human  heart  !  How  natural  is  it  to  regard  Him  as 
looking  round,  and  stretching  out  His  arms  and  saying — Only 
come  unto  me,  come,  and  wait  no  longer  for  another,  I  am  He, 
let  me  not  wait  upon  you !  How  would  He,  after  this  grief  over 
those  who  were  rushing  into  judgment  and  sorrow,  take  His  own 
comfort  in  those  whom  He  might  solace,  to  whom  He  would  all 
the  more  ardently  extend  all  that  salvation  which  the  others  had 
cast  away  or  refused ! 

A 11  men  are  actually  weary,  and  heavy  laden  ;  labouring  and 
dejected  under  the  yoke  of  sin  and  vanity,  of  death  and  destruc- 
tion ;  and  so  far  the  invitation  is  to  all.  This  might  be  our  first 
simple  exposition,  which  would  then  make  KOTnoivres  koX  irefyop- 
TUTyukvoi  only  the  same  thing  viewed  under  two  aspects,  active 
and  passive.  But  with  this  it  must  also  be  observed,  that  He  by 
no  means  excludes  those  who  are  miserable  through  physical  and 
earthly  external  unhappiness,  though  He  gives  them  no  promises 
of  help  merely  as  such.  We  find  no  example  of  His  having 
invited  to  Himself  the  merely  bodily  wretched :  and  we  must  in- 
terpret the  words  in  the  same  sense  as  the  poor  and  the  mourners 
are  understood  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Hence  we  have 
here  at  the  conclusion  the  true  intepretation  of  the  miraculous 
works  which  in  ver.  6,  were  exhibited  as  signs  of  the  Gospel 
preached  to  the  poor.  If  the  heavy-laden  feel  their  burden  as 
the  burden  of  their  spirits,  then  shall  they  find  rest  unto  their 
souls.  The  contrast  of  the  yoke  and  the  burden  (vers.  29,  30), 
tells  us  that  the  Lord  lays  His  emphasis  upon  "  heavy-laden," 
as  the  peculiar  and  fundamental  idea.  But  what  is  the  burden 
of  the  soul,  which  may  be  exchanged  for  His  light  burden  ? 
First  of  all,  as  it  regards  Israel,  in  whose  midst  this  cry  is  heard, 
the  Pharisaical  yoke  of  the  law  (ch.  xxiii.  4),  then,  further,  also 
the  law  imposed  of  God  (Acts  xv.  10),  with  all  its  wearisome 
and  hard  observances  of  worship ;  then  again  as  regards  all  men, 

1  Moos  again  :  "  Clearly  to  perceive  and  to  feel  this,  we  have  only  to 
imagine  an  apostle  saying — Come  unto  me,  &c.  Would  not  such 
words  in  the  mouth  of  an  apostle  be  meaningless  and  blasphemous  pre- 
sumption ?  The  same  may  be  applied  to  all  the  sayings  of  our  Lord, 
wherever  He  speaks  of  Himself.  We  need  not  so  anxiously  and  care- 
fully go  about  to  collect  proofs  of  Christ's  Divinity." 


MATTHEW  XI.  28.  121 

it  is  sin,  on  account  of  which  these  laws  are  imposed  by  God  or 
man,  with  all  the  disquietude  of  an  evil  conscience  without  atone- 
ment, and  the  service  of  things  that  perish  and  satisfy  not;  yea, 
all  that  oppresses  and  weighs  down  the  soul  in  the  utmost  com- 
prehensiveness of  these  words,  from  that  restless,  hot  pursuit  of 
sin  which  finds  no  peace,  as  the  wickedest  children  of  the  world 
well  know,  down  to  the  gratuitous  burden  which  even  a  Martha 
among  the  disciples  of  Jesus  may  impose  upon  herself.  Thus 
heavy-laden  in  ten  thousand  ways  are  all  men  everywhere,  and  so 
the  "  all "  of  the  invitation  is  in  open  contrast  with  the  "  no 
man"  of  ver.  27.  But  why  then  do  not  all  come  to  Him  ?  This 
question  leads  us  to  observe  that  KOTnwvTes  is  subject  to  a  neces- 
sary restriction  and  connects  itself  with  m-efyopTiafxevoi,  as  itp 
irvevfiaTL  with  tttcdxol.  It  means  not  here,  according  to  its  usual 
meaning  elsewhere,  those  who  labour  simply,  and  strain  their 
energies ;  for  such  vehement  personal  labour  and  exertion,  as 
long  as  it  is  fruitlessly  put  forth;  effectually  hinders  from  coming 
to  the  only  source  of  reinvigoration  ;  but  it  means,  according  to 
the  proper  and  original  idea  of  the  word,  those  who  are  exhausted 
and  spent,  who  pressed  down  by  their  burden,  can  bear  it  no 
longer.  (Thus  the  teai  is  a  Vav  exegeticum  for  because,  as  in 
Jno.  xi.  26).  Though  He  may  call  all,  yet  is  His  call  heard 
only  by  those  who  feel  their  burden  and  would  be  freed  from 
it :  this  is  the  mediating  link  between  the  offer  and  acceptance 
of  salvation.  Where  the  law,  and  sin,  and  the  world,  and  the 
flesh  have  so  long  burdened  the  spirit,  that  the  soul  is  brought 
to  confess  and  mourn  the  burden,  to  despair  of  deliverance  in 
its  own  strength ;  there  is  that  spark  of  longing  in  the  spirit 
to  which  grace  can  address  itself,  and  which  it  comes  down 
to  meet.  The  Lord  stands  in  the  midst  of  humanity  and  utters 
His  call :  he  who  follows  Him  approves  himself  thereby  to  be 
one  who  is  susceptible  of  salvation,  and  whose  will  is  rightly 
disposed :  all  others,  who  have  long  heard  His  call  in  vain,  will 
one  day  hear  in  earnest  the  awful — depart  from  Me  !  ch.  xxv. 
41.  But  He  does  not  now  cry  in  another  voice,  Remain  at 
your  distance  from  Me,  all  ye  proud  and  satisfied  ones,  who  are 
better  pleased  with  the  galling  yoke  than  with  my  easy  burden. 
No,  He  cries  also  to  them,  Come  ye  too,  but  come  as  the  weary 
and  the  wretched  !  So  will  I  give  you  rest  also — compare  ava- 


122  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

7rdvaco  Isa.  xxviii.  12,  in  the  Orig.  and  Sept.  (where  Wty  clearly 
corresponds  to  kottiqlv)  Isa.  lvii.  15.  Sept.,  Jer.  xxxi.  25  in  the 
Heb. 

Ver  29.  The  yoke  here  does  not  involve  the  idea  of  subjection 
to  authority ;  this  would  be  actually  opposed  to  the  context,  for 
the  Lord  explains  Himself  immediately  afterwards  by  learn  of 
Me  !  The  expression  was  used  proverbially  among  the  Jews  for 
the  receiving  of  instruction,  and  discipline,  as  is  plainly  seen  in 
Ecclus.  li.  33,  35,  and  also  in  passages  like  Jer.  v.  5  ;  Prov.  i.  8,  9. 
The  Jews  speak  of  a  pnfal  h*M>  an^  *n  P^e  Mischna  we  find 

N&mp  forn:^  h\y  kshb  *b*8fi take  uPon  y°u  the  y°ke  of 

the  holy  kingdom.  In  the  Sohar  the  yoke  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  spoken  of,  and  elsewhere  theThephillim  (prayer-fringes) 
are  represented  as  the  cords  of  the  yoke,  by  which  God  binds 
Israel  to  Himself.  We  find  it  said  "  how  beautiful  is  their  neck, 
which  beareth  the  yoke  of  my  precepts ;  it  sitteth  upon  them 
as  the  yoke  upon  the  neck  of  the  ox,  which  plougheth  the  field, 
and  nourisheth  both  himself  and  his  master."  This  proverb 
as  a  Jewish  one,  had  assuredly  a  legal  origin  and  a  legal  savour 
clinging  to  it, — but  the  Lord  speaks  catachrestically  of  His  easy 
yoke,  though  not  without  intimating  thereby  that  obeying  as 
well  as  learning,  was  involved  in  coming  to  Him  :  as  a  gracious 
teacher,  whose  heart  is  set  on  having  disciples,  the  Lord  just 
offers  and  recommends  His  yoke,  His  doctrine  and  discipline : 
then  proceeds  He  a  little  farther,  and  leaving  the  first  simple 
promise  Kayco  avairavo-co  gives  all  clearly  to  understand  that  this 
avaTravGLs  is  not  in  its  fullest  extent  to  be  instantly  secured,  but 
that  a  continuous  learning  in  His  school  is  essential,  to  which  a 
continuous  and  progressive  finding  will  correspond.  The  former 
is  the  condition  of  the  latter.  They  who  seek  their  soul's  rest  out 
of  Him,  are  the  most  heavy-laden  of  all,  for  they  find  an  ever- 
increasing  burden  of  disquietude  :  they,  however,  who  come  to 
Him,  will  most  assuredly  find  what  they  perseveringly  seek.  He 
encourages  the  proud  children  of  men,  who  even  after  finding  the 
true  teacher  learn  so  unwillingly  and  so  slowly,  to  progress  in 
His  instructions,  by  the  assurance  which  He  adds,  that  they 
shall  ever  find  in  Him  a  meek  and  lowly  Master.  For  I  am  meek 
of  heart,  although  I  spake  words  of  such  stern  condemnation, 


MATTHEW  XI.  30.  123 

ver.  20,  24  ;  I  judge,  because  all  judgment  hath  been  committed 
unto  Me  of  the  Father,  as  the  Son  of  Man,  but  condemn  no  man 
who  only  cometh  and  learneth  of  Me.  I  am  lowly  of  heart,  not- 
withstanding that  I  have  borne  witness  to  Myself  as  Son  of  the 
Father,  vers  25—27, 1  place  Myself  among  the  foolish  little  ones, 
to  share  in  every  way  their  experience.  Both  meekness  and 
humility  (not  merely  the  latter !)  are  human  attributes,  which 
only  the  one  Son  of  Man  so  possesses  that  He  can  fully  claim 
them  as  His  own,  and  unconditionally  proclaim  them.  This  is 
indicated  by  ttj  /capSla  which  refers  probably  to  both,  and  opens 
to  us  in  the  most  engaging  manner  the  full,  voluntary  condes- 
cension and  love  of  His  incarnate  Jesus-heart.  This  is  the  only 
instance  in  which  icapS'la  is  spoken  of  in  connexion  with  Jesus. 

Ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls,  is  literally  taken  from 
Jerem.  vi.  16,  and  not  after  the  incorrect  rendering  of  the  LXX. 
This  promise,  as  it  is  finally  given,  comes  after  the  testimony  to 
His  meekness  and  lowliness,  in  order  to  intimate  to  all  who  pro- 
gress in  the  school  of  Christ,  that  nothing  else  is  to  be  learned 
from  Him  but  the  becoming,  through  His  grace,  by  some  degrees 
what  He  is,  Eph.  iv.  2.  For  meekness  and  lowliness  is  itself  the 
rest  of  the  soul,  even  though  the  burden  and  disquietude  may  not 
be  externally  removed.  Anger  and  pride  create  disquietude  :  he 
who  finds  not  rest  with  the  meek  and  lowly  One,  must  be  still 
oppressed  by  them  ;  the  failing  is  in  him,  and  not  in  the  yoke 
and  burden  of  Christ. 

Ver.  30.  Has  He  then  also  a  yohe  and  a  burden  ?  Assuredly, 
for  the  heavy-laden  can  find  no  help  without  subjection  to  the 
grace  and  truth  of  God.  The  one  yoke  only  gives  place  to  the 
other :  independent  and  gods  we  can  never  be.  Rom.  vi.  16 
— 18.  But  the  Lord  only  terms  that  which  He  opposes  a  yoke, 
in  contradistinction  to  the  other,  just  as  St  Paul  speaks  of  the 
law  of  faith.  There  it  is  a  law,  and  yet  no  law  :  here  it  is  a  yoke 
and  yet  no  yoke.  Hence  the  adjectives  which  are  appended — 
easy  (or  pleasant,  agreeable)  and  light,  in  a  certain  sense,  with- 
draw the  word,  in  its  strict  meaning  again.  The  yoke  is  no  burden 
imposed,  but  actually  a  means  by  which  burdens  may  be  rendered 
tolerable  and  easily  borne.  St  Bernard  cries,  "  what  can  be 
lighter  than  a  burden  which  takes  our  burdens  away ;  and  a  yoke 
which  bears  up  the  bearer  himself?"     This  is  the  gracious  aspect 


124  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

of  the  words,  as  they  regard  that  new  nature  which,  learning 
from  the  love  of  Jesus  to  love  both  God  and  man,  can  say— 
His  commandments  are  not  grievous  !      But  for  the  old  Adam, 
which,  in   its  stubbornness  and   pride,  can   never   know  rest, 
and  as  such  is  never  to  be  revivified  but  to  be  put  to  death, 
the  easy  yoke  and  light  burden   is   no  other  than— the  cross, 
of  which  He  had  already   spoken  in  ch.  x.  38,  39.      This  is 
undoubtedly  the  undertone  of  meaning  which  they  who  learn 
of  Him  will   perceive   in    due   time ;    it  is    contained   in   the 
thrice  repeated   fuyo?  pov,    and  <f>opTiov  fi o v :— the  yoke  and 
the  burden,  which  I  myself  bear  as  your  master  and  forerun- 
ner I     What  fulness  of  meaning  does  this  give  to  the  words 
of  the  meek  and  lowly  One,  who  so   graciously  submitted  to 
the  uttermost  self  denial  and  the  burden  of  the  cross !      Thus 
it  is  only,  at  first,— Come  unto  Me  !  and  immediately  on  coming 
there  is  a  first  refreshment.     Then  comes  in  the  continued  learn- 
ing of  Him,   and  the  finding  that  only  through   Him,  through 
following  and  resembling  Him,  the  rest  of  the  soul  is  gamed* 
Finally,  there  is  the  persevering  advancement  under  the  yoke  of 
His  cross,  in  all  the  profound  meaning  of  that  word  :  with  which 
is  connected,  however,  the  gracious  encouragement  which  arms 
the  Christian  against  all  the  opposition  of  fleshly  impatience  and 
refractoriness,  the  assurance  which  approves  its  truth  in  sure 
experience  :— my  yoke  is  nevertheless,  easy,  my  burden  is  never- 
theless light.1     And  when  that  day  comes,  which  shall  make 
manifest  those  who  preferred  to  bear  the  yoke  of  Satan,  and  the 
burden  of  sin,  it  shall  be  found  that  the  Lord's  words  were  truth, 
and  that  His  most  burdened  follower  had  an  incomparably  better 
allotment  in  the  profound  peace  of  the  soul  which  He  bestows, 
than  all  the  slaves  of  lust  with  the  disquietude  of  their  guilty 
conscience.     Dost  thou  not  yet  know  this,  dear  reader,  dost  thou 
not  say  Yea  and  Amen  to  this  from  thine  heart  ?     Then  take  it 
now  to  thyself,  and  let  the  word  of  thy  Redeemer  pursue  thee  in 
all  thy  ways,  until  thou  art  constrained  to  yield  up  thy  heart  to 
its  obedience  : — Come  unto  Me  I  Learn  of  Mel 

1  "  It  is  not  difficult  to  be  a  Christian.  Only  make  the  earnest 
attempt ;  take  not  up  the  Gospel,  however,  as  a  light  thing,  but  upon 
both  shoulders."- — Braune. 


MATTHEW  XII.  3—8.  125 

THE  DISCIPLES  PLUCK  CORN  ON  THE  SABBATH.      THE  SON  OF 
MAN  LORD  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

(Matth.  xii.  3— 8 ;  Mark.  ii.  25—28  ;  Luke  vi.  3—52). 

The  chronology  of  the  incident  is  altogether  uncertain,  as  it  is 
not  Matthew's  object  to  give  a  consecutive  narration  of  the 
events,  but  here  in  chap.  xii.  only  to  depict  the  enmity  of  the 
Pharisees,  as  shown  on  two  Sabbaths,  in  order  thus  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  principal  discourse  directed  against  them  from  ver. 
25  onwards.  Luke,  however,  gives  a  very  exact  determination 
of  the  time,  inasmuch  as  he  calls  the  Sabbath  on  which  the  ears 
of  corn  were  plucked,  BeurepoTrpcorov,  a  word  unfortunately  found 
nowhere  else,  and  regarded  as  obscure  even  from  the  earliest 
antiquity,  and  which,  indeed,  it  would  be  most  convenient  to 
omit,  as  is  done  in  the  Syriac,  or  to  cancel  as  a  false  reading.1  It 
is  not  our  object  to  enter  minutely  into  such  collateral  circum- 
stances. Along  with  the  majority  of  commentators,  and  last  of 
all,  Ltibkert  (Stud.  u.  Krit.  1835,  3.  664),  we  are  inclined  to  pre- 
fer the  opinion  first  confirmed  by  Scaliger  to  all  the  other  opinions 
of  the  learned  who  have  exercised  their  ingenuity  on  the  point,2 
according  to  which  it  is  the  first  Sabbath  after  the  second  Easter- 
day  that  is  meant,  crdfifiaTov  irp&rov  airo  rfj?  Sevrepas  rov 
Tlda-^aj  because  from  this  day  seven  Sabbaths  were  reckoned  to 
the  Pentecost.  (Lev.  xxiii.  10 — 16).  This  would  also  be  the 
time  that  corresponds  best  with  the  plucking  the  ears  of  corn. 
Only,  we  cannot  yet  herewith  decidedly  dismiss  the  really  very 
plausible  statement  in  BengePs  Ordo  temporum..  This,  first  of  all, 
connects  itself  quite  as  simply  with  the  most  ancient  interpreta- 

1  As  if  some  one  had  added  devrepco  to  7rpcor<B  as  a  gloss,  and  from 
this  the  monster  had  arisen — a  groundless  conjecture ! 

2  Grotius  and  Pareau  :  the  o-dfipara  which  followed  the  great  festi- 
vals were  7rpa>ra,  or  distinguished  above  the  rest,  or  great  (John  xix. 
31),  here,  therefore,  the  second  of  these  three  great  ones,  the  Sabbath 
after  Pentecost ;  which,  however,  seems  too  late  a  period.  Capellus 
and  Rhenferd :  there  were  two  irpwra  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  year.     Wetstein  :   SevrepoVpcoroi/,  l^jgjgttj  fUTN^n*  *ne 

first  Sabbath  of  the  second  month,  on  which,  in  the  section  (Lev.  xxi. 
— xxv.)  the  shew  bread  also  occurred.  Hitzig:  according  to  Lev.  xxiii. 
11,  precisely  the  15th  of  Nisan.  Wieseler:  the  first  of  the  seven  first 
Sabbaths  in  the  great  week  of  years  which  forms  the  Sabbath-year. 


126  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

tion  of  the  Church  fathers  (Chrys.  and  Theophyl.),  respecting 
the  coincidence  of  a  Sabbath  either  immediately  going  before  or 
coming  after  any  new  moon  or  feast  day,  which  was  generally 
called  also  a  Sabbath  and  was  observed  as  such  (as  the  first 
Easter-day,  Lev.  xxiii.  11;  comp.  Ex.  xii.  17) ;  he  thinks,  however, 
that  it  is  specially  the  Sabbath  before  the  new  moon  of  the  month 
Nisan,  fourteen  days  before  the  Passover,  that  is  here  denoted. 
(John  vi.  4).  The  so-called  Sabbath  (feast  day)  which  fell  upon 
the  new  moon  itself,  ^-jpj  $N"V)  niU)>  was  called  a  aafi.  irpw- 
rov,  or  great  Sabbath  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  foregoing  day  (on 
which  1  Sam.  xx.  18,  ss.,  had  been  read)  was  called  -\ntt  fllti 
^-jj-j  SevrepoiTpcoTOVj-hevrepo^  equivalent  to  secnndarius  (as  in 
SevrepoBefcaTT]  in  Jerome,  and  SevT€p6\e7TTa  in  Tzezes).  True, 
it  may  be  objected  to  this,  that  the  plucking  the  ears  of  corn 
must  have  taken  place  after  the  waving  of  the  sheaf  of  the  first 
fruits,  for,  otherwise,  the  Pharisees  would  have  found  fault  with 
it  as  contrary  to  Lev.  xxiii.  14,  rather  than  with  the  viola- 
tion of  the  Sabbath  in  general ;  still,  as  Bengel  himself  remarks, 
a  reply  may  be  found  to  this  in  the  answer  of  our  Lord  to  the 
Pharisees  :  and  the  rest  of  the  chronological  arrangement  as 
framed  by  Bengel,  as  well  as  the  remarkable  coincidence,  that 
precisely  on  this  Sabbath  1  Sam.  xx.  18,  ss.,  (near  to  which  is 
the  passage  here  cited  by  Christ)  had  been  read,  will  not 
allow  us  altogether  to  dismiss  the  matter.  Partly  on  account  of 
this  circumstance,  partly  because  Liibkert  (as  also  Wieseler) 
has  not  thought  the  great  Bengel  even  worthy  of  being  men- 
tioned, we  would  have  deemed  it  right,  by  way  of  exception,  to 
direct  attention  to  his  interpretation.  Wieseler's  latest  hypothesis 
brings  the  year-cycle  only  too  surely  into  the  simple  statement  of 
Luke,  by  which,  however,  nothing  has  been  effected.  At  all 
events,  the  feast  mentioned  in  John  v.  must  be  the  Purim,  which 
again,  however,  will  not  correspond  to  Bengel's  chronology,  and 
the  whole  subject  remains  involved  in  uncertainty.  All  the 
more  so,  as  philologically  it  is  impossible  even  to  determine 
whether  hevrepoirptoTOv  means  a  second  following  upon  a  first  (as 
SevrepoXewra  may  be  interpreted) — or  a  first  of  a  subordinate 
rank.  We  willingly  leave  the  enigma  to  the  learned,  although 
for  us  also  it  has  in  it  something  attractive.1 

1  As  a  specimen  of  his  time,  Roos  also  could  not  resist  the  tempta- 
tion to  dispute  the  point  with  the  renowned  Bengel. 


MATTHEW  XII.  3 — 8.  127 

At  the  time  when  Jesus  went  about  in  all  the  cities  and  villages 
unweariedly  to  teach,  and  preach,   and  heal  (chap.  ix.  35),  it 
happened  also  on  a  certain  Sabbath,  that  His  disciples,  urged  by 
actual  hunger,  in  walking   through  the  corn  fields,    began  to 
pluck  a   few  ears   and  to  eat.      Innocent  conduct  in   general, 
expressly  allowed  by  the  law  (Deut.  xxiii.  25),  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  an  act  on  which  any  charge  of  theft  might  be  founded  ; 
it  is  still  right  and  proper  to  contemplate  the  gift  of  God  in  the 
harvest  that  is  drawing  near,  and  to  taste  beforehand  a  little  of 
the  bread  which  he  causes  to  grow  out  of  the  earth.     Here  Mat- 
thew, who  must  have  known  the  fact  best,  expressly  observes  that 
they  had  been  hungry  ;   which,  in  following  their  master,  might 
often  occur  for  an  hour  or  two.      But  the  Pharisees  (as,  since 
chap.  ix.  11,  he  concisely  designates  the  then  representatives  of 
this  class  of  men  so  hostile  to  Christ)  were  also  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood,   also  walking    upon    the    Sabbath  ;    for   the    ifioWe? 
eforov   is   here  to  be  understood  more  directly  than  at  chap.  ix. 
11,  as  is  evident  from  the  Ihov  iroiovaiv  immediately  following 
7]pj;avTo,  and  afterwards  from  ver.  9.    They  went  listening  beside 
or  behind  Christ,  and  would  gladly  also  have  measured  after  Him 
whether  perhaps  He  would  walk  a  step  beyond  the  allowed  Sab- 
bath-journey.    There  is  no  Sabbath  stillness  in  their  souls,  but 
they  are  full  of  evil  purposes  to  go  their  own  ways,  to  find  their 
own  desires,  and  to  speak  words  out  of  such  hearts.     (Is.  lviii. 
13,  hebr.).     They  have  no  notion  of  how  the  disciples  walk  with 
Christ,  either  hearing  God's  word  from  the  mouth,  or  silently 
offering  praise  in  the  great  temple  of  creation.     Scarcely  have 
the  disciples  begun  to  pluck  a  few  ears,  when  they  come  forward 
with  their  Behold!  as  if  they  had  suprised  them  in  a  great  sin. 
If  Luke  gives  their  words  as  addressed  to  the  disciples,  Matthew 
certainly  gives  them  more  correctly  as  addressed  to  the  Master: 
Do  thy  disciples  break  the  Sabbath  before  thine  eyes,  and  dost  thou 
not  rebuke  them,  that  we  who  are  fortunately  here  must  needs  in- 
terfere? Is  this  what  they  learn  from  Thee?  Behold,  now,  we  see  it ! 
Ovk  e^earc — so  in  their  foolish  pride  do  they  lay  down  their  little 
statute  which  had  been  added  to  the  law  of  God,  and  which  in 
reality  (according  to  Maimon.  hilchoth  Sabb.)  forbade1  the  pluck  • 

1  Comp.  on  this  Sepp's  Leben  Christi,  ii.  329.  and  454. 


128  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST. MATTHEW. 

ing  of  ears  on  the  Sabbath  as  a  kind  of  reaping.  Oh  !  how  might 
Christ  have  replied  to  these  malicious  ones  otherwise  than  he  did, 
and  in  terms  befitting  their  character,  sharply  rebuking  them,  and 
putting  them  to  shame  by  his  powerful  censure.  But  He  is  now 
in  a  Sabbath  tone  of  mind,  to  which  that  would  not' be  suitable. 
He  does  not  let  Himself  be  drawn  into  the  petty  school  question 
as  to  what  the  fON^D  which  was  forbidden  on  the  Sabbath, 

t      t   :  7 

means,  and  whether  the  plucking  of  a  few  ears  (or,  the 
rubbing  them  also  with  the  hands  as  Luke  adds),  belongs  to  it, 
although,  indeed,  it  only  corresponded  to  the  cutting  and  helping 
oneself  to  meat  on  the  Sabbath  (which  belonged  to  the  meal,  see 
Ex.  xii.  16).  No,  he  kindly  recompenses  good  for  evil,  over- 
comes their  folly  with  a  genuine  Sabbath-word  of  his  own  wis- 
dom, and  almost  obtrudes  upon  them  the  unwished-for  salutary 
doctrine  in  opposition  to  their  whole  Pharisaism,  the  great  doc- 
trine respecting  the  significance,  limits,  ground  and  purpose  of 
every  law  relating  immediately  to  outward  acts,  even  in  the  case 
of  that  law  having  been  given  by  God. 

Vers.  3,  4.  Inasmuch  as  these  Pharisees,  with  all  their  look- 
ing, had  yet  hastily  overlooked  the  one  circumstance  which  be- 
longed to  the  species  faeti,  Christ  fulfils  all  righteousness,  and 
mentions  forthwith  the  fact  that  they  were  hungry,  which  had 
not  been  unperceived  by  Him  in  the  disciples,  and  which  now 
on  reflection  he  even  feels  in  Himself;  for  he  says,  at  first  in- 
directly, adducing  the  similar  conduct  of  David,  "  when  he  and 
they  who  were  with  him  hungered,"  in  no  other  than  a  humble 
spirit,  "I  and  they  who  are  with  Me  are  also  hungry."  The  tl 
eiroLrjae  AavlS  thus  comes  in  direct  opposition  to  the  iroLovatv 
of  the  accusation  as  a  suitable  reply.  Have  you  not  read  this  ? 
Often  enough,  indeed,  but  they  have  never  read  it  aright,  never 
understood  it.  In  Luke  ovBe  tovto — nor  this  also— might  point 
in  general  to  their  being  much  read  in  the  Scriptures,  but  if,  ac- 
cording to  Bengel,  1  Sam.  20  had  really  been  the  portion  read 
on  this  Sabbath,  it  might  also  be  a  request  that  they  should  call 
to  their  recollection  a  chapter  further  on  in  the  history  of  David. 
In  this  case,  it  would  be  a  delicate  hint,  of  how  accurately  Christ 
observed  the  arrangements  respecting  the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  synagogue.  Mark  has,  in  addition  to  the  citation, 
the  difficult  phrase  eirl  'AftidOap,  which  can  scarcely  have  been 


MATTHEW  XII.  3,  4.  129 

added  by  a  later  hand,  and  which  deserves  a  word  or  two  of 
'  explanation,  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  likewise  of  importance  to 
those  commentators  who  are  ever  on  the  alert  for  difficulties  and 
mistakes  on  the  part  of  the  disciples  of  Christ.  The  priest  named 
in  1.  Sam.,  is  called  Ahimelech,  son  of  Ahitob  (chap.  xxii.  11), 
but  his  son  was  Abiathar  (chap.  xxii.  20),  and  his  father  may 
also  have  been  called  Abiathar  (which  almost  corresponds  to 
the  meaning  of  Ahitob),  if  it  is  the  same  that  is  spoken  of  in  2 
Sam.  viii.  17.  Nay,  he  may  have  been  called  Ahimelech  as 
well  as  Abiathar,  see  1  Chron.  xv.  11,  comp.  with  xviii.  16,  xxiv.  6. 
In  short,  as  often  happens,  the  names  are  used  interchangeably 
with  each  other,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  both  father  and  son 
may  have  had  both  names.  The  hri  denotes  the  time  when 
the  high  priest  flourished  and  held  office  (Luke  iii.  2  ;  iv.  27), 
and  which  of  the  two  was  priest  or  high  priest,  is  also  a  question 
which  cannot  be  determined.  Consequently  it  is  not  at  all  neces- 
sary to  suppose  an  unscrupulous  change  of  the  name  in  Mark,  but 
either  the  time  of  David  and  that  of  the  high  priest  Abiathar 
(who  soon  succeeded  his  deceased  father),  belong  in  general  to 
the  same  chronological  epoch,  or  the  Ahimelech  who  gave  the 
show  bread  was  himself  also  Abiathar.  But  enough  on  subordi- 
nate points,  and  now  to  the  matter  itself. 

You  will  not  think  of  finding  fault  by  your  ovk  e^ean  with 
what  King  David  did,  he  whom  ye  laud  so  much?  That  David, 
although  he  came  at  first  alone  (1.  Sam.  xxi.  1),  yet  desired  the 
bread,  at  the  same  time,  for  the  young  men  who  were  with  him 
and  who  had  been  "appointed  to  such  and  such  a  place" 
(Mark  and  Luke),  is  evident  in  the  history  when  attentively 
read  (see  there  vers.  4,  5)  ;  the  necessity  of  hunger  is  so  naturally 
presupposed  in  the  whole  narrative  that  it  is  for  this  very  reason 
not  expressly  named ;  finally,  the  going  into  the  house  of  God,  the 
tabernacle  at  Nob,  follows  from  vers.  7  and  9.  See  how  carefully 
Christ  reads  the  narratives  of  the  Scriptures,  and  how  he  has 
them  every  moment  as  it  were  present  to  his  mind !  R.  D. 
Kimchi  on  1  Sam.  xxi.  also  expressly  understands  David's  words  : 
^n2ft  O^LH  *Dj  and  treats  with  great  fulness  of  this  remarkable 
incident,  on  account  of  the  show  bread,  and  also  of  its  happening 
to  be  the  Sabbath  when  the  fresh  supply  was  laid  out,  as  well  as 
on  account  of  David's  journey  on  the  Sabbath.      It  is  a  rabbini- 

VOL  II.  I 


130  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

cal  rule  which  is  also  applied  to  this  instance  :  danger  of  life  dis- 
places the  Sabbath  :  {p^n  im  mtfD  pBDtf)— ana  tne  Talmud 
expressly  enjoins  that  even  on  the  great  day  of  atonement  it  is . 
lawful,  in  the  absence  of  pure  meat,  to  give  forbidden  nourish- 
ment to  a  man  overtaken  with  weakness  or  extreme  hunger. 
Nor  do  we  read  further  on  in  the  Scripture,  that  the  listening 
calumniator  Doeg  or  the  angry  Saul  afterwards  made  an  accusa- 
tion of  this,  that  the  bread  which  had  been  given  was  holy,  and  what 
David  says  (chap.  xxi.  5)  contains  an  assertion  and  doctrine  very 
clearly  justifying  what  he  had  done.1  Christ,  therefore,  by  the  ov/c 
aviyvcore  completely  refutes  the  Pharisees  e  concessis  ;  here  was 
a  stronger  ov/c  i%ov,  that  of  a  divine  command  for  the  house  and 
sanctuary  of  God,  than  your  statute  which  you  have  brought 
against  us — will  you  find  fault  now  with  the  king  and  the 
priest  ? 

Ver.  5.  Or,  letting  alone  what  these  two  did  once  from  special 
warrant,  and  in  an  exceptional  case,  will  you  rather  abide  by 
the  rule  of  the  law  ?  Well  then,  not  merely  does  the  sacred 
history  relate  exceptional  instances  of  necessity,  but  the  law  itself 
ordains  labour  on  the  Sabbath  as  a  duty.  Thus  Christ  takes  a 
step  higher,  from  the  particular  instances  with  which  the  doc- 
trine was  connected  to  the  development  of  the  general  doctrine  : 
That  the  mere  outward  working  or  not  working,  without  far- 
ther reference  and  significance,  can  never  have  been  the  aim 
of  the  divine  commandment  respecting  the  Sabbath.  For,  as 
Scripture  proves,  there  are  exceptions  to  all  external  law,  of 
whatever  kind  it  be ;  in  the  first  place,  allowed  exceptions  of 
necessity  (which  general  idea  is  expressed  in  Mark  by  the  %pelav 
t'cr^e),  then,  even  commanded  exceptions  of  duty.  The  first  ex- 
ample has  respect  to  the  disciples  having  eaten  (containing  a 
reply  at  the  same  time  to  the  charge  which  the  Pharisees  had 
only  forgotten  to  bring  against  them,  of  eating  before  the  first 
fruits  were  waved),  the  second  more  especially  to  the  breaking  of  the 
Sabbath.  The  first  is  taken  from  the  life  of  the  anointed  King, 
the  other  is  from  the  office  and  lav/  of  the  priests  (already  named 
in  the  first)  ;  for  He  who  now  justifies  Himself  is  King  and 

1  In  which  Melancthon  loci,  p.  1 37,  ed.  Aug.  finds  the  same  thing 
already  expressed  as  Paul  says  in  Tit.  i.  15. 


MATTHEW  XII.  6.  131 

Priest  in  the  highest  sense.  The  laying  out  of  the  shew-bread 
which  has  just  been  mentioned  in  the  house  of  God,  then  the 
offering  of  the  double  sacrifice  on  the  Sabbath  (Num.  xxviii.  9), 
to  which  belongs  the  kindling  of  the  fire,  otherwise  forbidden  in 
houses  (Ex.  xxxv.  3;  Lev.  vi.  12),  and  the  whole  Temple 
service  in  general  has  to  be  performed  by  the  priests  in  the 
temple  on  the  Sabbath.  '  This  then  would  be  a  very  grievous 
profanation  (j3£/3r]\ovv  Ex.  xxxi.  14 ;  1  Mace.  ii.  34),  as  Christ 
here  expresses  himself,  with  somewhat  of  irony,  in  order  imme- 
diately to  refute,  it  in  the  dvalriol  elai.  For  this,  also,  there  are 
Rabbinical  sayings :  In  the  sanctuary  there  is  no  Sabbath 
(ttHDMi  rQtt?  FN) »  tne  killing  of  sacrifices  displaces  the  Sabbath 
(nyti  HN  nttnti  nnrn)-  Tne  internal  truth,  however,  to 
which  Christ  here  points,  in  a  different  spirit  from  the  Rab- 
binical, is  none  other  than  that  to  work  the  works  of  God  belongs 
to  every  place  and  time,  and  is  rather  the  true  priestly  sanctifi- 
cation  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  sanctuary ;  for,  as  at  another 
time,  on  a  like  charge  being  brought  against  him,  he  rises  still 
higher,  God  Himself  works  always  on  the  great  Sabbath  after 
the  creation  of  the  world  (John  v.  17). 

Ver.  6.  To  all  this  Christ  now  adds  a  word  pointing  to  the 
dignity  of  his  own  person  (chap.  xvii.  25,  26),  in  virtue  of  which 
he  is  entirely,  and  with  the  highest  right  of  freedom,  exempted 
from  outward  law,  and  thereby  preparing  the  way  for  the  con- 
clusion of  the  address  (ver.  8).  He  expresses  this,  however,  not 
by  the  direct  form  i<ya>  et/u,  but  again,  by  the  modest  form  of  the 
third  person ;  here  is  one  greater  than  the  Temple.  The  read- 
ing of  the  neuter  fiel&v  (which  Neander  still  prefers)  would  only 
say  :  here  something  is  reckoned  greater,  more  important,  namely, 
compassionate  regard  to  the  hungry,  or,  however,  it  may  be 
stated  ;x  but  we  cannot  regard  this  as  anything  else  than  a  false 
correction,  as  the  comparison  with  the  Temple  instead  of  the 
Temple  service  would  in  this  case  be  not  very  suitable,  while,  on 
the  other  hand  vers.  6  and  8  exactly  correspond  to  each  other 
if  Christ  speaks  of  Himself.     As  the  Sabbath  gives  place  to  the 

1  According  to  De  Wette,  the  Messianic  work.  Neander  at  least  is 
for  referring  it  to  the  "  manifestation  of  Christ  as  a  whole"  (as  nXclov 
Lukexi.  31,  32) — to  which  we  afterwards  also  take  objection. 


132  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Temple,  so  Sabbath  and  Temple  give  place  to  the  greater,  the  Lord 
of  the  Temple  and  Sabbath.  He  reminds  the  Pharisees  of  the 
enigmatic  word  (John  ii.  19),  with  which  they  would  certainly 
be  familiar,  as  also  of  Mai.  iii.  1,  and  thereby  declares  again  in 
his  own  manner  wTho  He  is — the  Messiah,  the  true  King  David, 
the  true  High  Priest,  Himself  the  archetype  and  Lord  of  the 
Temple.  His  disciples,  too,  who  have  left  house  and  goods  for 
His  service,  that  they  might  follow  Him,  are  collectively  priests 
in  the  sanctuary,  consecrated  by  him,  just  as  David's  companions 
in  his  lowly  condition  were  by  the  already  anointed  King.  This 
accessory  idea  unites  the  whole,  and  leads  over  to  what  follows. 

Ver.  7.  Christ,  who  is  prepared  at  the  moment  for  a  complete 
reply  to  the  charge  of  the  Pharisees,  adduces  the  testimony  of 
history,  the  law,  and  the  prophets  against  them.  If  history  and 
law  have  already  spoken  of  particular  cases  of  exception,  he 
now  show^s,  secondly,  how  the  prophetical  Scripture  opens  up  the 
general  import,  and  the  true  spirit  of  the  outward  law.  It  is  a 
passage  already  brought  before  the  Pharisees  in  chap.  ix.  13,' 
but  which  he  here  again  submits  for  their  consideration,  while  he 
imparts  to  his  address  a  severer  form  than  hitherto,  rebuking 
their  ignorance,  and  therefore  the  sin  committed  on  their  part : 
If  ye  had  understood  this,  ye  would  not  have  so  uncharitably 
found  fault  with  the  innocent.  On  the  import  of  the  citation 
from  Hosea  we  have  already  spoken  at  length  in  chap,  ix.,  and 
we  find  here  also  (in  opposition  to  almost  all  commentators),  as 
connected  with  the  main  preceding  sentiments,  the  compassion  of 
God  towards  men,  who  willeth  not  that  any  one  should  hunger 
in  order  that  a  sacrificial  or  Sabbath  service  may  be  rendered  to 
Him,  a  service  in  which  He  can  have  no  pleasure  when  it  goes 
against  the  love  that  springs  from  His  love.  The  fundamental 
idea  is  certainly  also  expressed  here,  namely,  that  the  design  of 
the  Sabbath,  as  of  the  sacrifice,  is  not  that  men  should  do  or 
bring  something  meritorious :  but  that  God  may  show  favour, 
and  impart  blessing  to  us.  But  there  is  here  to  be  added  to  this 
the  natural  inference  and  application  that  the  compassionate  One 
who  makes  all  his  laws  and  ordinances  only  for  the  sake  of  man, 
will  have  them  observed  in  no  other  spirit,  in  no  way  contrary  to 
compassion.   Somewhat  similar,  therefore,  to  chap,  xxiii.  23.    It 


MATTHEW  XII.  7.  133 

follows,  therefore,  although  it  is  not  merely  this  that  is  intended 
to  be  literally  said,1  that  in  cases  of  collision,  the  royal  law  of 
love,  from  which  alone  all  commandments  take  their  rise,  is 
superior  to  a  Pharisaic  outward  adherence  to  the  letter  of  parti- 
cular commandments.2  Thus  the  disciples,  on  this  occasion,  in 
their  holy  simplicity  (as  blameless  as  the  priests  in  the  Temple) 
had  no  thought,  when  they  plucked  the  ears  of  corn,  about 
whether  it  was  allowed  or  forbidden ;  their  accusers,  however, 
"by  condemning  the  innocent,"  became  themselves  very  guilty 
(ver.  8).  Christ  concludes,  thirdly,  with  a  doctrine  of  far-reach- 
ing import,  which  indeed  returns  to  the  case  of  Sabbath-break- 
ing now  on  hand,  in  order  to  draw  the  conclusive  inference  with 
respect  to  it,  but  which,  at  the  same  time,  enlarges,  almost  trans- 
figures, what  is  special  in  it.  He  utters,  in  His  overflowing 
wisdom,  which  He  will  not  and  cannot  restrain,  a  sublime  truth 
in  addition  to  ver.  6,  and  still  more  enigmatic,  the  meaning  of 
which  those  Pharisees  could  not  apprehend ;  therefore  we,  for 
*vhom  it  has  been  written,  are  to  understand  it.  For  the  saying 
that  "  what  a  prophet  speaks  in  the  wind  posterity  reads,"  finds 
its  highest  application  in  Christ.3 

First  of  all,  we  must  entirely  set  aside  all  those  commentators 
who,  misled  by  the  intermediate  sentence  in  Mark  (of  which  we 
shall  presently  speak  more  particularly)  are  for  understanding 
by  6  vlbs  rov  av6pco7rov,  C*lt^n~D  Wltn    ^e  ar^cle    in   this 

T  T    T      I  V 

instance,  man  in  general.4  This  would  be  contrary  to  the  sense 
in  which  the  expression  is  everywhere  used  by  Christ,  who 
always  designates  by  the  "Son  of  Man"  only  Himself,  while,  in 
addition  to  this,  the  designation  /cvpcos  rov  aafijSarov  belongs  to 
the   same  person   who   was  just  before  said   to  be   rov   lepov 

i  As  von  Gerlach,  along  with  the  great  majority  of  commentators : 
That  the  entire  "ritual  law"  is  to  be  subservient  to  the  supreme  ulaw 
of  love."  So  formal  a  distinction  is  in  general  foreign  to  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, and  least  of  all  does  it  lie  in  the  genuine  sense  and  connection 
of  the  prophetic  passage  which  Christ  brings  to  bear  on  the  subject. 

2  Which  might  also  he  applied  with  equal  force  to  so-called  moral 
duties. 

3  In  Knapp's  Christotcrpe  1838.  Fnnken  vom  Leuchter  (von  J. 
Fr.  v.  Meyer) — would  that  in  our  time  also  they  might  fall  into  many 
lioarts  for  iheir  illumination. 

4  Kleuker  emphatically  refutes  this,  Bibl.  Sympathien,  p.  318. 


134  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

fjL€i£cov.  But  do  we  not  read  in  Mark  an  intermediate  clause  of 
a  highly  original  character,  which  it  is  impossible  to  regard  as 
spurious,  and  which  speaks  of  6  avOpcoiro?  quite  generally?  How 
does  this  agree  with  our  interpretation  of  the  passage  before  us  f 
Well  enough ;  and  neither  are  those  right  who,  in  the  address 
which  is  fully  recorded  by  Mark,  understand  Christ  as  speaking 
only  of  man,  so  that  ver.  23  also  must  be  interpreted  according 
to  that  view ;  nor  those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  understand  it  only 
of  the  person  of  the  one  "  Son  of  Man  ;"  the  two  opinions  about 
which  commentators  differ  harmonize  when  we  go  somewhat 
deeper.  Why  is  Christ  called  the  Son  of  Man,  but  just  because 
he  represents  humanity  as  a  whole— because,  as  a  second  Adam, 
He  bears  in  Himself  and  sets  up  a  new  humanity  t  This  is  the 
key  to  the  whole  statement,  according  to  which,  in  the  first 
place,  Mark  ii.  27,  as  the  words  stand,  contains  a  truth  as  pro- 
found as  it  is  simple.  So  in  the  Talmud,  R.  Jonathan  says  lite- 
rally :  The  Sabbath  is  in  your  hands,  not  you  in  its  hands,  for  it 
is  said :  "  The  Sabbath  is  for  you."  (Ex.  xvi.  29  ;  Ezek.  xx.  12.) 
It  is,  according  to  God's  design,  an  ordinance  and  institution  of 
mercy  for  the  good  of  man,  appointed,  in  the  first  instance,  for 
rest  and  refreshment  (Deut.  v.  14 ;  Ex.  xxiii.  12),  and  then, 
further,  for  blessing  and  sanctification.  This,  too,  is  the  real 
ground  of  that  question,  which  Christ  addressed  to  the  Pharisees 
eight  days  afterwards,  whether  one  should  save  life  or  destroy  it 
on  the  Sabbath?  (Mark  iii.  4.)  While  the  Pharisees,  cleaving 
to  their  statutes,  scarcely  rose  to  the  level  of  Moses'  law,  and 
knew  not  at  all  properly  what  or  wherefore  the  Sabbath  was, 
Christ  here  points  them  to  the  first  and  deepest  ground  and 
origin  of  it,  opens  up  to  them  the  fact  that  the  rest  of  the  Creator 
on  the  seventh  day  was  a  typical  rest  for  man,  and  the  blessing 
of  the  day  a  boon  for  man.  True  it  is,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
man,  as  also  the  whole  world,  has  been  created  for  God  and  for 
the  promotion  of  His  honour ;  but  the  honour  of  God  does  not 
demand  an  outward  work-service  in  which  man  may  bring  a 
gift  and  offering  to  God,  for  God  wills  to  bless,  give,  and  gladden 
also  by  the  Sabbath — so  that  to  inflict  pain  upon  a  man,  and, 
for  example,  to  let  him  hunger  on  account  of  the  external  so- 
called  Sabbath,  runs  directly  counter  to  the  internal  nature  of 
the  Sabbath.    But  while  Christ,  who  gives  forth  His  doctrines,  as 


MATTHEW  XII.  7.  135 

Moses  gave  the  laws  in  the  wilderness,  as  they  were  called  forth 
by  the  various  occasions  of  life,  here  specifies  the  Sabbath,  He 
at  the  same  time  speaks  by  synecdoche  of  all  law  and  its  insti- 
tution in  general;  His  statement  means,  as  we  read  also  in 
2  Mace.  v.  19,  of  the  Temple  which  has  just  been  named  here  : 
"  God  has  not  chosen  the  people  on  account  of  the  place,  but  the 
place  on  account  of  the  people."  The  import  and  order  of 
his  reasoning  is  therefore  very  evident,  inasmuch  as  He 
rises  from  man  in  general  and  the  ordinance  hitherto  in  exis- 
tence, which  dates  from  the  first  iyevero  to  Himselfj  the 
Son  of  man,  who,  moreover,  introduces  a  new  state  of  things 
to  men.  First  proposition  :  Already  in  general  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament law,  nay,  from  the  creation  downwards,  the  Sabbath, 
like  every  ordinance  of  God,  is  designed  for  man;  for  which  as 
yet  general  doctrine,  after  adducing  the  testimony  of  history,  law 
and  prophets,  He,  in  an  allusion  to  the  book  of  Maccabees,  even 
goes  beyond  the  canon  pointing  to  the  echoes  of  the  prophetical, 
and  foreshadowings  of  the  New  Testament  doctrine  to  be  found 
in  the  apochryphal  writings.  Second  propositiori :  Therefore 
(Mark  ware)  :  I,  as  the  So?i  of  Man,  being  already  as  man,  in  the 
state  of  things  which  has  existed  hitherto,  no  servant  of  the  Sab- 
bath according  to  your  perverted  ideas,  and,  moreover,  being 
greater  than  the  Temple  in  the  new  state  of  things  which  begins 
with  my  coming,  am  much  more  abundantly  Lord  of  the  Sab- 
bath.1 Upon  which  the  address  closes  again,  with  directest  ap- 
plication to  the  case  in  hand. 

That  a  complete  reply  may  be  given  to  the  charge  in  ver.  2,  Be- 
hold thy  disciples  do,  &c,  he  now  includes  in  this  his  prerogative 
and  freedom  those  who  are  with  him.  The  Son  of  Man,  i.e.,  the 
new  man  in  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  in  the  new  order  of 
things,  in  which  all  preparatory  institutions  were  fulfilled  ac- 
cording to  their  original  significance.  Not  we  as  men,  as  we 
are,  are  called  lords  of  the  Sabbath;  for,  although  the  Sab- 
bath is  made  on  our  account,  we  are  yet  only  so  much  the 
more  for  this  reason  bound  and  obliged  to  keep  it.     But  Christ, 

1  The  whole  discourse  is  pervaded  by  personality,  that  of  man  in 
general,  of  the  Son  of  man  as  representing  humanity  and  raising  it  to 
a  new  elevation.  This  view  closing  at  last  with  the  Kvptos  corresponds 
very  ill  with  the  indefinite  sentiment,  Here  is  something  greater  than 
the  Temple  I  as  Ncander  would  explain  it. 


136  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

also  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  proper  sense,  in  so  far  as 
in  honour  of  Him,  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  every  Sabbath 
from  the  beginning  has  been  celebrated,  brings  as  the  Son  of 
Man  to  us,  his  brethren  and  members,  that  freedom  and  lord- 
ship through  which,  in  the  New  Testament,  every  one  is  in 
Christ  exalted  above  all  imposed  law  as  such,  because  he  fulfils 
it  not  in  the  bondage  of  the  letter,  but  in  the  liberty  of  the 
Spirit.  In  these  words  of  Christ  there  lies  certainly  the  germ  of 
that  apostolical  doctrine  which  we  find  afterwards  expressed  in 
Eom.  xiv.  4,  5,  17;  Col.  ii.  16,  17.  t)oes  it  follow,  therefore, 
that  they  declare  a  complete  abrogation  of  the  Sabbath  as  a  day 
consecrated  by  God  for  man,  above  other  days,  and  set  apart 
for  special  blessing  f  By  no  means,  and  those  who  can  find  no 
Sabbath  in  the  New  Testament  understand  neither  that  apostoli- 
cal doctrine  nor  the  statement  of  our  Lord  in  this  passage.  Not 
by  doing  away  with  the  Sabbath,  but  by  bringing  it  to  mind  and 
glorifying  it,  does  he  show  Himself  to  be  the  Lord  of  the  Sab- 
bath. We  find  here  rather  the  most  emphatic  confirmation 
of  the  inviolably  continuing  aafiftaTov  in  the  all-expressive 
iyevero.  Not :  Moses  has  given  you  the  Sabbath — but  the  Sab- 
bath has  been  from  the  first,  when  all  things  came  into  being, 
when  the  world  and  man  were  created.  As  already  in  the  recep- 
tion of  this  commandment  into  the  decalogue,  which  contains 
only  what  is  original  and  permanent  law  for  all  men,  not  what 
was  temporarily  designed  for  Israel  alone,  so  again  does  Christ, 
in  the  words  Sea  tov  dv0pco7rov,  set  forth  the  universal  validity 
of  the  Sabbath  originating  from  the  creation.  (Not  like  the 
Temple,  only  on  account  of  the  Israelitish  people).  So  long  as  man 
lives  on  the  earth  he  is  to  have  a  Sabbath  of  God ;  the  necessity 
of  his  nature  and  the  ordinance  of  the  Creator  for  meeting  that 
necessity  always  correspond  to  each  other.  But  in  this  has 
Christ  shown  Himself  to  be  Lord  of  the  Sabbath  for  His 
church,  for  the  new  humanity  in  Him,  that  He  has  changed  the 
day  from  the  end  of  the  old  world  week  which  passed  away  for 
ever  with  the  still  Sabbath  of  His  grave,  to  the  beginning  with 
which  an  entirely  new  state  of  things  commenced,  and  thus  has 
made  the  day  peculiarly  His  own,  the  LoroVs  day,  and  has 
united  to  the  remembrance  of  the  first  creation,  whose  Sabbath 
was  broken  and  rendered  servile  by  sin,  the  praise  of  the  new 
creation,  effected  by  Him  who  became  a  son  of  man  for  man's 


MATTHEW  XII.  11 — 13.  137 

sake.  Thus  has  He  given  to  us  the  Sabbath  anew,  without 
literal  commandment,  as  in  the  Old  Testament,  but  by  the  free 
operation  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Church,  so  that  even  no  defect  of 
knowledge  in  this  particular,  no  error  of  church  doctrine  has  as 
yet  been  able  to  deprive  of  its  day  of  the  Lord.1  Thus  do  we, 
sanctifying  the  Sabbath  in  Christ,  now  look  freely  and  joyfully 
forward  to  the  future  Gra/3/3artc>to?  (Heb.  iv.  9),  in  which  the 
rest  of  God  in  man  from  the  redemption-work  will  unite  with 
the  first  rest  from  the  creation- work  ;  on  the  other  hand,  before 
the  appearing  of  Christ,  the  best  Sabbath  devotion  could  only 
point  backward  in  humility  and  repentance,  because  of  sin,  to 
the  lost  peace  of  the  Sabbaths  of  Adam  in  Paradise. 


THE  WITHEEED  HAND.   IS  IT  LAWFUL  TO  DO  GOOD  OR  TO  DO 
EVIL  ON  THE  SABBATH  ? 

Matt.  xii.  11—13;  Mark  iii.  3—5;  Luke  vi.  8—10. 

From  the  frequency  with  which  the  Sabbath  is  spoken  of  in 
the  Gospels,  as  it  is  here  again,  we  may  infer  the  importance  of 
this  subject :  for,  even  in  the  narrow  misconceptions  of  the  pha- 
risaical  Jews,  there  yet  lies  hid  the  truth  that  the  Sabbath  which 
was  given  to  them  had  something  great  and  specially  holy  be- 
longing to  it.  In  all  the  discourses  of  Christ  on  the  subject, 
directed  against  Pharisaism,  we  yet  look  in  vain  for  an  expression 
in  which  it  is  distinctly  stated  that  at  any  period  all  days  are 
to  become  alike;  if  the  one  which  we  have  just  considered  con- 
tains no  such  statement,  so  neither  does  any  other. 

According  to  the  account  of  Matthew,  who  is  very  careless  as 
to  the  order  of  time,  we  might  suppose  that  what  follows  here 
took  place  on  the  same  day,  did  not  Luke  specify  another,  and, 
in  all  probability  the  next,  Sabbath.  Then,  as  always,  Christ 
sanctifies  the  Sabbath  by  going  to  the  synagogue,  then  also  the 
Pharisees  begin  to  watch  him  anew,  and  he  again,  according  to 
Luke  xiv.  13 — 6,   instructs  and  confounds   them  in   quite   a 

1  We  rather  find  that,  under  the  pressure,  of  necessity,  the  divine 
right  of  the  new  Sabbath  is  being  ever  more  fully  demonstrated  theo- 
retically ;  to  promote  which,  church  days,  prize  writings,  societies,  are 
useful,  although  not  yet  on  a  perfectly  clear  principle. 


138  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

similar  way.  If  we  had  not  in  Luke  chap.  vi.  (as  also  again  in 
chap.  xiii.  15  the  same  statement)  the  account  corresponding 
to  that  of  Matthew,  how  would  the  critics  have  spoken  of  the 
different  report  of  evidently  the  same  occurrence  ! 

In  the  first  account,  also,  we  find  the  difference,  that,  accord- 
ing to  Mark  and  Luke,  Christ  himself  addresses  the  question 
which  Matthew  puts  into  the  mouth  of  his  enemies.  Luke 
observes,  besides,  that  Jesus  knew  their  thoughts,  and  anticipated 
the  question  of  their  hearts,  by  giving  outward  expression  to  it  : 
€7repcoTrja(o  vfias,  I  will  ask  you,  with  which — probably  more 
correctly,  for  then  the  account  in  Mark  and  Luke  (the  interro- 
gative efecr™  without  rf)  becomes  the  same — is  to  be  construed : 
€TT6p(orrja(t)  v/jl&<;  ,ri,  I  will  ask  you  something,  as  in  Matt.  xxi. 
24,  eva  \6yov.  It  is  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  centurion's 
speaking  (Math,  viii.),  and  Matthew  represents  as  an  expressed 
question,  in  the  same  manner  as  he  does  there,  the  SiaXoyLor- 
fjLovs  of  those  who  watched  whether  he  would  heal  on  the  Sabbath} 

Mark  and  Luke  narrate  exactly  that  Christ,  at  first  acting 
with  perfect  frankness,  and  in  order  to  put  it  to  the  proof 
whether  hostile  stubbornness  will  yield  to  sympathy  with  the 
unfortunate,  called  him  forth  :  Come  forth  and,  stand  in  the 
midst!  Now  is  the  disputed  case  before  their  eyes,  itself  speak- 
ing and  testifying  to  the  unprejudiced  ;  now  goes  forth  the  bold, 
irresistibly  pressing  question,  to  which  the  obdurate  Pharisees 
had  nothing  to  answer.  He  humbly  sets  them  up  as  judges, 
while  in  the  exalted  dignity  of  simple,  invincible  truth,  he  puts 
their  folly  and  wickedness  to  shame.  Do  you  yourselves  give 
forth  your  egean  on  the  case,  so  that  I  may  act  accordingly : 
Shall  I  now  heal  the  man,  or,  because  it  is  the  Sabbath,  shall  I 
not  %  This,  however,  he  expresses  forcibly  :  Is  it  'permitted  or 
right  to  do  good  on  the  Sabbath,  or  to  do  evil.  The  answer  is, 
of  course,  self-evident,  and  it  is  also  so  for  the  next  part  of  the 
question,  which  comes  nearer  the  case  in  hand :  to  save  a  life 
("ty-v)(f)v quite  indefinite,  a  living  eing)  or  to  destroy  it?  Even 
yet  the  question  represents  the  case  in  a  generalized  form,  but  it 
does  represent  it  in  so  far  as  healing  is  a  adbaai,  a  saving  and 

1  'An-oXe'rat  in  Luke,  at  all  events  the  more  correct  explanation  for 
anoKTeivai.  Should  the  latter  be  genuine  in  Mark,  it  would  not  do  to 
say  that  it  does  not  belong  to  ^x^j  hut  stands  by  itself  in  opposition  to 


MATTHEW  XII.  11,  12.  139 

restoring  of  the  life-power  or  health,  while,  on  the  contrary,  not 
healing  when  one  has  the  power  is  an  airoXeaaij  as  every  omis- 
sion of  well-doing  on  any  occasion  presented  to  us  is  evil-doing. 
Thus  does  Christ,  with  simple  decision,  reduce  all  the  complica- 
tion belonging  to  the  disputed  questions  as  to  what  is  or  is  not 
to  be  done  on  the  Sabbath,  to  the  highest  clear  law  :  Thou  shalt 
not  do  evil,  thou  shalt  not  hurt  thy  neighbour  even  by  the 
refusal  of  helping  love.  With  considerable  irony  Christ  thus 
shuts  up  the  disputers  to  the  conviction,  that  doing  good  must 
be  lawful  also  on  the  Sabbath,  but  that  doing  evil,  that  is,  pre- 
cisely their  pharisaical  keeping  of  the  Sabbath,  is  by  no  means 
so.  Upon  this  follows  what  Matthew  alone  further  narrates  as 
Christ's  discourse. 

Ver.  11,  12.  In  these  verses  he  discovers  the  unfeeling  nature 
of  their  evil  thoughts,  and  shews  that  what  men  will  not  do 
from  love  is  done  from  selj -interest ;  for,  although  Christ  speaks 
on  the  friendly  supposition  that  a  man  will  save  the  life  of  the 
poor  sheep,  and  how  much  more  render  assistance  to  a  man — 
yet,  properly  speaking,  he  presupposes  the  answer  in  the  hearts 
of  those  whom  he  has  put  to  shame :  "  Yes,  we  would  do  that 
in  order  not  to  suffer  loss  in  our  property !"  Hence  he  gives 
emphasis  to  o?  efet  irpofiaTov  ev.  Accidents  of  this  kind  with 
sheep,  oxen,  or  asses,  must  at  that  time  have  been  acknowledged 
exceptions ;  not  till  a  later  period  do  we  find  even  this  forbidden 
in  (he  Talmud,  perhaps,  not  without  occasion  from  the  words  of 
Jesus.  Whenever  Pharisees  forbid  works  of  love  towards  our 
neighbour  as  unlawful,  let  them  be  put  to  shame  by  presenting 
an  analogous  case,  in  which  their  own  profit  or  loss  is  at  stake  I 
— And  now  again  with  reproachful  severity  comes  the  benevo- 
lent conclusion  from  the  Saviour-heart  of  the  Son  of  Man  :  How 
much  better  is  a  man  than  a  sheep  !  Thus  speaks  the  love  of 
God  which  compassionates  all  men,  and  will  assist  their  distress 
in  body  and  in  soul.  By  how  much  the  man  is  better,  by  so 
much  the  less  is  his  health,  the  healing  of  a  diseased  limb,  to  be 
placed  in  comparison  with  the  saving  of  a  perishing  animal. 
Consequently  it  is  indeed  lawful  to  do  good  on  the  Sabbath — 
whereupon  the  words  in  Matthew  point  back  to  what  goes 
before  in  Mark  and  Luke.  We  are  certainly  not,  however,  to 
confine  the  application  of  this  to  bodily  benefactions,  and  the 
saving  of  life,  for  how  much  better  is  the  soul  of  the  man  than 


140  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  body.  Works  of  soul-healing,  soul-saving,  alone  reach  the 
man  properly  so-called  ;  hence  all  the  present  operations  of  the 
Home  Mission  which  have  the  object  of  drawing  men  out  of  the 
pit  of  perdition  are,  in  the  truest  sense,  a  Sabbath  work. 

Ver.  13.  Who  has  anything  to  say  against  my  doing  good  now 
to  this  man  !  Thus  does  Christ  look  around,  again  asking,  and 
— oh,  the  gentleness  and  kindness — would  have  still  waited  to 
answer  any  word  that  might  be  addressed  to  him.  But  he 
knew,  at  the  same  time,  that  they  would  be  silent  with  the 
mouth,  and  yet  would  hate  him  more  bitterly  in  their  obdurate 
hearts  because  of  the  truth  ;  hence  (according  to  Mark),  the  holy 
an  ger  which  he  manifests  at  the  same  time  that  he  humbly  puts 
the  question, — anger,  which  is  the  same  thing  with  grief,  at  sin. 
They  are  silent.  Upon  this  he  did  not  touch  the  sick  man,  did 
not  even  stretch  out  his  hand,  that  he  might  certainly  clo  no 
external  work  on  the  Sabbath,  but  spake  the  words  (as  all  the 
three  evangelists  agree)  Stretch  forth  thine  hand  !  That  is,  as 
much  as  to  say  :  Thou  canst  do  this,  thou  art  freed  from  thy 
malady  (Luke  xiii.  12).  And  behold,  he  could  do  it ;  it  became, 
in  the  act  of  stretching  it  out,  whole  as  the  other.  (1  Kings 
xiii.  6).  The  miraculous  cure,  which  we  might  expect  to  be 
performed  after  the  hand  was  stretched  out,  was  already  done  in 
"the  speediest  and  most  spiritual  manner" — as  Lange  expresses  it. 


BEELZEBUB.    CHRIST  DEPENDS  HIMSELF  AGAINST  THE  CHARGE 
OF  BEING  IN  FELLOWSHIP  WITH  SATAN. 

(Matth.  xii.  25—45 ;  Mark  iii.  23—29 ;  Luke  xi.  17—36). 

It  is  a  question,  and  one  which  must  find  its  answer  in  a  har- 
mony of  the  Gospels,  whether  the  occurrence  here  related  by 
Matthew,  as  connected  with  what  immediately  precedes,  belongs 
to  the  later  period,  which  Luke  seems  to  assign  to  it,  since  the 
identity  of  all  the  particular  parts  of  the  discourse,  which  are  as 
strongly  marked  as  they  are  closely  connected,  is  too  great  in  this 
case  to  admit  the  supposition  of  a  repetition.1      But  whether 

1  Alford  says  very  strongly  in   opposition  to  Greswell,  who  main 
ains  such  a  twofold  occurrence  of  the  same  discourse,  that  upon  such 


MATTHEW  XII.  25 — 45.  141 

the  sequence  of  the  particulars,  as  given  by  Luke  (who  not  only 
first  introduces  Math.  vers.  31,  32  at  chap.  xii.  10,  and  omits 
Matth.  vers.  33 — 37,  because  he  had  already  given  something- 
of  this  in  chap.  vi. ;  but  also  connects  the  parable  which,  in 
Matthew  forms  the  conclusion  with  the  beginning,  and  gives  a  dif- 
ferent conclusion)  whether  this  arrangement  in  which  he  deviates 
from  Matthew  be  the  more  correct,  wre  very  much  doubt :  for,  in 
the  connexion  of  the  longer  discourses,  Matthew  is  generally  the 
more  exact.  Christ  has  healed  a  demoniac  whom  the  Devil 
made  blind  and  deaf,  which  circumstance,  as  giving  occasion  to 
the  discourse,1  Mark  does  not  at  all  mention,  while  Luke  men- 
tions only  the  dumbness.  Kg><£6?  signifies  deaf  as  well  as  dumb, 
(comp.  Matth.  xi.  5).  This  striking  double  cure  draws  from  the 
astonished  people  the  bold  and  open  question :  Is  not  this  indeed 
the  Messiah  ?  Who  will  now  contradict  it  any  longer  ?  The 
Pharisees  feel  themselves  challenged  by  the  question  to  come 
forward,  and,  according  to  Mark,  they  are  Pharisees  who  had 
come  down  from  Jerusalem,  who  think  it  necessary  to  show 
their  superiority  to  others  in  learning.  The  fact  stands  clear 
before  their  eyes ;  the  powerful  conclusion,  however,  which  the 
simple  popular  understanding  draws  from  it,  must,  on  no 
account,  be  held  good.  Thus  it  is  as  if  the  cast  out  devil  had 
just  entered  into  them,  to  make  them  blind  with  a  more  wicked 
blindness,  and  from  being  a  dumb  devil  had,  for  a  change, 
become  one  speaking  blasphemously.  Here,  probably,  these 
Pharisees  say  for  the  first  time  what,  according  to  Matthew  ix. 
34,  on  a  similar  (later)  occurrence  was  impudently  repeated,  by 
them  in  a  short  form.  They  maintain  it,  however,  at  once 
openly,  emphatically,  quickly  replying  with  their  contemptuous 
ovto?  to  the  wondering  ovto?  of  the  people ;  nay,  they  give  forth 
as  masters  of  the  faculty  a  most  strongly  affirmative  judgment : 
This  man  doth  not  cast  out  devils  but  by  Beelzebub ;  el  /irj,  it 
is  no  otherwise,  we  know  it  1 2     That  is  more  than  the  Sai/juoviov 

principles  it  would  be  quite  as  easy  to  prove  that  there  took  place  four 
different  crucifixions  and  resurrections. 

1  Who  perhaps  might  confound  it  with  Matth.  ix.  33,  34. 

2  Beelzebub  (God  of  flies)  a  mocking  euphemism  for  Beelzebub,  i.e., 
lord  of  the  dwelling,  not,  however,  of  the  possessed  as  being  inhabited 
by  demons,  as  some  have  thought,  but  Kuler  of  the  abyss,  Prince  of 
Hades. 


I*'*  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

eXec  chap.  xi.  18;  John  vii.  20,  viii.  48,  x.  20).  He  has  not 
merely  a  devil,  but  Satan  himself,  the  prince  of  the  devils  (Mark 
/3eeX£e£ou\  e^et),  he  is  the  wickedest  conjuror.  They  not  only 
think  this  blasphemous  thought,  but  speak  it,  or  rather  they  thrust 
it  forward  without  even  themselves  truly  thinking  it ;  finally,  they 
do  this  as  the  leaders  of  this  people !  and,  with  this  clenching  word 
as  by  a  master-stroke,  the  whole  subject  of  the  source  of  His 
miracles  is  to  be  for  ever  set  at  rest,  the  power  of  God  in  them 
set  aside,  the  people,  who  were  disposed  to  believe,  rather  led  to 
cherish  the  deepest  contempt  for  Christ,  horror  towards  the  ally 
of  Satan !  Here  it  was  necessary  for  Christ  to  speak,  and  truly 
He  speaks  as  the  Lord.  But  He  speaks  only,  He  does  no  new 
miracles  either  to  prove  His  dignity  in  an  overpowering  manner 
(see  afterwards  vers.  39,  38),  or  even  to  rebuke  the  wicked  blas- 
phemers, and  to  make  them  dumb.  All  those  qualities  that  we 
have  hitherto  admired  in  His  discourses  and  answers  are  found 
united  here :  the  gentleness  and  humility  which  no  personal 
offence,  not  even  the  most  wicked  reviling,  can  provoke;. the 
uniformly  lofty,  calm  temper  which  returns  not  reviling  for  revil- 
ing, but  can  rise  from  the  most  patient  testifying  for  the  truth  to 
the  rebuke  of  insolent  unbelief;  the  holy  judicial  anger  in  har- 
mony with  love  which  teaches  and  persuades  in  circumstances 
in  which  every  other  would  have  thought  it  unsuitable  and 
useless;  the  immoveable  certainty  and  clearness  of  His  position 
in  relation  to  the  sin  of  man  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Devil ;  the 
fulness  of  wisdom  which,  on  every  occasion,  at  once  reaches  forth 
from  its  deep  treasures  that  which  surveys  the  present,  the  past, 
and  the  future,  which  lets  us  see  into  the  Scripture,  which  reveals 
the  secrets  of  hearts,  the  judgments  of  history  even  to  the  last 
judgment,  and  then,  again,  in  the  most  familiar  and  persuasive 
address  by  parable  and  proverb,  declares  the  truth  with  an  all- 
subduing,  penetrating  power  ;  finally,  the  majesty  and  singularity 
of  his  person,  which  must  attest  itself  in  everything,  which  never 
can  nor  will  deny  itself.  Let  any  one  study  thoroughly  this  one 
discourse,  and  say  whether  any  other  bat  the  Son  of  God  in  the 
flesh  could  so  speak,  whether  any  one  among  men  could  either 
consciously  or  unconsciously  fabricate  anything  like  this  I 

It  is  again  really  one  discourse  which  Matthew  gives  us  ;  the 
interrupting  challenge  addressed  to  Him  (ver.  38);  is  replied  to 


MATTHEW  XII.  25 — 45.  143 

by  Christ,  only  by  a  continuation  of  the  sentiments  he  had  just 
been  expressing.  He  defends  Himself  against  the  charge  of  con- 
federacy with  Satan,  by  adducing  first  of  all  most  conclusive  proof 
against  such  a  charge  (on  to  ver.  36),  from  this  He  rises  higher, 
and  rebukes  those  who  insolently  set  aside  what  He  thus 
proved,  and  this  is  the  main  idea  of  what  is  said  on  to  ver.  45. 
Here  also  He  at  first  warns  against  the  highest,  the  unpardon- 
able sin,  which  the  Pharisees  at  that  time  were  in  a  fair  way  to 
commit ;  then  He  threatens  more  decidedly  the  entire  perdition 
which  will  assuredly  follow  it.  The  former  embraces  vers.  31 — 
37,  and  had  already,  at  the  conclusion,  pointed  to  the  judgment, 
when  the  repeated  defying  challenge  by  which  He  was  inter- 
rupted gave  Him  occasion,  now  prophesying  of  total  unbelief,  to 
carry  it  out  to  the  highest  and  last  sign. 


He  does  not  at  once  rebuke  them  thus :  How  unreasonable  are 
your  words  ?  how  must  they,  wise  as  you  are,  proceed  from  bad 
hearts,  from  wicked  lying  against  the  truth  !  He  does  not  begin 
with  the  deserved  rebuke  which  they  had  afterwards  to  take 
before  the  whole  people  (ver.  34),  but  from  a  calm  elevation,  as 
if  it  were  a  friendly  discussion  upon  a  subject  not  at  all  affecting 
His  own  person,  He  begins  with  a  few  plain  and  undeniably 
stated  general  sentences.  These  contain  the  first  ground  of  His 
defence  :  Granted,  according  to  your  own  words,  that  Satan's 
kingdom  exists,  it  cannot  surely  make  wrar  upon  and  overthrow 
itself.  The  quite  general  proposition  of  every  kingdom,  city, 
house,  true  in  the  great,  the  lesser,  and  the  least  (ver.  25). 
Application  to  Satan's  kingdom  as  deductio  ad  absurdum  (ver. 
26).  Then  comes  the  second  reason  from  the  other  side,  which 
more  nearly  touches  the  disputed  case,  and  in  which  He  declares 
what  they  conceal,  affirms  what  they  knowingly  deny :  Rather 
does  the  kingdom  of  God  attest  itself  by  My  casting  out  devils. 
Here  also,  with  the  utmost  humility,  He  first  of  all  classes  Him- 
self with  common  examples  (ver.  27),  in  order  from  the  general 
proposition  :  Where  Satan  yields  there  God  works,  to  make  the 
higher  application :  The  kingdom  of  God  is  come  (ver.  28),  the 
conqueror  of  Satan,  the  serpent-treader  (the  Messiah,  ver.  23), 
is  virtually  present  in  My  person  (ver  29).     To  which  is  added 


144  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

(ver.  30),  finally,  as  a  transition  to  the  now  well-founded  rebuke, 
the  proverbial  saying  sharply  distinguishing  the  two  opposing 
kingdoms,  His  and  Satan's  associates. 

Christ  sees  the  thoughts  of  the  heart  behind  the  words  which 
were  spoken  in  His  presence,  a  circumstance  which  the  evange- 
lists regularly  repeat  from  time  to  time,  in  order  to  indicate  the 
entire  internal  suitableness  of  His  answers.  Yet,  notwithstand- 
ing, He  Himself  also  teaches  and  proves,  even  when  He  sees 
that  spiteful  wickedness  which  will  not  know.  How  much  more 
ought  we  who  know  not  the  heart  to  follow  His  example  in  this 
respect;  how  ought  we  rather  to  suppose  ignorance  which 
may  be  helped  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  hostile,  than  blas- 
phemy, and  not  to  withhold  the  salutary  doctrine.  He  who,  in 
the  wilderness,  gave  even  to  Satan  the  answer  which  he  would 
and  could  never  receive,  in  order  to  render  what  was  due  to 
him,  does  the  same  here,  and  would  have  spoken  thus  even 
though  the  wickedness  of  all  who  heard  Him  had  been  already 
incorrigible.  But  this  was  certainly  not  yet  the  case ;  perhaps 
in  the  worst  originators  of  the  blasphemy  there  was  still  a  hidden 
germ  of  obedience  to  the  truth,  more  probably,  at  least,  in  the 
better  or  less  bad  among  them  who  joined  in  what  icas  said,  as 
such  are  wont  to  do;  finally,  Christ  certainly  could  not  be  silent 
for  the  sake  of  the  poor  deluded  people,  among  whom  the  worst 
error,  if  boldly  spoken,  will  find  access.  Besides,  we  are  not  to, 
suppose  that  between  the  truth  and  the  worst  denial  of  it  there 
is  no  common  ground  for  explanation  and  defence;  there  is,  and 
remains,  so  long  as  we  speak  to  men,  even  for  the  highest  truths 
of  the  humanly  attested,  kingdom  of  God,  the  common  under- 
standing of  men  to  which  the  Son  of  Man  here  appeals.  For 
where  the  testimony  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not  listened  to,  there 
is  always  unreason.     (Mark  vii.  22.) 

Ver.  25,  26.  Taking  up  the  words  of  the  blasphemers  them- 
selves regarding  the  aPX(ov  twv  haifxovlcov,  Christ  at  once  says, 
e  concessis :  On  the  existence  of  a  kingdom  of  Satan  and  the 
unity  of  it  in  the  one  Head,  we  are  agreed  !  Oh  the  specious 
unreason  of  the  vulgar  rationalism  which  could  and  can  speak 
here  of  accommodation  !  With  the  highest  earnestness  of 
truth,  even  in  those  places  where  he  maintains  it  against  the 
worst  form  of  denial,  Christ  rather  confirms  the  true  idea  which 


MATTHEW  XII.  25—26.  145 

His  opponents  express  even  to  the  completest  consequence  which 
they  do  not  now  perceive.  The  ground-idea  of  a  kingdom  is  its 
self-inclosed,  firmly-compacted  unity ;  by  how  much  it  fails  in 
this,  by  so  much  it  is  no  kingdom  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the 
term.  A  prince  who  puts  down  and  casts  out  his  own  servants 
and  subjects  is  no  prince.  While  Christ,  descending  from  the 
great  to  the  small,  shows  upon  the  principles  of  reason  and  expe- 
rience that  every  community  is  and  must  be  dissolved  by  being 
in  opposition  to  itself,  He  takes  it  for  granted  indeed  that  such  a 
thing  does  take  place  in  human  societies  ;x  so  much  the  weightier 
is  His  assertion  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  this  in  Satan's 
kingdom.  The  mention  of  the  house  also,  the  family,  as  the 
smallest  society  which  cannot  subsist  without  unity,  is  here  so 
natural  that  there  is  no  necessity  to  find  an  occasion  for  it  in  the 
fact  that  Christ  at  that  moment  was  teaching  in  a  house  (ver. 
47  ;  ch.  xiii.  1 ;  Mark  iii.  20).  It  is  possible,  however,  that  His 
afterwards  carrying  out  the  analogy  of  the  "house"  (ver.  29) 
instead  of  the  kingdom,  was  occasioned  by  this  circumstance. 
In  Lu.  xi.  17  (where  the  middle  member  ttoXl^  is  wanting), 
Luther  translates  wrongly,  "  And  one  house  falls  upon  another 
in  such  a  kingdom ;"  it  must  evidently  be  construed  as  already  it 
is  in  the  Syr. :  where  there  is  an  oIkos  iirl  oIkov,  i.e.,  a  house 
striving  against  itself,  divided  against  itself,  it  falls,  is  destroyed. 
(The  family  is  designated  metaphorically  by  the  house  in  which 
it  dwells).  This  alone  agrees  with  Matthew,  and  corresponds  to 
the  main  idea  which  runs  throughout  the  passage.  Ov  aTadrr 
crerai,  equivalent  to  Mark  ov  hvvarai  o~Tadrjvai,  in  which  the 
passive  form2  is  to  be  particularly  noticed  :  the  prince  or  head  of 
a  family  will  not  be  able  to  maintain  or  preserve  his  kingdom  or 
house  (Lu.  xi.  21),  if  he  himself  in  his  place  of  power  encourages 
division  and  strife.  Then  is  it  true  already,  and  will  soon  be 
manifestly  so,  that  it  hath  an  end,  as  Mark  says,  in  addition. 
Would  that  it  were  so  with  Satan's  kingdom!  But  Christ, 
by  a  valid  conclusion  drawn  backwards  from  the  undeniably  ac- 

1  Grotius  cites  Cicero  de  araicitia  :  Quae  domus  tarn  stabilis,  quae 
tarn  firma  civitas  est,  quae  non  odiis  atque  dissidiis  funditus  possit 
evert  i? 

2  Ammonius  :  o-ra6r\vai  piv  i(TTi  to  v(j)  erepov  o~Tr)vai  be,  ro  kut  ISiav 
pooprjv  Kai  irpoaipeaiv. 

VOL.  II.  K 


146  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

knowledged  existenceof  thiskingdom,  denies  the  absurd  hypothesis 
of  his  opponents,  that  Satan  casteth  out  Satan — as  He  purposely 
with  emphasis  says  that  Satan  attacks  himself  in  those  who  are 
his,  his  own  sovereign  power  in  his  servants  and  subordinate 
devils  ;  for  then  he  would,  indeed,  be  at  variance  wixh  himself ; 
prince  and  kingdom  would  not  be  one  perfect  unity,  as  Christ 
who  knew  the  fact,  maintains  that  they  are,  and  therefore  under 
the  name  Satan  comprehends  the  closely  and  firmly  united  whole. 
Here,  already,  we  have  a  hint  which  helps  us  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  words  which  follow  in  vers.  31,  32,  namely,  that 
human  wickedness  is  distinguished  from  Satanic  by  this,  that  in 
the  former  because  there  is  still  error,  and  not  an  absolutely  evil 
will,  there  is  still  division  against  itself.  The  kingdom  of  human 
sin  here  upon  earth  is,  as  such,  in  reality  a  divided  falling  Babel, 
in  which  one  sinner  is  against  another,  and  so  the  power  is 
broken.  But  in  the  background  of  this  confused  scene,  the 
will,  plan,  kingdom,  and  power  of  Satan  stands  firm  and  united  : 
the  proof  in  fact,  of  such  another  kingdom  being  behind  all  the, 
in  other  respects,  discordant  sin  of  men  lies  in  the  fearful, 
otherwise  inexplicable  harmony  which  appears  in  this  Babel - 
confusion,  whenever  it  goes  against  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
Christ.  Then  must  those  who  in  other  respects  hate  and  are 
hostile  to  each  other,  become  friends  and  allies,  for  Satan  uses 
them  as  his  arms  and  household  stuff  to  accomplish  by  their 
means  what  he  will,  and  well  he  knows  what  he  will.  He 
will  certainly  do  no  hurt,  on  his  part,  to  even  the  lowest  devil 
in  the  host  of  hell,  for  the  evil  counsel  and  will  in  the  head  and 
in  all  his  spirits  is  one  and  the  same,  which  cannot  contradict 
and  conflict  with  itself.  It  may,  indeed,  appear  in  the  particular 
instances,  when  we  look  at  the  human  side,  as  if  one  devil  does 
cast  out  another ;  in  reality,  however,  it  is  no  expulsion,  but  the 
one  devil  gives  place  to  the  other  deliberately  and  willingly,  at 
the  word  of  command.  Beelzebub,  or  any  superior  devil,  never  does 
from  caprice  or  whim  what  the  powerful  ones  of  the  earth  so 
often  do,  who  remove  their  servants  from  place  to  place,  in  ac- 
cordance with  or  against  merit,1  but  it  is,  throughout,  the  con- 
nected plan  of  one  will,  one  power,  in  this  kingdom.     In  the 

1  Kleuker,  a  human  essay  upon  the  Son  of  God  and  man. 


MATTHEW  XII.  27.  147 

single  word:  There  exists  a  kingdom  of  Satan — much,  every- 
thing indeed,  is  said.  Christ,  indeed,  here  (and  the  entire  Scrip- 
ture almost  never),  designates  Satan  a  king,  notwithstanding 
that  he  was  already  a  condemned  and  overthrown  usurper  (he 
receives  this  name  elsewhere  only  in  Rev.  ix.  11,  where  the 
writer  speaks  metaphorically  with  a  half  play  upon  Prov.  xxx. 
27,  and  in  Job  xviii.  14) ;  yet  what  is  to  be  understood  here  is 
the  not  to  be  despised  kingly  power  in  this  kingdom  (hence 
Jude  9,  according  to  which  Satan  also  belongs  to  the  "  dignities," 
the  kings  by  God's  grace  or  righteousness),  and  there  are  even 
thrones  of  Satan  set  up  in  particular  places.     (Rev.  ii.  13). 

Ver.  27.  Christ  meekly  and  humbly,  without  the  least  per- 
sonal pride  that  shrunk  from  it,  or  personal  anger  that  was  pro- 
voked by  it,  takes  into  his  mouth  all  the  contempt  and  blasphemy 
directed  against  Himself,  even  the  most  horrible  part  of  it,  that 
which  charges  Him,  the  Holy  One  of  God,  with  being  an  ally  of 
Satan.  He  speaks  in  order  to  refute  it,  as  if  he  were  bound  to 
defend  Himself  against  it,  and  thus  assumes  the  monstrous  hypo- 
thesis :  If  I  cast  out  devils  by  Beelzebub, — in  this  form,  willingly 
accepting  the  concession,  that  he  actually  casts  out  devils,  and 
thereby,  first  of  all,  condescends  to  place  himself  on  a  level 
with  every  other  Jewish  exorcist,  in  order  to  claim  for  himself 
at  least  what  they  concede  to  their  children  ;  the  casting  out  of 
devils  is  in  every  case  done  only  from  a  good,  a  divine  power. 
It  is  a  humble,  concessionary  analogy  of  the  same  kind  as  John 
x.  34 — 36.  Nay,  he  shows  even  a  kindly  feeling  in  this,  point- 
ing to  something  good  in  the  Pharisees  by  bringing  into  notice 
their  acts  which  were  wrought  in  God.  You  so  thoroughly 
despise  me  that  you  cast  me  out  to  Beelzebub ;  I  willingly  give 
credit  to  the  Pharisees  for  what  they  perform  in  faith  in  the  name 
of  God.  For  nothing  is  said  here  of  those  who  cast  out  devils  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  (Mark  ix.  38),  as,  in  this  case,  the  conclusion 
from  them  to  himself,  which  forms  the  principal  idea  of  the  in- 
ference would  be  lost ;  because  the  Pharisees  would  by  no  means 
in  such  cases  allow  any  authority  to  the  name  of  Jesus.  That 
Christ  means  his  own  disciples  and  apostles  (chap.  x.  8),  among 
whom,  moreover,  there  could  scarcely  be  a  disciple  of  the  Phari- 
sees, can  be  the  opinion  of  only  commentators  who  read  alto- 
gether without  reflection,  or  of  timorous  ones  who,  according  to 


148  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

their  somewhat  narrow  theory,  cannot  allow  that  there  was  any 
casting  out  of  devils  in  Israel  besides  that  which  was  done  by 
Christ  (among  whom  Chrysostom  leads  the  way).  The  vjxwv 
stands  in  direct  opposition  to  him  and  all  his,  and  the  viol 
denotes  also  not  Jews  in  general  (Jewish  exorcists,  Acts  xix.  13, 
your  fellow-countrymen,  this  would  be  a3e\$ot),  but  nothing 
else  than  disciples  of  the  Pharisees,  Acts  xxiii.  6.1 

If  their  casting  out  of  devils  had  been  a  mere  delusion  and 
superstition,  then  indeed  Christ  with  all  His  humility,  could 
not  for  the  sake  of  truth  have  placed  His  own  on  a  level  with  it, 
could  not  have  appealed  to  it  as  a  fact  for  their  conviction  as  he 
does  in  the  tfcftdWovcrL  of  His  question,  in  which  He  grants  that 
it  was  a  real  casting  out,  quite  as  true  as  His  own  eKJ3d\\co.2  We 
leave  undecided  in  what  relation  this  may  have  stood  to  the  rpo- 
ttols  egop/ccbarecov  which,  according  to  Joseph.  Arch.  viii.  21,  5, 
Solomon  is  said  to  have  bequeathed  to  the  Jews,  the  practice  ot 
which  was  at  that  time  also  still  common ;  but,  if  Justin.  M. 
adv.  Tryph.  p.  31 1  appeals  against  the  Jews  to  the  fact  that 
devils  yielded  to  the  name  of  the  "  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and 
Jacob,"  as  they  did  to  no  name  of  king,  prophet,  and  patriarch — 

1  Even  if  the  discipleship  had  not  much  significance  in  other  respects 
still  the  Pharisees  certainly  appropriated  those  exorcists  to  themselves 
and  their  party,  appealing  thereto  against  the  Sadducees.  Accordingly 
V.  Gerlach's  question  is  very  much  out  of  place,  "  How  can  we  know 
that  these  were  disciples  of  the  Pharisees  ?"  The  Sadducees  admitted 
the  existence  of  no  spirits  whatever  !  Nor  is  it  arts  learned  in  the 
schools  of  the  Pharisees,  whereby  devils  were  actually  cast  out  that 
are  here  spoken  of — but  the  believing  work  of  orthodox  Jews,  which 
however,  was  of  rare  occurrence,  so  as  not  in  any  way  to  hinder  the 
astonishment  at  the  totally  different  power  of  Jesus. 

2  Unaccountably  wrong  and  yielding  to  a  preconceived  opinion  is 
Menken,  who  understands  Christ  to  refer  to  the  most  worthless  jug- 
glers and  to  say,  "  Such  hateful  and  impure  conduct  do  ye  allow  to 
pass  without  question  and  call  it  divine  ?  There  rather  are  the  marks 
of  what  is  evil  and  devilish !  But  I  cast  out  without  profit,  out  of  love, 
without  means  and  formulas ;  this  pure  divine  wrork  is  forsooth  from 
Beelzebub,  and  that  which  really  proceeds  from  him  is  divine!"  Such 
an  interpretation  is  refuted  by  a  right  reading  of  the  text.  Sepp. 
indeed  brings  it  forward  anew  (ii.  362),  in  his  own  manner,  always 
hunting  after  something  peculiar  and  abusing  the  text  itself.  Neander, 
too,  cannot  reconcile  himself  to  the  thing,  and  calls  the  plan  and  conces- 
sion upon  which  the  whole  discourse  is  built,  a  supposition  kclt  avOpamov 

—which  is  retracted  afterwards  at  v.  30. 


MATTHEW  XII.  28.  1 49 

if  Irenaeus,  and  likewise  Origen,  acknowledge  the  still  continu 
ing  exorcisms  of  the  Jews  in  the  name  of  God  (see  the  passages 
in  Grotius),  we  may  see  with  what  reason,  and  in  what  sense, 
Christ  might  ask :  kv  tlvl,  by  whom,  and  by  whose  power,  do 
your  disciples  cast  out  devils  I  Certainly  not  by  Beelzebub,  a 
supposition  which  he  had  just  refuted  as  impossible. 

Ver.  28.  At  first  He  condescendingly  places  his  acts  side  by 
side  in  general  with  those  of  these  disciples,  but  now,  as  was 
right,  he  sets  the  ey&>  i/c/3d\\a)  far  above  any  such  acts  performed 
by  them.  Here,  first  of  all,  express  mention  is  made  of  that  king- 
dom which  is  not  merely  opposed  to  the  kingdom  of  Satan  but 
which  overcomes  it,  notwithstanding  of  all  its  power  and  unity, 
namely,  the  kingdom  of  God,  of  the  eternally  stronger  One  who 
everlastingly  upholds  the  kingdom.  -  It  is  mentioned  here  in  a 
stricter  sense,  in  so  far  as  it  was  future  for  Israel  and  now  visibly 
come  on  the  earth  in  their  midst.  In  general,  wherever  devils 
are  made  to  yield,  there  is  the  kingdom  and  spirit,  or  powerful 
energy  of  God ;  but  the  kingdom  of  God  which  comes  in  Christ 
is  something  different  from  what  was  already  among  the  disciples 
of  the  Pharisees,  the  spirit  of  God  by  which  He  casts  out  means 
something  more  than  what  is  conceded  with  regard  to  them  in  the 
iv  tlvl.  Luke  says  :  by  the  finger  of  God,  an  expression  which 
Christ  in  his  more  detailed  discourse  probably  used  along  with 
the  other,  and  which  very  appropriately  points  to  the  history  in 
Ex.  viii.  19,  where  the  magicians  themselves  were  constrained 
to  acknowledge  by  this  expression  the  difference  between  magic 
and  the  miracles  of  God.  Comp.  also  Ps.  viii.  4  ;  Ex.  xxxi.  18, 
whence  it  came  to  be  a  proverbial  form  of  expression  that  God's 
finger  works  mightily.  That  which  in  Isaiah  (after  Moses)  is 
called  the  redeeming  arm  of  the  Lord,  appears  here  as,  so  to 
speak,  the  but  slightly  touching  finger.  Strong  emphasis  must 
be  laid  on  the  eyo>  in  this  verse,  in  order  to  feel  the  full  force  of 
Christ's  inference :  "  I  with  all  that  belongs  to  Me  and  that  goes 
forth  from  Me,  I  with  my  holy  walk  and  witness  for  the  truth — 
can  signs  wrought  in  support  of  Beelzebub  help  Me,  as  I  stand 
before  you,  My  whole  teaching  and  working  as  these  are  known  to 
you  %  Truly,  then,  He  would  be,  in  the  strongest  possible  sense, 
against  Himself,  and  assisting  His  most  decided  enemy."  Not, 
therefore,  the  isolated  acts  of  casting  out  devils  or  miraculous 


150  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

acts  as  such,  but  all  taken  together  as  attestations,  which  cannot 
but  come  from  God,  of  Him  who  reveals  and  declares  by  His 
whole  being  the  kingdom  of  God,  prove  it  beyond  contradiction  : 
His  word  is  true,  the  kingdom  is  come  !  "EQOcurev,  as  has  been 
observed  before,  expresses  more  than  rjyyircev  (chap  iv.  17).  It 
has  come  upon  you  (2  Cor.  x.  14),  unexpectedly  broken  in  upon 
you,1  already  present  and  attested,  since  I  am  here  and  work. 
What  follows  then,  further  ?  That  in  Me,  he  who  was  to  come  is 
come,  the  Serpent-bruiser,  according  to  the  first  and  oldest  pro- 
mise, the  Conqueror  and  stronger  One,  whom  the  prophets  an- 
nounce under  these  names — wherewith  the  discourse  passes  on 
to  what  follows. 

Ver.  29.  Satan  is  the  strong  one,  but  the  stronger  than  he,  6 
lo-xyporepos,  overcomes  him.  This  name  is  expressed  in  Luke, 
and  reminds  us,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  Baptist's  word  (Luke  iii. 
16 ;  Matth.  iii.  11)  ;  for,  even  in  these  passages,  it  is  not  merely 
lo-Xyporepo?  fj,  o  v,  but  there  is  in  the  expression  a  general  name 
by  which  Christ  was  distinguished  :  He  who  in  every  com- 
parison is  in  Himself  the  stronger,  superior  to  all  with  Him 
and  against  Him,  who  is  and  remains  the  unconditionally  strong 
and  mighty  One.  Perhaps,  as  has  already  been  observed,  Christ 
expresses  Himself  in  the  parable  with  immediate  reference  to  the 
house  in  which  he  is  speaking,  but,  at  all  events,  He  speaks  from 
the  prophetical  writings,  as  He  almost  always  does  when  He  an- 
nounces Himself  as  He  who  was  to  come.  Not  merely  does  He 
look  back  to  Gen.  iii.  15,  but  still  more  definitely  does  this  testi- 
mony contain  an  evident  allusion  to  the  subsequent  prophecy  of 
Isaiah.  When  the  Lord  Himself  comes  after  the  voice  in  the 
wilderness  has  prepared  the  way  for  Him,  he  comes  as  a  strong 
One  (&JTQ  i*ot  quite  accurately  rendered  in  the  Sept.  by  fiera 
iV^uo?),  and  His  arm  rules,  conquers  for  Him.  (Is.  xl.  10). 
This  is  the  general  import  in  which  the  words  of  the  Baptist  and 
of  Christ  agree. 

The  passage  Is.  liii.  12  comes  nearer  still  to  the  words  of  Christ: 
He  shall  have  the  strong  ones  for  a  prey,  bear  them  off  as  spoil 

1  Which  lies  in  the  c<f>'  vjxas  comp.  1  Thess.  ii.  16,  hence  Wesley  in 
his  New  Testament  quite  correctly,  "  unawares,  before  you  expected, 
so  the  word  implies."     See  also  Dan.  vii.  22.  lxx. 


MATTHEW  XII.  29.  151 

(OTtfflflJ'ilrt  certainly  the  Accus.,  and  again  not  accurately  ren- 
dered in  the  Sept.  by  loyyp&v  fiepiel  crfcv\a)  ;  where  the  common 
superficial  interpretation  falsely  places  the  great  One  among 
other  q^-v  and  represents  him  as  sharing  the  booty  with 
other  strong  ones  and  heroes.1  Finally,  in  that  most  profound 
passage,  Is.  xlix.  24,  25,  exactly  answering  to  the  words  of 
Christ,  we  find  taken  out  from  this  indefinite  number  the  one, 
the  strong  one,  whom  the  Messiah  overcomes  and  spoils.  It 
stands  at  the  beginning,  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  third  principal 
part  of  all  Isaiah's  prophecies,  where,  with  the  greatest  of  New 
Testament  clearness,  the  great  redemption  is  represented  as  a 
spiritual  one,  and  the  preparation  of  Israel  as  an  implanting  into 
the  suffering  and  glory  of  the  true  servant  Israel.  Here,  we 
find,  as  a  concluding  assurance  at  the  end  of  the  chapter,  the 
question  just  as  Christ  here  puts  it :  Can  the  prey  be  taken  also 
from  the  strong  One  (t')^  Sept.  strangely  74709),  and  the  pri- 
soners of  the  rightful  One  (5*1^,  he,  who  although  a  robber,  has 
yet  a  right  of  property  in  them)  be  delivered  %  To  this  is  given  in 
answer,  the  prophetic  assurance  :  Yes,  even  the  prisoners  shall 
be  taken  from  the  strong  One,  and  the  prey  of  the  usurper  iv^y^) 
shall  be  set  free,  be  delivered ;  for  I  myself  will  contend  with 
thine  adversary  (•snv^i,  sing.),  and  redeem  thy  children !  It  is 
necessary  to  look  at  this  passage  (which  Christ  has  evidently 
in  view),  so  thoroughly  confused  in  the  LXX.,  and,  care- 
fully to  observe,  that  here  a  person  is  mysteriously  spoken  of  who 
is  called  both  v^y  and  WTOifo  because  he  now  has  in  his  power, 
partly  by  force,  partly  according  to  justice,  the  prisoners  whom  he 
has  secured  as  prey,  and,  for  this  reason,  a  process  is  here  spoken 
of  which  is   to  he  successfully  carried  out  against  this  TSPtiu 

•  T 

accuser,  Satan.2      The  close  connexion  between  Christ's  words, 

1  So  also  Sack  unfortunately,  because  the  present  exegesis  of  the 
Old  Testament  imposes  on  the  best.  The  QV-p  are  the  same  as  in  the 
foregoing  verse,  only  differently  understood.  (Comp.  on  account  of  the 
5,  Job.  xxxix.  17). 

2  Here,  then,  also  we  have  the  true  explanation  of  what  the  imprison- 
ment (Is.  lxi.  1)  properly  is.  Observe,  besides,  that  of  this  tyrant  and 
robber  such  a  thing  as  saving,  converting,  gaining  cannot  be  spoken  of, 
but  solely  of  disarming,  binding,  overcoming. 


152  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  those  of  the  prophecy,  is  expressed  most  exactly  in  Lukexi. 
21,  22,  not  merely  by  way  of  giving  more  colouring  to  the 
parable ;  if  Matthew  gives  more  correctly  the  connexion  of  the 
address  as  a  whole,  Luke,  on  the  other  hand,  has  in  this  particu- 
lar instance  given  the  original  expression.  As  Paul  in  Col.  ii. 
15  refers  especially  to  Is.  liii.  12,  so  here,  Christ  refers  to  it  and 
chap.  xlix.  24,  25  together.  It  appears,  at  first  sight,  as  if 
he  would  only  give  forth  a  general  parable  again  concerning  a 
strong  one,  and  a  stronger  one  who  must  overcome  him,  and  this 
side  of  his  words  has  been  retained  by  Matthew,  in  his  7rc3<? 
Bvvarai  Tt?.  But  even  Matthew,  by  the  article  before  layvpos, 
hints  at  the  proper  special  sense  of  the  parable,  which  then  in  Luke 
comes  fully  into  view.  The  house  or  the  avXij  of  the  strong  one 
here  spoken  of,  is  the  world,  whose  prince  he  is  called  and  is, 
while  his  aKevrj,  Hebr.  pm  in  a  comprehensive  sense  are  men, 
whom  he  not  merely  possesses  as  house  furniture,  but  even  uses 
as  his  tools  and  instruments,  his  weapons,  the  same,  therefore,  as 
the  crKvka  in  Luke.  These,  the  robber  himself,  has  already  taken 
by  plunder  (for  the  word  corresponds,  also  according  to  the 
LXX.,  to  the  rttoSD  an^  bptt}  m  k°tn  passages  of  Isaiah),  and 

-   »    :    -  t  x 

now  they  are  to  be,  as  much  by  right  as  by  force,  again  taken 
from  him.  They  are  his  possession  and  his  property  (virdp-^ovTa), 
and  with  them  he  is  armed,  KadcD7r\ia/jLevos.  With  these  he  is 
proud  in  his  confidence  (eVe7ro/0efc),  for,  without  men  as  the 
vessels  of  his  iniquity,  he  could  not  reign  and  work  evil  upon  the 
earth,  but  would  be  the  poor  naked  devil,  alone  in  his  dark  and 
long  since  finished  empire  of  hell.  But  he  shall  not  keep  his  av\v 
and  TravoirXla  as  his  anti-paradise,  he  shall  not  hold  his  goods  in 
the  false  peace  of  his  servants,  for  the  Stronger  One,  the  Con- 
queror, overcomes  him,  mightily  destroying  this  peace,  so  that  it 
may  become  the  peace  of  God,  and  the  strong  ones  taken  from 
the  strong  one,  He  now  allots  for  his  own  service,  as  his  well- 
earned  spoil,  as  his  prey  of  victory  and  honour  in  the  world.  (The 
SiaSiSuaiv  in  Luke  again  parallel  to  the  p^pp  m  ^s*  nn#  ^)' 
Let  any  one  deny  as  he  may  this  profound  connexion  between 
the  prophetical  word  as  also  the  discourse  of  Christ,  which 
takes  it  up,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  most  profound  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  Bible  on  the  other,  in  order  to  reduce 


MATTHEW  XII.  29.  153 

this  lofty  statement,  significant  even  in  the  minutest  detail,  to  a 
general,  indefinite  parable ;  let  us  rather  learn  here,  how  the 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  God  lie  everywhere  in  the  back- 
ground of  these  parables.  Let  us  further  mark  what  is  also  said  : 
the  Stronger  One  comes  to  save  only  us  men,  but  to  drive  out 
and  to  judge  devils  for  our  salvation. 

Finally,  what  is  to  be  understood  by  the  expression,  except  he 
first  bind  him,  which  Matthew  and  Mark  put  into  Christ's 
mouth,  certainly  as  a  word  of  peculiar  importance  1  It  is  the  same 
as  eireXOcov  vifcijo-y  in  Luke.  This,  again,  was  evidently  spoken 
for  Jewish  Scribes,  since,  according  to  their  doctrine,  it  was  ex- 
pected of  the  Messiah  that  He  would  bind  Satan, — a  true  expecta- 
tion, to  which  a  passage  at  the  end  of  the  Scriptures  (Rev.  xx. 
2)  corresponds.  The  binding  is  effected  by  vanquishing,  through 
which  his  right,  and  therewith  his  power,  is  taken  from  the  Wrf£» 
But  what  is  to  be  understood  by  the  irpwrov,  upon  which  alone 
the  teal  Tore  can  follow,  the  binding  of  the  strong  man  himself  by 
conflict  with  him,  ere  his  house,  the  world,  can  be  taken  as  a 
prey  from  him,  and  his  aKevrj,  cr/cvXa,  men,  wrested  from  him  I1 
Christ  means  this,  we  must  say,  in  two  senses,  the  one  of  which 
already  shadows  forth  and  contains  the  other.  First  of  all,  indeed, 
the  act  denoted  by  the  irp&rov  must  already  have  been  done,  in- 
asmuch  as  Christ  shows  Himself  to  be  the  Stronger  One,  by  His 
already  casting  out  devils ;  this  is  true,  for  He  came  into  the 
world  into  Satan's  house,  as  He  who  in  Himself  was  from  eter- 
nity the  Stronger,  so  that  the  departure  of  devils  at  his  word  and 
name,  from  such  as  were  possessed,  was  a  thing  of  course.  (Luke 
x.  18).  But  then  this  casting  out  of  Satan  from  those  who  were 
bodily  possessed,  is  yet  by  no  means  the  real  overthrow  of  his 
work  of  sin,  the  real  redemption  of  those  who  have  been  under 
his  power  (Acts  x.  38),  but  a  prophetic  figure  and  pledge  of  that 
which  was  yet  to  be  done.  Consequently  Christ  here  predicts, 
at  the  same  time,  the  great  conflict  and  victory  of  his  death,  and 

1  Almost  to  the  same  effect  Roos  speaks  of  the  binding  of  Satan  in 
himself,  that  he  can  no  longer  use  the  powers  of  his  angelic  nature 
with  such  full  authority,  or  such  entire  might,  and  the  disarming  him 
or  seizing  of  something  else  upon  which  he  relies,  with  which  he  covers 
himself.  Only,  to  the  latter  should  not  be  reckoned  the  right  over  men 
(Is.  xlix.),  which  is  no  mere  "  right  of  war." 


154  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

his  descent  into  hell  (see  afterwards  ver.  40),  the  Trpwrov  of 
which  had  already  taken  place,  so  that  his  word,  in  its  deepest 
and  most  completely  fulfilled  sense,  is  the  great  text  of  the 
Passover  discourse.  (See  John  xiv.  30,  xii.  31,  32  ;  Heb.  h.  14, 
15;  Eph.  iv.  8 — 10).  Thus  has  Christ  bound  the  strong  one 
and  overcome  him,  not  properly  in  this  his  earthly  house,  but 
beyond  it  (as  indeed  the  words  affirm,  the  irpwrov  expressly  dis- 
tinguishing from  the  elcreXdelv)  in  his  own  most  proper  domain 
and  province ;  from  that  time  forth  is  his  house  spoiled,  and  this 
Christ  does  now  ever  more  and  more  by  his  instruments,  by  the 
same  whom  he  has  rescued  from  Satan.  Christ,  too,  will  gain 
for  himself  an  army  for  this  conflict  and  victory  which  has  beer 
decided  from  all  eternity,  but  is  to  be  carried  out  gradually  in 
time  until  the  end  of  the  world,  he  will  gather  together  vessels 
for  his  use  and  service  to  build  and  adorn  his  house.  This  is  the 
last  point  to  which  the  words  of  Christ,  presenting  something 
new  from  whatever  side  they  are  considered,  conduct ;  this  is  the 
deeper  reason  why  Christ  began  thus  indefinitely :  Can  any 
one  overcome  the  strong  one  ?  (Mark  says  no  one  can  !)  In 
his  own  strength  and  might  Christ  will  say,  "  No  one  can  do 
this  but  I,  the  Stronger  One ;"  with  Me,  in  my  name,  from  this 
time  forth  all  my  followers,  all  who  decide  for  me  shall  be  able 
to  do  it. 

Yer.  30.  Here  is  another  sentence  from  the  holy  lips  of 
Christ  which,  in  order  to  perceive  its  depth  and  fulness,  might 
be  presented  ever  anew  to  the  most  of  believers  with  a  "  Go  and 
learn  what  this  meaneth."  It  is  a  proverb  in  use  among  men, 
applied  to  cases  and  circumstances  in  which  there  is  no  neutrality 
allowed  between  the  strictest  either-or,  in  which  every  one  is  to 
shew  himself,  and  must  shew  himself,  as  for  or  against.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  how  a  Chrysostom  and  Euthymius  should  have 
understood  by  him  wrho  is  not  writh  Christ,  and  is  therefore 
against  him,  the  devil — what  a  strange  statement  would  this 
make  !  Yet  many,  even  to  the  most  recent  time,  are  of  opinion 
that  Christ  still  speaks  here  of  the  complete  unity  of  Satan's  king- 
dom ;  this,  however,  only  gives  the  point  of  connexion  which  lies 
behind,  and  what  Christ  will  say  is  :  In  the  contest  between  these 
two  kingdoms  which  embraces  everything,  and  out  of  which 
nothing  is  or  is  done  on  the  earth,  your  proverb  thoroughly  holds 


matthi.w  xii.  30.  155 

good  in  reference  to  me,  the  determined  adversary  of  the  adver- 
sary, and  to  those  who  are  mine ;  we,  too,  must  be  firmly  united 
and  not  at  variance  among  ourselves.1  In  order,  however,  not  to 
misunderstand  the  emphatic  with  Me,  we  must  take  a  look  for- 
ward to  the  parallel  saying  (afterwards  to  be  interpreted) — "He 
who  is  not  against  you  is  for  you."  (Mark  ix.  40  ;  Luke  ix.  50). 
In  this  case,  the  disciples  hastily  and  shortsightedly  put  their  we 
to  the  I  of  Christ  which  alones  decides :  He  follows  (thee)  not 
with  us,  he  follows  not  us  !  This  outwardly  visible  fellowship, 
founded  on  the  fact  of  following  Christ,  must  not  be  the  ground 
of  our  judgment,  as  if  he  were  not  with  Christ  who  casts  out 
devils  in  his  name  ;  humility  and  love  should  rather  reckon  every 
one  a  friend  who  does  not  declare  himself  an  enemy.  Quilibet 
praesumitur  bonus,  donee  probetur  rnalus — this  principle  in  law, 
so  capable  of  abuse,  is  yet  true  here.  He  who  is  not  with  you  is 
against  you,  that  is  as  much  as  to  say  against  me — this  Christ 
will  affirm  of  no  visible  church  of  his  believing  followers  whatever, 
he  has  not  even  granted  it  to  the  Apostles.  He  cannot,  and  will 
not,  thus  unite  himself  along  with  his  followers  into  an  extra 
ecclesiam  nulla  salus  falling  under  men's  judgment,  by  saying  : 
He  who  is  not  with  us  is  against  us — he  rather  in  that  passage 
places  the  you  in  opposition  to  Himself  as  it  was  right  that  he 
should.  But  so  soon  as  He,  in  whose  person  and  fellowship 
the  great  alternative  presents  itself,  appears,  then,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  cannot  say :  "  He  who  is  not  against  me  is  for  me." 
Precisely  in  opposition  to  this  mischievous  error,  which  would 
suppose  an  impossibility,  is  the  statement  which  Christ  here 
makes.2 

That  false  Gamaliel-prudence  thinks  that  it  will  save  itself: 

1  Neander  (following  Schleiermacher  and  others)  finds  that  Christ  in 
this  saying  also  repels  the  Jewish  exorcists  as  those  who  cast  out  devils 
not  with  Christ,  therefore  only  seemingly.  How  one  may  thus,  by  the 
very  ingenuity  of  the  expositor,  hide  from  himself  the  great  simple 
truth  !  Ben  gel  gave  at  least  a  different  turn  to  this  view,  and  read  in 
ver.  30  e  contrario  :  "  Your  disciples  are,  and  gather  with  me" — which, 
however,  does  not  in  truth  belong  to  this  place,  and  would  not  be  so 
expressed. 

2  What  Elwert  and  Ullmann  have  recently  said  on  the  relation  of 
the  two  proverbial  sayings,  we  purpose  to  consider  more  particularly  in 
connection  with  Mark  ix.  40,  in  the  second  edition. 


156  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW 

If  only  we  are  not  found  fighting  against  God — and  leaves  the 
kingdom  and  work  of  God  to  take  its  course,  without  helping  it 
by  confession  or  by  action,  and  thereby  coming  to  the  knowledge 
that  it  is  from  God.  Let  the  indolent  and  undecided  only  not 
mock,  only  not  persecute,  that  is  thought  to  count  in  the 
meanwhile  for  something.  But  this  is  the  middle  party  of 
whom  Christ  knows  nothing,  and  of  whom  he  makes  no  ac- 
count, but  condemns  them  and  casts  them  over  to  his  enemies. 
When  Christ  spake  on  this  occasion,  as  generally  when  He 
stood  testifying  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  Israel,  there  were 
before  him  his  disciples  and  his  enemies,  between  them  the 
class  consisting  of  the  seemingly  neutral,  outwardly  undecided  : 
many  whom  he  had  healed,  who  were  ashamed  to  speak 
against  him,  although  their  hearts  were  not  yet  for  him  ;  many 
impressed  with  his  preaching,  who  yet  could  not  get  loose 
from  themselves  and  their  position  in  the  world ;  many  stupidly 
indifferent  spectators  of  his  works  and  listeners  to  his  words. 
Yet  this  middle  party  was  not  at  that  time  very  numerous, 
and  the  more  powerfully  the  fica&aOai  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  pressed  upon  them  and  penetrated  within  them,  it  would 
become  always  less  so ;  it,  even  then,  became  ever  more  and 
more  a  matter  of  necessity  to  decide  for  or  against  this  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  whether  he  is  from  God  or  from  the  devil,  whether 
he  is  Christ  or  a  deceiver.  In  the  later  periods  of  the  church, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  class  of  people  who  think  themselves,  and 
appear  to  others  to  be  not  against  him,  has  become  great,  and 
indeed  the  greatest ;  it  is  properly  for  this  state  of  things  in  his 
kingdom  that  Christ  speaks  this  prophetic  sentence  of  rejection 
as  king  and  judge. 

The  "  with  me,"  then,  means  the  true  inward  fellowship  of  the 
heart,  of  the  will,  and  therefore  also  of  the  life,  in  confessing  Christ 
and  working  for  him,  not  the  being  of  any  party  formed  by  out- 
ward consent  and  discipleship.  It  presupposes,  certainly,  that 
He  has  appeared  with  his  testimony  by  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  in 
every  country  and  among  every  people  on  the  earth,  this  strict 
separation  and  decision  begins  whenever  He  comes  and  appears. 
It  is  his  royal  right  to  bring  it.  True,  the  more  there  is  of 
what  is  divinely  good  in  a  man,  the  more  of  heavenly  truth  in 
opposition  to  the  error  and  sin  of  the  world,  so  much  the  more 


MATTHEW  XII.  30.  157 

will  the  same  be  approximately  true  also  of  him,  that  he  urges 
all  who  come  into  contact  with  him  to  decide ;  still,  no  sinful 
man  can  presume  to  say :  In  me,  in  my  person,  the  decision  is 
made  for  the  judgment,  either  for  or  against !  TJiis  he  only  can 
say  who  is  altogether  truth  and  love  itself,  in  the  divine  royal 
right  of  the  only  begotten  Son  ;  He  who  now  says  to  all  "Fol- 
low me !"  and  declares  at  the  same  time  :  Those  who  have  not 
listened  and  obeyed  I  will  not  know  at  that  day !  Wherefore 
not?  He  tells  us  in  His  word :  He  who  is  not  with  me,  who 
does  not  decide  for  me  and  yield  himself  up  to  me,  who  does  not 
become  mine  in  the  obedience  of  faith,  although  he  imagines 
himself  and  appears  to  be  "not  against  me" — I  know  and  say  it, 
he  is  nevertheless  against  me  !  How  so,  then  ?  Already  inas- 
much as,  previous  to  this  yielding  up  of  himself  to  Christ,  every 
sinful  man  is  by  nature  against  Him,  as  being  against  God.  (Rom. 
viii.  7.)  The  enmity  of  the  heart  is  therefore  still  there  ;  if  it 
were  really  overcome,  then  must  the  heart  be  with  me.  Neutra- 
lity here  is  no  neutrality,  but  a  remaining  on  the  side  of  the 
enemy ;  indolence  here  is  no  mere  indolence,  but  opposition ;  the 
merely  not  believing  and  not  obeying  is  still  resistance  and 
rejection.  This,  however,  is  not  all ;  there  is  more  than  this  ! 
To  be  against  Christ  is  not  merely  to  be  in  opposition  to  God  as 
we  all  are  by  nature  (which  can  and  is  to  be  atoned  for,  forgiven, 
taken  away), — but  it  is  wilfully  to  maintain  and  to  aggravate 
such  resistance,  it  is  to  resist  the  truth  of  God  in  its  last  and 
clearest  revelation,  the  love  of  God  in  its  highest  manifestation, 
the  power  of  God  in  the  Holy  Ghost  which  would  win  us  and 
restore  us.  And  truly  that  is  a  fearful  degree  of  guilt,  enough 
for  the  judgment!  He  who  has  perceived  and  experienced  so 
much  that  he  does  not  join  himself  to  the  open  enemies  of 
Christ,  and  is  yet  not  won  and  overcome  for  him,  has  often  all 
the  greater  resistance  to  him  in  his  heart ;  so  that,  as  regards 
the  furtherance  or  hindrance  of  Christ's  cause  by  the  expression 
of  the  life,  it  is  a  question  whether  the  neutrals  are  not  the  worst 
enemies  in  the  great  contest.  But  with  all  this  it  is  to  be  well 
observed  that  it  is  only  He,  the  Judge,  who  says  this,  only  He 
knows  it  who  knows  the  heart.  We  who  judge  of  the  internal 
state  of  a  man  only  by  the  external  marks,  in  which  we  may  be 
deceived,  who  must  abide  by  the  other  saying  in  Mark  ix.  40 


158  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  not  judge  before  the  time,  dare  not  say  personally  upon  con- 
science of  any  one  whatsoever,  Thou  art  against  Christ,  because 
so  far  as  we  see  thou  art  not  with  him  !  He  alone  speaks  thus 
far:  He  who  is  not  with  me— and  applies  it  to  the  conscience  of 
the  individual :—  Thou  also  art  meant  here,  I  know  it  of  thee, 
and  thou  canst  and  shalt  know  it  when  I  discover  it  to  thy  heart. 
This  saying,  severe  as  it  is,  yet  leaves  room  enough  for  charity 
in  our  judgments,  as  Braune  has  justly  observed  (only  giving  a 
one-sided  prominence  to  this),  "  The  most  different  views  re- 
specting the  dignity  of  Christ  do  not  exclude  any  from  Him,  if 
only  there  be  left  to  Him  the  dignity  of  one  sent  from  God ;  and 
the  feeblest  pointings  to  Him  are  not  to  be  called  a  scattering." 

The  first  clause  of  the  saying  is  that  which  decides  and  pene- 
trates, inasmuch  as  it  touches  the  principle  of  the  heart  in  which 
must  be  either  the  with  or  the  against ;  but  the  being  with  him 
or  against  him,  although  first  and  foremost  it  means  this  internal 
principle  of  the  life,  is  yet  so  expressed  as  to  embrace  the  out- 
ward manifestation  and  expression  in  the  whole  conduct  and  cha- 
racter. For,  indeed,  as  the  tree  so  is  the  fruit,  as  the  treasure  of 
the  heart  so  are  the  words  of  the  mouth  and  the  whole  conduct. 
Now  this,— as  being,  so  to  speak,  the  test  and  proof  of  the  strik- 
ing assertion, — the  second  clause  brings  forward  into  the  full  light 
of  the  entire  truth  which  is  here  intended  to  be  spoken.  Christ 
does  not  first  require  this  :  He  who  is  and  would  be  with  me, 
must  gather  also  with  me  !  He  presupposes  this  as  self-evident 
in  the  perfectly  parallel  expressions  :  every  one  cov  fxer  avrov 
is  also  a  crvvaycov,  every  one  fir)  avvdywv  (because  inwardly  /car 
avTov  is  also  outwardly)  a  crKOfjirifav.  In  the  expression  gather- 
eth,  Christ  connects  what  He  says  slightly  with  the  foregoing 
figure  in  ver.  29,  as  also  with  the  ground-idea  of  the  whole  dis- 
course, namely,  that  there  is  a  unity  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as 
opposed  to  the  unity  of  Satan's  kingdom  ;  still,  the  expression  is 
so  general  as  to  include  also  other  figures,  and,  indeed,  is  itself 
quite  independent.  What,  then,  will  He  have  to  be  gathered  ! 
Not  treasures  for  the  pomp  and  splendour  of  a  Romish  church  - 
throne,  not  even  property  for  founding  and  establishing  an  evan- 
gelical state-church,  not  names  on  the  roll  of  those  who  own  His 
name ;  but  souls  are  to  be  gathered,  as  vessels  of  honour  to  be 
used  by  the  master  of  the  house,  which  before  were  the  house 


MATTHEW  XII.  30.  159 

furniture  of  the  evil  one  ;  fruits  are  to  be  gathered  for  the  eternal 
garner,  seed  which  itself  again  bears  fruit ;  sheep  are  to  be 
brought  to  the  shepherd  which  the  wolf  scatters  not  again.  They 
are,  first  of  all,  brought  to  Him,  led  to  him,  gathered  around  him 
(Matt,  xxiii.  37),  but,  at  the  same  time  and  in  addition  to  this, 
they  are  brought  together  into  unity  and  concord,  into  the  strong 
fellowship  of  conflict  and  victory  formed  by  His  united  flock  and 
Church.  What  a  work,  what  a  commission  for  the  members  and 
labourers  of  the  kingdom,  this  gathering  together  in  one  the  chil- 
dren of  God  who  are  scattered  abroad !  (John  xi.  52).  For  this 
every  subject  must  labour  and  work,  for  this  every  one  who  is 
in  heart  with  the  King  will  of  himself  work.  To  this  gathering 
belongs  also  all  preparatory  work  of  any  kind  of  TratBcoywy'La  el? 
Xpiarbv  manifoldly  exercised  in  the  earthly  calling,  with  a  true 
eye  to  the  one  end ;  then,  the  bringing  to  Christ  properly  so 
called,  the  strengthening  and  upholding  of  those  already  brought 
to  Him,  the  removing  of  the  stones  and  making  a  plain  path  for 
His  followers,  the  uniting  and  bringing  into  connexion  all  that  is 
separated  and  isolated,  in  short  the  entire  building  up  of  the 
house  which  is  to  grow  together  in  love,  the  entire  sowing,  and 
watering,  and  tending  for  the  great  harvest. 

Christ  in  these  words  designates  His  kingdom  as  one  that  is 
indeed  come  in  Him,  but  the  building  up  of  which  is  to  be  pro- 
gressively carried  out  by  His  followers.  Satan's  kingdom  subsists 
already  on  the  earth  in  every  human  heart,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
against  God  and  Christ;  Christ  has,  indeed,  first  bound  the 
strong  one,  but  the  subsequent  spoiling  of  his  house  has  since 
been  going  on  from  people  to  people  and  from  soul  to  soul,  by 
the  labour  of  those  who  enter  upon  Christ's  service.  (John  iv. 
38).  Shall  we  now,  in  reference  to  activity  in  the  fellowship  and 
service  of  Christ,  shrink  from  the  same  strict  alternative  which 
acknowledges  only  gatherers  or  dispersers?  Shall  we  at  least 
think  that  the  undecided  and  indolent,  though  he  may  still  in 
heart  be  entirely  or  partially  against  Christ,  is  yet  not  so  in  his 
acting,  does  not  outwardly  hinder  or  injure  the  cause,  so  long  as 
he  conducts  himself  in  this  neutral  way  %  Neutrality  is  impos- 
sible, says  Christ,  impossible  as  regards  the  internal  state  of  the 
man,  and  therefore,  also,  as  regards  the  actions  which  proceed 
thence ;  both  are  one.     A  man  who  is  in  heart  altogether  with 


1G0  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Christ  cannot  but  gather  for  him  everywhere  and  in  everything  ; 
even  without  knowing  and  willing  it;  his  light  illumines,  his 
anointing  gives  forth  its  savour,  he  bears  rightfully  the  title  of  the 
old  Roman  emperor :  "  always  extender  of  the  kingdom" — at 
least  as  much  as  in  him  lies.     No  one  is  so  much  a  hermit  upon 
earth,   even  though  he  lives  as  a  hermit,  that  his  life  is  not 
related  to  others  in  the  connexion  of  influence ;  Christ,  however, 
will  have  no  hermits,  but  labourers,   and  in  whomsoever  his 
spirit  is,  he  brings  them  to  work  for  his  kingdom  in  all  the  work 
of  the  calling  which  each  one  has.     The  same,  therefore,  holds 
good  on  the  other  hand :  He  who  does  not  take  the  field  with 
me  against  Satan  is  not  merely  himself  as  yet  under  his  yoke, 
but  serves  also  in  his  kingdom  ;  he  who  does  not  take  his  place 
and  arms  for  the  lawful  king  against  the  usurper  is  reckoned  by 
the  latter  as  upon  his  roll,  that  roll  which  he  holds  up  before  the 
people  to  let  them  see  how  great  it  is.    The  unfruitful  tree  stands 
as  an  offence  in  the  way,  and  cumbers  the  ground  (Luke  xiii.  7). 
The  greater  the  honesty  and  apparent  absence  of  hostility  from 
without,  so  much  the  more  dangerous  the  offence,  so  much  the 
more  is  every  suppression  of  the  name  of  Christ,  when  he  should 
be  acknowledged  and  praised,  equal  to  a  denial  of  him,  so  much 
the  more  efficacious  also  is  the  merely  not  working.     In  like 
manner,  where  there  is  an  outward  position  in  life  to  which  the 
eyes  of  others  are  directed,  where,  in  a  word,  there  is  an  office 
to  lead  and  to  teach  the  people,  such  as  these  Pharisees  had, 
this  saying  applies  in  its  highest  truth  :  He  who  gathers  not  with 
me  scatters  abroad.     He  scatters  only  more  and  more  that  which 
is  already  separated  from  God,  and  is  another  spoke  in  the  wheel 
for  the  kingdom  of  the  wicked  one,  that  kingdom  which  is  also 
not  yet  fulfilled  among  men,  but  which  ceaselessly  moves  to- 
wards this  fulfilment  wherever  the  spirit  and  power  of  God  does 
not  interpose.     He  scatters  himself  in  his  indolent  standing  still, 
which,  indeed,  is  no  standing  still,  for  he  goes  ever  farther  from 
the  kingdom  of  God,  while  he  imagines  himself  to  be  only  stand- 
ing before  or  at  the  door,  without  yielding  himself  up  as  an 
instrument  and  workman  in  the  house ;  as,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  who  gathers  in  his  diligence  and  zeal,   at  the  same  time, 
unites  whatever  in  his  own  soul  may  yet  be  out  of  Christ  into  a 
firmer  unity  of  faith  and  life  proceeding  from  Christ.      For  this 


MATTHEW  XII.  30.  161 

sense,  also,  lies  beneath  the  general  saying  which  comprehends 
all  fulness  of  truth. 

Finally,  for  we  are  not  yet  done,  emphasis  is  to  be  laid  in  the 
second  clause  on  :  He  who  gathers,  but  not  with  me,  whose 
gathering  is  itself  a  dispersing !  Nay,  this  is  really  the  extreme 
point  of  the  paradoxical  antithesis.  No  one  can  truly  (not  merely 
in  vain  or  mistakenly)  gather  to  him  without  gathering  with  him  ; 
hence  it  is  not  said  merely :  He  who  does  not  gather  to  me. 
To  bring  souls  to  Christ  in  one's  own  strength  and  reason,  with 
a  selfish  object — how  can  that  be  possible  ?  Thus  far,  certainly, 
the  irpo^aaei  in  Phil.  i.  18,  does  not  extend.  As  there  is  a 
passive,  so  is  there  also  an  active,  false  friendship  with  Christ. 
Some  ask :  Am  I  then  against  thee,  merely  because  I  am  not 
for  thee  ?  Others  again  :  Am  I  not  with  thee  ?  See  my  zealous 
labours  for  thy  kingdom  ?  But  Christ  looks  into  the  heart,  and 
says :  No,  thou  art,  nevertheless,  not  with  me,  thy  labour  is  in 
my  sight  only  injury  and  destruction.  Oh  !  how  many  famous 
and  proud  labourers  in  the  building  up  of  the  church  and  king- 
dom are  included  in  this  sentence  !  They  gather,  indeed,  but 
not  with  him,  not  in  his  mind  and  spirit,  consequently,  also,  not 
to  him  and  for  him. — if  not  to  draw  disciples  to  themselves  (Acts 
xx.  30),  making  merchandise  of  dear-bought  souls  (2  Pet.  ii. 
3),  yet  for  a  form,  party,  church  or  sect.  These,  in  great 
things  and  in  small,  act  upon  the  maxim  :  Every  one  is  to 
follow  Christ  with  us.  Where  this  is  not  done  they  repel  and 
disperse,  and  those,  too,  whom  they  have  gathered  to  themselves 
they  have  thereby  turned  away  from  Christ.  To  create  such 
confusion,  so  that  Babel  may  seem  again  to  be  revived  in  Zion, 
is  Satan's  greatest  art  and  pleasure  ;  then  he  mocks,  when  that 
which  has  no  place  in  his  empire,  namely,  that  Satan  cast  out 
Satan,  is  yet  done  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  when  the  subjects 
dissever  the  kingdom,  and  Christians  cast  out  Christ. 

Thus  the  first  clause  of  the  saying  strikes  terror  into  the  open 
enemies  of  Christ  by  the  already  pronounced  judicial  sentence : 
You  are  against  me  !  in  which  lies,  indeed,  the  entire  condemna- 
tion of  enmity  to  God.  But  it  also  lays  open  the  heart  of  the 
externally  neutral  hypocrites,  to  whom  the  same  judicial  sentence 
belongs.     The  second  clause,  while  it  first  of  all  shows  to  these 

VOL.  II.  L 


162  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

hypocrites,  their  inward  state  from  their  outward  character,  at 
the  same  time  lays  open  to  the  real  disciples  of  Christ  all  their 
remaining  indolence,  indecision,  and  perversity,  and  con- 
stantly shames  even  them  into  being  entirely,  both  outwardly 
and  inwardly,  with  Christ.  He  who  is  not  yet  entirely  with  me, 
is  in  so  far  still  against  me  ;  that  in  you,  and  belonging  to  you, 
which  does  not  yet  gather  with  me,  disperses  !  We  must,  in- 
deed, have  shrunk  with  fear  from  this  severe  sentence  of  truth, 
did  there  not  immediately  follow  the  gracious  assurance  that 
there  is  forgiveness  for  all  sins,  except  the  one  which  is  com- 
mitted only  wdien  a  man  has  become  quite  like  Satan. 

This  comforting  assurance  follows  somewhat  remarkably  and 
significantly  here,  where,  after  having  adduced  proof  in  detail  as 
to  the  entire  opposition  between  the  kingdom  of  Satan  and  the 
kingdom  of  God,  an  opposition  that  reaches  to  the  heart  and  life, 
the  will  and  conduct  of  every  individual,  Christ  declares  the 
rebuke  of  those  sinners  who  wilfully  mistake  this.  The  first 
part  of  this  rebuke  is  a  warning  against  the  unpardonable  sin, 
in  contradistinction  to  which,  with  the  most  gracious  gentleness, 
the  forgiveness  of  all  others  is  declared.  This  sin,  which  already 
showed  itself  typically  in  the  blasphemy  against  God  uttered  by 
the  Pharisees,  and  therefore  derives  its  name  from  this,  Christ 
marks  out  (as  in  warnings  is  very  natural)  as  the  fearful  end  of 
the  way  upon  which  they  then  were,  and  as,  in  some  measure, 
coinciding  with  their  present  sin:  .hence,  in  vers.  34 — 37,  the 
address  runs  as  if  they  had  already  committed  it,  while  yet, 
in  vers.  31,  32,  it  is  only  indefinitely  set  before  them  by  way 
of  warning.  The  intermediate  sentence  which  unites  these 
two  is  in  ver.  33.  Will  not  such  fruit  at  last  grow  upon  such 
a  corrupt  tree,  if  it  does  not  now  let  itself  be  engrafted  into 
the  good  tree  %  We  might  also  divide  the  passage  in  another 
way,  and  say  :  Christ  shows  the  unpardonable  sin,  first,  in  its 
peculiar  greatness  in  itself  (more  generally  ver.  31,  more  empha- 
tically repeated,  ver.  32) ;  then,  in  the  source  or  principle  whence 
(by  increasing  persistency  in  evil)  it  must  at  length  result  (if  the 
corrupt  tree  will  not  know  the  good,  so  as  yet  itself  to  become 
good — ver.  33 — the  figure  properly  applied  in  the  address  vers. 
34,  35) ;  finally,  in  its  consequences,  the  inevitable  condemnation 


MATTHEW  XII.  31,  32.  163 


according  to  the  general  law  (ver.  36),  and  according  to  the 
more  general  fundamental  law  (ver.  37),  forjudging  the  internal 
state  by  the  outward  expression. 

Vers.  31,  32.  The  At  a  rovroXeyco  v/uv,  which  Matthew  puts 
instead  of  the  'A/jltjv  of  Mark,  has  its  own  suitable  significance. 
Therefore, — because,  according  to  what  has  just  been  said,  the 
opposition  between  Satan's  kingdom  and  God's,  between  fellow- 
ship with  Me,  and  fellowship  with  the  wicked  one,  is  so  clearly  an 
attested  fact.  Therefore,  I  say  further  to  you  gainsayers  and 
calumniators  :  It  is  a  very  serious  and  dangerous  thing !  Many 
a  one  may  be  against  Me,  may  speak  or  act  against  Me,  even  for 
a  whole  life  time,  and  yet  forgiveness  stand  open  to  him ;  but 
there  is,  even  in  this  world,  a  wilful  contradiction  and  resist- 
ance which  forfeits  all  grace  for  ever — therefore,  I  have  reason 
to  say  to  you,  Beware  f 

That  in  the  divine  judgment  it  is  internal  sin  as  such  that  is 
judged,  while  yet  it  is  apprehended  and  convicted  in  its  expression, 
and  in  such  a  manner  that  ivords,  as  the  most  decided  evidence 
of  the  principle  of  the  heart,  are  placed  before  actions — this  fun- 
damental idea,  essential  to  the  understanding  of  the  whole  pas- 
sage, is  announced  in  the  first  words.  All  sin — that  is,  the 
most  general,  truly  proper,  name,  to  which  belongs  also  that 
which  is  excepted.  Lest  we  should  associate  with  this  word  first 
of  all  (as,  alas !  men  are  wont  to  do  in  their  superficial  use  of 
words),  so-called  common,  simple  sins,  Christ  immediately  inten- 
sifies the  expression,  and  puts  between  these  common  sins  and 
the  unpardonable  sin,  blasphemy — not  as  an  isolated,  casually 
dropped  word,  but  as  the  fruit  of  an  evil  heart.  In  Mark  it  is 
expressly  said :  at  f3Xaa(f)r}/JLlai,  8(ra<;  av  ^Xaa^njirjorcoaiv,  and 
Luther  rightly  extends :  wherewith  they  blaspheme  God ;  for, 
although  ^Xaa(j)7)fjL6lv  occurs  elsewhere  in  a  wider  sense,  here 
it  is  certainly  this  sin  in  so  far  as  it  is  committed  against  God, 
and  can  be  forgiven  only  by  God,  consequently,  blasphemy 
against  God  is  meant,  even  where  it  expresses  itself  as  calumny 
against  a  man  (Erasmus  here  convitium).  'A^eOr/aeraL  by  no 
means  merely,  can  be  forgiven  ;  for  from  this  can  the  actual  for- 
giveness follows  of  itself,  according  to  the  great  and  richly  pro- 
vided grace  of  God.  Still  less,  as  some  think,  who  incompetently 
trifle  with  the   words,  trying   to   blunt  the   sharpness  of  the 

^A  G?  THK        3^ 

'TJlUVBRSITTi 


feimiSK/ 


164  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

expression,  are  they  to  be  taken  in  a  comparative  sense  :  For  all 
other  sins,  forgiveness  is,  comparatively  speaking,  possible ;  but 
absolutely,  as  it  stands :  they  shall  be  forgiven.  So  much 
the  more  directly  and  strikingly  does  it  stand  in  opposition 
to  the  entirely  unconditional  ov/c  afedrjaerai  in  respect  to  the 
j3\aar<jyr)fila  rov  Trvevfiaros,  or  (as  Mark  more  concisely  expresses 
it  /3\aa(pr)fjL€?v  ek  to  7rv€VfjLa),  the  elirelv  \6yov  Kara  rod  irvev- 
/mro?  roi  aji'ov.  What  is  this?  It  is  still  more  definitely 
limited  by  its  being  opposed  to  speaking  against  the  Son  of  Man, 
inasmuch  as  for  this  latter  sin  also  there  is  forgiveness.  Many 
find  here  a  gradation  according  to  the  rank  of  the  three  persons 
in  the  Godhead ;  but,  in  the  first  place,  the  first  general  /3\ao-- 
<f>r]fjLLa  certainly  does  not  refer  to  God  the  Father  in  particular 
(for  which  supposition  there  is  not  the  slightest  ground),  and 
then,  in  the  second,  the  Son  is  expressly  set  forth,  not  in  His 
divine  nature,  but  as  the  Son  of  Man,  liable,  in  His  state  of  humi- 
liation, to  be  unknown  and  calumniated.  The  aggravation  of 
the  sin,  in  respect  of  its  guilt  (Mark  evo^o?  iarcp),  as  is  implied 
in  the  antithesis  between  the  Son  of  man  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  is 
determined  not  by  the  rank  of  the  object  against  whom  the  sin  is 
committed  (according  to  which  the  Father  would  very  improperly 
stand  lowest  in  the  Trinity),  but  by  the  increased  clearness  of 
the  revelation  of  God,  in  proportion  to  which,  of  course,  sin  must 
be  committed  always  with  more  of  consciousness  and  will}  All 
sin  and  blasphemy  is  against  God,  consequently  also  against  the 
Son,  and  in  like  manner,  against  the  Spirit  of  God,  through  whom 
the  revelation  of  truth,  the  rebuking  and  drawing  of  the  sinner  is 
accomplished.  The  name,  sin  again  the  Holy  Ghost  is,  in  so  far, 
an  improper  designation,  at  least  very  liable  to  be  misunderstood, 
and  in  which  a  departure  is  made  from  the  word  of  Christ.  By 
how  much  a  man  resists  God  and  is  disobedient,  from  the  degree 
of  general  unbelief  (Acts  vii.  51)  on  to  the  last  grieving  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  saints  (Eph.  iv.  30),  by  so  much  he  sins  also  against 
the  Holy  Spirit.     All  this  is  forgiven,  says  Christ.      Nay,  He 

l  Thus,  already  did  Origen  refute  the  error  that  might  seem  to  find 
support  in  this  passage,  as  if  in  it  the  Holy  Ghost  were  placed  above 
the  Logos.  Not  because  the  Holy  Ghost  stands  higher,  is  the  sin 
heavier,  but  because  he  who  has  received  the  Holy  Ghost  stands 
higher  in  the  Christian  life. 


MATTHEW  XII.  31,  32.  165 

speaks  still  kindly:  He  who  speaks  (and  acts)  against  me, 
against  my  person  as  the  Son  of  Man,  although  already  accre- 
dited as  the  Son  of  God,  and  come  from  God — whosoever  calum- 
niates me,  this  I  judge  not !  Thus  far  is  the  grace  of  the  New 
Testament  dispensation  opened  up  here  in  opposition  to  the 
typical  Old  Testament,  in  which  even  the  simple  blaspheming 
against  the  name  of  God  had  no  atonement  provided  for  it,  and 
was  punished  by  the  sinner's  being  cut  off  from  the  people.1 
Saul  spake  and  acted  against  the  Son  of  Man  (1  Tim.  i.  13), 
even  after  the  Spirit  had  vindicated  his  claims  to  be  the  Son  of  God, 
the  Jews  crucified  Him  after  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus,  and  yet 
He  said  of  them  :  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do.  The  mockers  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  knew  not  what 
that  was  until  the  words  of  Peter  entered  into  their  ears ;  Ananias 
lied  to  the  Holy  Spirit ;  but  whether  he  also  blasphemed  Him 
we  do  not  know.  All  this  is  not  yet  properly  the  sin  which 
Christ  here  means.  But  it  may  be  questioned  whether  Caiaphas 
(Matth.  xxvi.  64,  65),  did  not  blaspheme  the  witnessing  spirit, 
when  he  called  the  confession  of  Christ  a  blasphemy ;  for  the 
"  Thou  sayest  it,"  intimates  that  he  himself  well  knew  that  which 
he  yet  wilfully  asks.  We  observe,  that  "  against  the  Holy 
Ghost"  means  against  the  most  direct  and  conclusive  testimony, 
by  which  the  person  who,  nevertheless,  contradicts  and  resists  is 
yet  entirely  convinced,  consequently,  sins  with  the  most  complete 
knowledge  and  will ;  and  this  is  the  idea  most  essentially  belong- 
ing to  the  unpardonable  sin,  which  might  certainly  be  committed 
also  before  the  day  of  Pentecost,  for,  otherwise,  Christ  had  not 
spoken  of  it  here  to  the  Pharisees.  It  was  possible  so  to  calum- 
niate Christ  in  his  state  of  humiliation  as  that  it  should  be  blas- 
phemy against  the  Spirit,  brought  perfectly  to  the  conciousness 
by  the  truth  of  his  doctrine  and  the  dignity  of  his  person  ;  it  is 
possible  still  so  to  blaspheme  Christ  in  his  state  of  exaltation,  as 
that  it  is  seen  by  God  to  proceed  from  the  ignorance  of  unbelief 

1  What  clearness,  majesty,  and  freedom  on  the  part  of  the  Saviour, 
thus,  in  the  midst  of  this  warm  controversy  and  conflict  to  distinguish 
so  sharply  between  the  different  enemies,  so  that  according  to  what  is 
here  said,  all  the  enemies  of  Christianity,  in  every  age,  must  be  dis- 
tinguished. 


166  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

(1  Tim.  i.  13)  against  the   Son  of  Man,  against  tin's  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  (Acts  xxvi.  9),  and  therefore  forgiven. 
,    Christ  certainly  speaks  here  of  an  individual  act,  nay,  rather 
of  an  individual  word,  for  in  such  expression  all  sin  fulfils  and 
attests  itself  for  the  judgment ;  but  the  individual  expression  is, 
of  course,  so  significant,  only  as  the  fruit  of  the  tree,  and  the 
emanation  from  the  principle  of  the  heart,  vers.  33,  34.     As 
Grashof    simply  and    strikingly  observes,  it  is   the  same  here 
as  with  the  Baca  and  Fool  (chap.  v.  22).      Consequently,  the 
expression  presupposes  an  internal  state  developed  up  to  this 
point,  in  which  lies  the  sin  properly  so-called,  which  is  always 
something  belonging  to  a  state,  never  an  isolated  speaking  or 
acting  as  such.1      Where  are  we  to  look  for  the  sin  to  which,  in 
opposition   to  all  others,  Christ  unconditionally  denies  forgive- 
ness ?     How  has  the  want  of  understanding,  even  in  those  who 
are  otherwise  most  intelligent,  confused  his  clear  words !      How 
humbling  to  find  such  a  man  as  Wesley,  for  example,  saying  that 
he  finds  "nothing  more  clear  in  the  Bible  "  than  that  this  sin  is 
neither  more  nor  less  than  what  these  people  here  did :   "  the 
ascribing  those  miracles  to  the  power  of  the  devil,  which  Christ 
wrought  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost."     Menken,  also,  is  of 
opinion,  that  this  blasphemy  was  only  possible  at  that  time,  when 
Christ  was  present  in  visible  personality,  and  performed  acts 
through  the  power  of  the   Spirit  of  God— but  we  cannot  so 
lightly  pass  over  the  depths  of  this  dreadful  word.     It  is,  rather, 
•pretty  clear   from  the    warning   words   Xiyco  vplv,   that   those 
Pharisees  were  only  on  the  way  towards  this  highest  degree  of 
guilt,2  and  although  this  should  remain  doubtful,  yet  that,  at  all 
events,  the  same  must  be  possible  now,  much  more  even  than 
then.     Or,  shall  we  say,  that  the  convincing  manifestation  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  in  word  and  in  power,  is  less  now,  than  it  was 

i  #  For  this  sin  is  not  a  merely  outward  act,  as  if,  by  the  secret 
magic  of  certain  words  which  do  not  emanate  from  the  depths  of  the 
heart,  one  could  commit  the  worst  sin  and  consign  himself  immediately 
to  eternal  perdition."  So  Jul.  Miiller,  on  the  doctrine  of  Sin,  vol.  ii.,  p. 
476,  (Clark's  Foreign  Theological  Library),  who  in  general  quite  agrees 
with  us  in  our  interpretation. 

2  Mark  iii.  30  by  no  means  says,  that  Christ  imputed  this  sin  to 
them,  but  explains  only  the  name  which  he  gives  to  it  from  the  occa- 
sion which  certainly  foreshadowed  it. 


MATTHEW  XII.  31,  32.  167 

then  in  Christ  upon  earth?  Does  there  not  lie  in  the  antithesis 
between  the  Son  of  Man  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  real  reference 
to  the  days  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  after  the  days  of  the  Son  of  Man  ? 
The  more  powerfully  and  convincingly  the  Comforter,  who  is 
come,  reproves  the  world  by  and  without  the  word,  of  sin,  of 
righteousness,  and  of  judgment,  the  greater  the  works  which  the 
Apostles  do  after  Christ  (John  xiv.  12),  i.e.,  the  more  compre- 
hensive and  convincing  the  works  of  Christ,  as  wrought  by  his 
followers  in  the  history  of  the  Church  and  the  world,  appear,  so 
much  the  more  impossible  now,  than  before,  must  it  become 
from  century  to  century,  for  any  one  who  wilfully  rejects  the 
testimony  of  the  Spirit,  to  retain  the  plea  of  ignorance  in  such 
conduct,  upon  the  ground  of  which  it  might  be  forgiven.  The 
blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  has  been  here  and  there 
committed  since  Christ  appeared,  but  it  is  to  be  pre-eminently 
the  sin  of  the  last  time,  the  consummation  of  anti-christianism. 
It  is  the  substance  of  that  to  which  the  type  of  blasphemy  against 
God,  (under  the  Old  Testament  dispensation)  remotely  corres- 
ponds. 

Christ  speaks,  certainly,  not  de  peccato  Jiomini  cavendo,  quam- 
quam  in  hominem  non  cadente,  for  his  clear  and  true  word  has  in 
it  no  mere  empty  bugbears,  knows  nothing  of  contradiction  with 
itself,  as  this  title  of  a  once  famous  and  well-meant  writing  would 
in  vain  reconcile  the  homini  cavendum  with  the  in  hominem  non 
cadens.  What  Lange,  again,  maintains  (Leben  Jesu  iii.  126)  is 
not  true,  namely,  that  a  man  cannot  blaspheme  the  Holy  Ghost 
with  perfect  knowledge-  of  his  doing  so.  "  If  man  can  truly  love 
God  and  what  is  good,  then  must  he  also  be  able  to  hate  God 
and  what  is  good" — says  Qrashof  in  answer  to  this,  and 
the  Apostle  of  love  testifies  that  there  is  a  sin  unto  death. 
(John  v.  16.)  So  much,  however,  is  certainly  true  in  that 
amiable  opinion,  that  the  highest  sin,  the  pure,  or  rather  the 
altogether  impure,  hatred  of  the  good  and  holy  Spirit  of  God, 
which  expresses  itself  in  conscious  blasphemy  against  him,  is  no 
longer  the  sin  of  man  in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  of  Satan.  If  it 
has  gone  thus  far  with  a  man,  he  is  then  no  longer  under  Satan's 
power  and  delusion,  but  has  himself  become  a  freely  acting  and 
conscious  Satan,  This  is  as  truly  possible  and  real,  as  that  there 
can  be  no  restraint  of  a  compelling  grace  to  prevent  the  continued 


168  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

sin  of  man,  so  that  it  must  be  the  end  of  the  downward  course, 
the  same  actual  abyss  into  which  Satan  fell  in  his  first  complete 
fall.  It  is  not,  therefore  (as  Gurlitt  thinks),  contemptuous  indif- 
ference to  all  that  is  good  and  holy  which  is  here  spoken  of of 

which  Julius  Miiller  truly  says  that  it  is  impossible — but  positive 
hatred.  This  transition  of  unbelief  "  from  the  merely  tolerable 
character  of  indolence  and  cowardice  to  that  of  the  most  hateful 
falsehood,"  Nitzsch  also  designates  as  at  least  a  conceivable  height 
of  resistance.     (System,  §  142.) 

From  this  we  may  hope  it  will  be  understood,  why  Christ  can 
do  nothing  else  than  denounce  against  the  Satanic  sin,  Satan's 
everlasting  condemnation  without  forgiveness.  His  words  indi- 
cate this  relation  between  all  sin  and  blasphemy  and  this  blas- 
phemy peculiar  in  its  kind,  by  the  striking  expression  rot?  avOpco- 
7roi?,  to  which  Mark  gives  still  greater  prominence,  so  that  all 
other  sins  belong  tols  viol?  t&v  dv0pco7rcop,  while  the  blasphemer 
of  the  Spirit  (the  singular  o?  BJap)  appears  as  a  man  fallen  from 
the  human  state,  a  monster.  The  expression  neither  in  this  world 
nor  in  the  world  to  come,  cannot  mean  here  the  Rabinical  nViV 
j-ftn  and  ;-jnrr  as  the  time  before  and  after  the  appearance  of 
Christ,  for,  in  this  case,  there  could  have  been  no  atibv  fiiWwv 
when  Christ  spake ;  still  less  can  6  alcbv  otn-o?  mean,  as  in  the 
writings  of  the  Apostles,  the  evil  world  without  God  and  Christ 
for  in  it  there  is  in  general  no  forgiveness.  It  means  the  time 
before  and  after  the  death  of  man.1  It  is  in  so  far,  certainly,  a 
proverbial  expression  for  now  and  never,  Mark  ovk  e^e*  dtpeaiv 
6t9  top  alSiva  ;2  but  when  Christ  speaks  proverbs  they  become 
truth  in  his  mouth,  He  never  speaks  animo  commoto  (as  Kuinoel 
thought),  so  that  his  words  should  not  be  taken  in  their  exact 
sense.  The  jejune  sense  (with  which  Alford  again  satisfies  him- 
self) goes  completely  against  the  letter,  namely,  that  if  a  sin  is 

1  If  as  Julius  Miiller  thinks :  "  al&v  fjJXktow  is  the  period  of 
the  manifest,  consequently  of  the  perfectly  realised,  Messianic  kingdom 
which  is  not  set  up  till  after  the  resurrection  and  the  judgment  of  the 
world  " — where  then  remains  the  continuity  of  the  time  embraced  by 
neither-nor  ? 

2  As  in  Sepher  chasidim  num.  234,  one  Jew  says  to  another  :  I  shall 
not  forgive  this,  neither  in  this  world  nor  in  the  world  to  come.  Which 
may  be  added  to  what  is  adduced  by  Grotius  here. 


MATTHEW  XII.  31,  32.  169 

forgiven  or  retained  here,  it  is,  therewith  also,  forgiven  or  retained 
in  the  world  to  come.  This  is  precisely  what  we  deny  !  Of 
the  utmost  importance,  when  the  words  are  taken  exactly  as 
they  ought  to  be,  is  the  demonstrable  inference  ex  vi  oppositi  that 
other  sins  are  forgiven  also  in  the  ivorld  to  come.  Neque  enim  de 
quibusdam  veraciter  diceretur,  quod  non  eis  remittatur  neque  in  hoc 
saeculo  neque  infuturo,  nisi  essent  quibus,  etsi  non  in  isto,  tamen 
remittetur  in  futuro.  (August,  de  civ.  lib.  21c.  24).  Nay, 
Christ  has  already  maintained  much  more  than  the  mere  possi- 
bility of  forgiveness  for  some  sins  even  in  the  world  to  come, 
when  he  declared  that  all  sin,  except  this  one,  shall  really  be  for- 
given, at  all  events  in  the  world  to  come.1  And  there  is  good 
ground  for  this,  indeed  it  cannot  be  otherwise ;  for,  as  there  can 
be  no  standing  still  either  in  good  or  in  evil,  but  must  be  a  de- 
velopment onwards  to  the  full  degree  of  ripeness  for  the  eternal 
fire  or  for  eternal  life,  so  also,  in  the  other  world,  it  goes  on  till 
the  last  judgment  in  the  same  way  as  here  upon  earth  :  all  sin 
which  belongs  to  a  man  at  death  developes  itself  either  to  the 
blasphemy  against  the  Spirit,  to  the  Satanic  sin,  which  alone  casts 
down  to  eternal  fellowship  with  Satan,2  or  it  is  through  means  of 
not  yet  ceasing  grace,  taken  away  and  forgiven.3  But,  let  it  be 
well  observed,  it  is  forgiven  also  m  the  world  to  come,  by  no 
means,  expiated,  discharged,  purged  away  by  fire  or  forced  away. 
All  salting  with  fire  (Mark  ix.  49),  and  all  purifying  pain,  can 
only  awaken  in  the  freely  acting  creature,  the  penitent  faith 
which  lays  hold  on  grace — in  that  world  not  otherwise  than  in 
this. 

The  sum  of  what  has  been  said  is  this  :  The  blasphemy  against 
the  Holy  Ghost,  which  alone  remains  for  the  judgment,  is  the 
consummated  absolute  sin  of  the  devil,  to  which  man  also  may 
arrive,  and  this  Christ  denotes,  according  to  Mark,  by  a  peculiar 

1  Konig,  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  descent  into  hell,  p.  238. 

2  Precisely  to  the  same  effect  Jul.  Miiller  :  "  Rather  must  the  sin- 
ful development,  if  it  be  not  reversed  by  the  redemption,  everywhere 
complete  itself  in  the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost." 

3  By  no  means  merely  in  the  sense  in  which  v.  Gerlach  weakens 
and  trifles  with  the  words  :  "  he  who  through  great  anxiety  of  mind 
has  not  experienced  the  comfort  here  may  there  first  attain  to  the 
enjoyment  of  forgiveness  " — as  if  this  alone  were  meant  by  M  for- 
given !" 


170  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

word  adapted  to  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  sin,  a  word  which 
perfectly  corresponds  to  the  fundamental  idea  of  his  discourse  : 
evo^o?  eariv  alwviov  ajiapria^  or  a/jLapTrj/jLciTOs  (for  which  fcpiaeG)? 
is  certainly  only  a  gloss),  he  is  guilty  of  an  eternal  sin.  Here  we  look 
with  horror  into  the  abyss  of  guilt,  for  which  only  the  abyss  of 
condemnation  remains.  We  cannot,  therefore,  see  our  way,  with 
Meyer,  and  all  those  who  believe  in  a  final  restoration,  to  add  to  the 
words  :  "  As  long  as  it  continues" — with  which,  strangely  enough, 
just  as  before  with  the  cavendum  and  non  cadens,  what  he  goes  on 
to  say  stands  in  contradiction  :  "  because  it  presupposes  an  entire 
hardening  and  an  incurable  wickedness."  We  regard  the  unpardon- 
able sin, — the  eternal  sin  of  which  Christ  here  speaks,  and  of  which 
he  was  led  to  speak,  from  a  special  occasion,  so  that  he  characterises 
it  according  to  one  of  its  expressions,  that  which  was  precisely  here 
foreshadowed — not  merely  in  this  or  that  other  of  its  manifold  ex- 
pressions, but  in  its  deepest  ground,  which  Christ  here  at  the  same 
time  lays  open.  It  is  the  rejection  and — on  account  of  this  its 
inherent  eternal  nature  as  a  sin — the  eternally  unpardonable  re- 
jection of  the  perfectly  known,  immediate,  testimony  of  the  Spirit, 
with  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  presented  the  truth  and  grace, 
developed  in  a  human  being,  till  it  brings  him  to  be  of  the  same 
nature  with  Satan.  It  is  committed  when  the  man,  with  entire 
conviction,  knows  what,  in  complete  wickedness,  he  does,  for  thus 
did  Christ  on  the  cross,  mark  the  limits  of  forgiveness  and  atone- 
ment. It  is  distinguished  from  every  other  pardonable  sin 
of  man  by  this,  that  in  it  there  is  not  even  a  minimum  of 
Satanic  deceit  practised  upon  the  understanding  (Gen.  iii.  13), 
or  compulsion  of  any  nature,  or  by  any  creature,  upon  the  will, 
but  the  purely  evil  is  willed,  spoken,  and  done  instead  of  the 
known  and  rejected  good,  the  lie,  as  such,  instead  of  the  blas- 
phemed truth.  That  it  should  be  forgiven  is  impossible,  not  on 
God's  account,  but  on  account  of  the  creature,  who  has  put  him- 
self under  such  a  ban,  that  he  henceforth  remains  incapable  of 
repentance  and  faith  in  divine  grace. 

When  Christ  here  designates  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost 
as  that  which  is  alone  unpardonable,  and,  notwithstanding  the 
Scripture  speaks  of  sins  unto  death,  for  which  no  repentance,  no 
grace,  and  no  sacrifice  can  be  of  any  avail,  it  follows,  beyond 
contradiction,  that  all  those  passages  are  to  be  understood  merely 


MATTHEW  XIT.  33,  35.  171 


of  different  forms  of  development  and  expression,  but,  at  bottom, 
as  speaking  of  one  and  the  same  sin !  In  this  light  1  John  v. 
16;  2  Tim.  iii.  8 ;  Jude  4,  12,  13  ;  Heb.  x.  26—31,  vi.  4—8, 
are  to  be  considered ;  while,  from  the  last  cited  passage,  it  may 
be  seen,  that  the  fall  into  such  an  abyss,  even  of  those  who  have 
been  regenerated,  is  possible  and  real.  But  that  not  merely 
those  who  have  fallen  back  may  commit  the  unpardonable 
sin  (as  some  have  thought),  is  very  evident  again  from  2  Tim. 
iii.  8. 

Vers.  33 — 35.  With  how  much  propriety  for  the  explanation  of 
what  goes  before,  this  tracing  back  of  the  outward  expressions  to  its 
internal  ground  now  follows,  we  have  already  seen  and  have  little 
to  add  by  way  of  interpretation  ;  all  the  less  that  Christ,  evidently 
repeating,  recurs  to  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount,1  as,  in  what  He 
says  about  trees,  and  in  the  expression,  "generation  of  vipers," 
He  goes  still  farther  back  to  the  Baptist's  first  repentance- 
sermon,  with  which  these  people  had  again  to  begin.  From  the 
last  outbreak  of  diabolic  sin,  He  turns  warningly  back  to  its  first 
source  in  the  heart  of  man  !  noir/aare  seems  at  first  to  be  a 
Latinism,  inasmuch  as  the  tone  of  address  now  anew  takes  the 
form  of  a  logical  demonstration,  as  at  ver.  25.  Imagine,  suppose, 
or  put  the  case, — still  there  lies  beneath  the  surface  of  this,  sa 
the  German  "  Setzet"  well  renders  it,  the  proper  sense  of  the 
word,  derived  from  the  planting  of  a  tree ;  for,  as  the  parallel 
accusatives  show,  the  expression  is  strikingly  brought  up  on 
purpose  from  the  iroielv  icapirov  to  the  tree.  If  you  will  bring 
forth  fruit,  then  first  bring  forth  the  tree  for  this  !  To  suppose 
the  tree  to  be  good  will  not  do  !  Against  the  false  interpretation 
according  to  which  Christ  would  merely  say  :  Suppose  the  case 
— Julius  Muller  has  also  objected,  that  in  this  sense,  the  confir- 
mation etc  yap — jLVcoa-Kerat  would  not  be  at  all  suitable.  The 
same  learned  writer  (not  always  acutely  exegetical)  denotes  here 
the  two  main  ideas  of  the  text  quite  correctly :  As  from  the 
quality  of  the  tree  the  quality  of  the  fruit  follows  of  itself,  so  the 
good  and  evil  actions  of  man  follow  from  the  good  or  evil 
state  of  his  heart ;  but  this  state  is  itself  again  conditioned  by 

1  Into  which  Luke  (ch.  vi.  45),  as  we  there  saw,  has  inserted  this 
passage.  We  hold,  at  all  events,  that  the  present  occurrence  does  not 
belong  to  the  period  before  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 


172  TflE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  fundamental  determinations  of  the  will,  voir)  care  to  Zevbpov 
kt\.  (V.  d.  Siinde  ii.  79,  80).  This  is  well  said,  for  the 
iroLTjaare  which,  first  of  all,  ironically  expresses  the  im  potency  of 
nature,  immediately  takes  the  force  of  an  earnest  challenge.  For, 
in  order  to  do  and  speak  what  is  good,  the  tree,  the  fountain,  must 
become  different.  The  \a\elv  proceeds  only  from  fehe  ehai,  in  the 
heart  is  the  fountain  whence  the  words  of  the  mouth  flow,  and 
their  being  good  or  evil  is  manifest  from  the  state  of  the  heart,  to 
Him  who  knows  the  heart,  just  as  vice  versa  the  words  betray  the 
heart  to  the  judgment  of  men,  and  in  spite  of  all  hypocrisy  ex- 
pose to  conviction  also  before  the  tribunal  of  God.  For  the 
fountain  cannot  but  overflow  according  to  its  nature  and  kind. 
Jam.  iii.  11.  The  expresssion  i/c  rov  TrepLo-o-ev/juaro?  \a\elv  is 
fromEccles.  ii.  15 ;  Sept.  That  which  is  denoted  by  ireplo-o-evfjua 
is  farther  called  6r]o~avp6s  :  The  innermost  storehouse  of  life  in 
the  heart  of  man,  open  only  to  the  eye  of  God,  where  those 
influences  which  determine  the  personal  state  and  character  form 
themselves,  in  order  thence  to  flow  forth  again  in  the  expressions 
of  the  life.  (Beck.)  It  is  not  good  or  bad  words  and  works  that 
make  a  good  or  bad  man,  but  vice  versa.1  "If  the  heart  be 
worthless,  then  the  virtue  also  is  worthless."  Christ's  sharp  word 
of  rebuke  here  comes  as  a  good  word  from  His  holy  truth  in  love, 
while  the  finest  hypocritical  speeches,  smooth  as  butter,  are 
only  so  much  the  worse  on  account  of  the  venomous  source 
whence  they  proceed.  The  man  forms  himself  freely  between 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  Satan ;  the  strong  one  is  not  so  strong 
as  that  the  bad  man  who  is  bound  in  his  service,  nay,  develop- 
ing to  his  likeness,  is  not  bad  through  a  criminal  surrender 
of  himself;  nor  is  the  Stronger  One  so  strong  as  to  make  the  bad 
man  good  by  force.  The  good  man  and  the  bad  :  these  are  not 
by  nature  two  different  kinds  of  men,  for  we  are  indeed  all  bad 
(chap.  vii.  11 ;  Mar.  vii.  21,  22),  and  the  good  man  here  as 
opposed  to  such  in  the  highest  degree  is  Christ,  who  even  now 
speaks  good  words  to  them,  and  then  all  who,  as  renewed  men, 
participate  in  His  grace  before  and  after  His  coming  in  the  flesh. 
Christ,  as  the  jLV(oaK6raL  at  the  beginning  indicated,  will  here, 

1  Compare  the    saying  of    Aristotle,     which  Neander  cites  in  the 
Deutsche  Zeitschrift  fur  christl.  Wissenschaft.  (1850  p.  152.) 


MATTHEW  XII.  36,  37.  173 

in  connexion  at  the  sametime  with  all  that  preceeds,  say  and  ask  : 
"  If  My  fruits,  works  and  words  are  good,  works  of  love  and 
words  of  truth,  am  I  myself,  then,  from  God  or  a  friend  of  Beelze- 
bub V9  For,  the  most  evil  man  is  he  who  speaks  evil  against  the 
good  man  who  bears  witness  of  himself  by  his  goodness.  The 
worst  tree  plants  itself,  inasmuch  as  it  will  not  know  the  good 
tree,  from  which  healing  is  to  come  to  it,  will  not  let  itself  be 
implanted  into  it — therefore  is  it  known  at  last  by  the  worst 
fruit. 

Vers.  36,  37.  What  the  tongue  speaks  is  very  significant :  for 
the  small  member  not  only  does  great  things,  but  it  is  also  nearer 
the  heart  than  the  hand  is.  Men  may,  with  wilful  folly,  say:  A 
word  or  two  spoken  which  meant  nothing,  what  is  there  in  this  ? 
I  have  surely  in  this  done  nothing  bad !  The  history  of  the 
world  and  of  man's  life  everywhere  refutes  such  folly,  and  says 
loudly :  Words  are  acts,  which  work  most  deeply  and  lastingly, 
even  in  the  spiritual  sphere  in  which  works  alone  are  taken  into 
account;  and  that  not  merely  the  words  of  the  leaders  and 
representatives  of  the  people — to  whom  certainly  it  chiefly  ap- 
plies—but  in  general;  nor  is  it  merely  discourses  which  at  the 
time  seem  great  and  powerful,  but  the  smallest  word  which,  after 
it  has  escaped  the  tongue,  thou  canst  never  recall,  is  a  seed  which 
grows  and  bears  good  or  evil  fruits,  such  as  can  never  be  com- 
puted. God,  however,  judges  sin  not  according  to  its  effects, 
but  according  to  the  motive  and  intentions.  Here  thou  sayest 
again  falsely  against  the  truth ;  I  only  speak  so  and  so,  the  heart 
means  nothing  bad !  Yes,  in  those  rare  instances  in  which  this 
is  true,  the  words  will  not  be  charged  against  the  heart ;  but  in 
by  far  the  most  of  cases,  indeed  in  general,  the  word  is  the 
proper  expression  of  the  heart,  showing  its  real  character  more 
surely  even  than  the  act.  Where  the  gehenna  burns  in  the  heart, 
there  hypocritical  works  are  of  no  avail,  the  course  of  the  natural 
life  which  cannot  be  restrained,  catches  fire  upon  the  tongue,  and 
the  whole  body,  however  outwardly  clean  and  pure,  is  tainted 
by  the  evil  words.  Jam.  iii.  6.  Let  one  only  hear  what,  even 
those  who  are  most  honoured  speak  within  their  four  walls,  or 
even  in  public !  There  are  words  of  anger,  of  scandal,  of  pride, 
envenomed  words  against  their  neighbour,  words  of  rebellion 
against  God,  which  weigh  heavier  in  the  balance  than  many 


174  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

deeds,  which,  at  one  view,  lay  open  the  whole  treasure  of  evil  in 
the  heart,  from  which  alone  they  could  proceed.  Hence,  also? 
there  is  in  the  first  and  second  tables  of  the  decalogue,  not  to 
mention  that  all  its  commandments  point  in  the  same  direction, 
a  command  expressly  for  the  mouth.  Immediately  after  the  com- 
mand against  idolatry  and  the  worship  of  images,  comes  the  one 
against  taking  the  name  of  God  in  vain,  and  immediately  before 
that  against  the  covetousness  of  the  heart,  is  the  one  against 
falseness  of  speech,  which  is  always  and  ought  to  be,  an  evidence 
of  the  former.  This  reaches  far  and  deep  !  Did  Christ,  first  of 
all,  speak  of  blasphemies  as  the  worst  words  which  are  the  ex- 
pression of  the  worst  sin,  and  then,  coming  downwards,  designate 
as  "  evil"  in  general  that  which  the  mouth  brings  forth  from  the 
heart.  He  now  descends  still  farther  to  the  irav  prjfia  apyov 
(placed  before  in  an  absolute  form  for  emphasis)  which  implies 
still  less  than  the  apostle's  iras  X070?  aairphs,  xevol  \6yoi  (Ephes. 
iv.  29  ;  v.  6).  Where  there  is  no  good  fruit  of  truth  and  love 
unto  edification,  there  this  very  unprofitableness  and  emptiness  is 
itself  an  evil  fruit ;  before  God's  judgment,  however,  not  even  the 
smallest  word  which  a  man  has  ever  spoken  is  forgotten  !  'Atto- 
ScoaovcnXoyov  irepl  ttclvto?  \6yov.  How  shall  they  then  be  dumb 
and  have  not  one  word  to  answer  for  a  thousand,  if  the  justifying 
good  words,  proceeding  from  the  spirit  of  grace  and  prayer,  do 
not  weigh  heavier  in  the  balance  of  the  Judge  I1  It  will,  we 
hope,  be  seen,  with  what  perfect  justice  Christ  here,  instead  of 
the  principle  of  judgment  which  most  commonly  occurs  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testament :  "  To  every  man  according  to  his 
works"  lays  down  the  more  appropriate  one,  which  we  find  in 
ver.  37.  Even  in  human  judicial  processes,  this  is  a  proverbial 
rule,  as  Eliphaz  expresses  it  in  the  book  of  Job,  where  the  dis- 
course was  precisely  concerning  unprofitable  words.  Job  xv. 
2,  6.  By  the  tongue  we  write  for  ourselves  the  most  decisive 
protocol  of  our  future  trial  before  the  tribunal  of  the  highest 
Justice,  and  all  that  was  in  us,  all  that  we  have  done,  or  as  good 

1  A  writer  in  Tholuck's  Anzeiger  1848  p.  311  has  taken  great 
offence  at  the  expression  "justifying  good  words,"  and  sees  in  it  a  want 
of  "  unity  and  exactness  of  dogmatical  interpretation."  As  if  this 
heresy  against  the  exact  terminology  of  dogmatics  were  not  here  only 
Christ's  own  expression  1 


MATTHEW  XII.  36,  37.  175 

as  done,  speaks  then  loudly  in  our  words  as  a  silencing  confession, 
as  our  own  testimony. 


That  which  Luke  chap.  xi.  16,  has  placed  before,  along  with 
the  calumny:  by  Beelzebub,  &c.,as  the  occasion  of  Christ's  address, 
— was  according  to  Matthew  only  now  objected  to  him,  in  reply  to 
what  he  had  said.  So  much,  however,  we  learn  from  Luke,  did  we 
not  perceive  this  also  in.  Matthew  from  the  thing  itself,  that  those 
who  demanded  a  sign  were  different  persons  from  the  blasphemers. 
They  are  not  quite  so  bad  as  to  reject  all  His  signs  as  the  decided 
work  of  the  Devil,  but  all  that  he  had  given  hitherto,  were  not 
sufficient  to  prove  that  they  were  from  God,  they  want  to  see 
another  which  goes  still  farther  than  these,  to  see  a  sign.  As 
Luke  rightly  adds,  and  as  in  Matth.  xvi.  1 ;  John  vi.  30,  31,  the 
demand  is  repeated  as  a  sign  from  Heaven.  Now,  these  words  of 
wilful  unbelief  are  not  much  better  than  the  foregoing,  and  there* 
fore  Christ  does  not  change  His  strain  on  account  of  them,  but 
only  makes  them  the  occasion  of  carrying  out  the  warning  which 
he  had  brought  to  the  threshold  of  the  judgment,  to  a  complete 
prophetic  threatening  of  the  doom  which  was  ready  to  break  over 
the  unbelieving  race.  What  the  challengers  meant  by  the  "  sign 
from  heaven"  we  will  leave  to  be  explained  at  chap,  xvi.,  and 
here,  first  of  all,  interpret  the  answer,  which  He  there  repeats  to 
them  with  closer  reference  to  the  signs  of  the  times  then  already 
present.  He  uttered  this  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people  (Matth. 
ver.  46  ;  Luke  tmv  o^cov  eiraOpoi^ofMevcov,  which  only  indicates 
a  being  together  or  a  gathering  together,  not  precisely  a  throng- 
ing towards  Him)  and  he  includes  the  Pharisees  in  the  whole 
race  which  was  like  them,  and  was  expressing  itself  by  them.  He 
predicts  Israel's  destruction  and  judgment,  which  will  break 
out,  if  this  people,  as  a  whole,  persist  in  their  unbelief,  even  after 
the  last  sign  which  is  yet  to  be  afforded  them,  and  if  they  reject  the 
testimony  of  the  Spirit  when  the  risen  Son  of  Man  is  justified, 
and  once  more  preaches  to  them  repentance  unto  the  forgiveness 
of  sins  by  the  Apostles  in  His  name.  He  announces  this  last 
and  most  perfect  sign  taken  from  the  hell  that  had  been 
vanquished,  a  sign  which  had  all  the  value  of  one  from  above, 


176  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  which  indeed  became  such  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  (vers.  39, 
40).  Then,  he  announces  the  unbelief  of  the  people  under  that 
preaching  of  the  Apostles,  as  in  the  present, — the  unbelief  of 
Israel  in  their  Messiah,  which  is  condemned  by  the  faith  of  the 
heathen  who  listened  to  a  Jonah,  and  who  even  sought  out  a 
Solomon  (vers.  41,  42).  Consequently  (vers.  43 — 45),  the  final 
and  complete  destruction,  if  after  a  previous  casting  out  of  Satan, 
His  power  shall  again  take  possession  of  this  people,  and  in  a 
worse  form. 

Vers.  39,  40.  Israel  is  not  merely  an  evil  generation  (which 
Luke  has  alone),  as  are  also  all  heathen,  but,  as  Matthew  in  both 
places  significantly  adds,  an  adulterous,  which  alludes  to  the  spe- 
cial covenant  of  God  with  this  people,  which  they  had  broken. 
Tevea,  /xot^aXi?  cannot  denote  here  merely,  or  in  the  first  place, 
a  generation  begotten  by  adultery,  and  is  therefore  wrongly  com- 
pared with  John  viii.  41,  but  one  which  commits  adultery; 
idolatrous  in  heart,  with  all  their  Pharisaical  ornament  on  the 
outside,  just  as,  in  former  times,  in  open  idolatry.  (Hos.  i.  2, 
ii.  2,  5.)  But  already  in  this  allusion  to  the  adulterous  children 
of  the  adulterous  wife,  as  also  in  the  yevea  (which  corresponds  to 
the  ryevvrj/jLciTa  i^Bvcev,  ver.  34),  there  certainly  lies,  at  the  same 
time,  a  reference  back  to  the  sins  of  the  fathers  out  of  which  the 
children  are  begotten  in  order  to  fill  up  its  measure,  and  hence, 
also,  an  explanation  of  the  final  destruction,  by  the  fearfully  con- 
tinuous progress  of  evil  from  generation  to  generation.  The 
seed  of  adulterers  is  itself  adulterous  in  the  twofold  sense  of 
which  we  read  in  Isa.  lvii.  3,  and  Wisd.  iii.  16,  iv.  6.  They 
demanded  signs  of  which  they  had  already  had  enough,  from  the 
desert  onwards,  where  they  tempted  God,  and  put  him  to  the 
test  whether  he  could  do  this  and  that  according  to  their  lust, 
and  just  in  the  same  way  do  they  act  now  towards  Christ.  But, 
although  the  long-suffering  of  Christ  continued  to  perform 
miracles  until  his  hands  were  bound  in  Gethsemane,  still,  no 
signs  of  such  a  kind  were  given  in  answer  to  their  request,  but  that 
last  one  which  he  had  already  at  the  beginning  announced  to 
them  (John  ii.  19)  in  answer  to  a  like  challenge,  the  sign  of  the 
Prophet  Jonas,  and  this,  too,  was  to  be  in  vain  for  them !  For 
they  who  believed  not  Moses  and  the  Prophets  could  not  believe 
on  Christ,  even  though  he  were  to  rise  from  the  dead. 


MATTHEW  XII.  39,  40.  177 

The  explanation  which  Luke  gives,  ver.  30,  of  what  the  sign 
of  Jonas  is,  does  not  by  any  means  contradict  the  one  here 
given  by  Christy1  but  is  only  an  abridged  and  indefinite  state- 
ment of  what  Matthew  gives  in  detail  in  vers.  40  and  41 ;  as 
well  the  similitude  of  the  resurrection  as  the  call  to  repentance. 
We  could,  indeed,  scarcely  understand  the  more  obscure  account 
of  Luke  without  the  assistance  of  Matthew,  but  we  ought,  there- 
fore, with  grateful  docility,  to  receive  what  the  Spirit  has  caused 
to  be  written  for  us,  and  not  wilfully  to  darken  what  is 
clear.  The  history  of  the  Old  Testament  presents  no  more 
striking  example  of  a  wonderful  preservation  from  certain  death 
that  that  of  the  prophet  Jonah,  nay,  it  is  singular  in  its  kind, 
inasmuch  as  the  Prophet,  although  as  it  were  shut  up  in 
death  and  buried,  yet  came  forth  again  to  life :  therefore  is  this 
history  recorded  as  a  similitude  and  type  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ,  as,  in  the  sphere  of  the  type,  a  resurrection  of  one  really 
dead  was  not  yet  possible.  The  expressions  in  the  Book  of 
Jonah  intimate  plainly  enough  to  him  who  reads  aright,  that  the 
Spirit  of  prophecy,  even  then,  wrote  them  with  reference  to 
Christ.  The  prayer  of  Jonah  (chap.  2),  was  really  uttered  in 
the  belly  of  the  fish  (k/)to?  an  indefinite  expression  in  the  Sept.  for 
vVlJl  Xl)>  as  Luther  renders  it,  although  in  the  Hebrew  it  is 

T  T 

"Wjfjjjg ;  for  the  deliverance  follows  in  ver.  11,  and  to  take  this  in 
the  pluperfect,  and  understand  at  the  beginning :  out  of  the  belly, 
i.e.,  after  he  had  been  saved,  and  was  out  of  it,  would  be  too  far- 
fetched. The  whole  prayer  in  his  distress  is  certainly,  at  the 
same  time,  a  thanksgiving,  a  confident  expectation  of  help,  with 
which  the  prophet,  even  from  the  bowels  of  the  fish,  sends  up 
his  cry  to  God's  heavens  and  the  light  of  life ;  but  that  is  his 
faith,  which  was  the  speedy  result  of  his  finding  that  he  miracu- 

1  Which,  according  to  Schleiermacher  is  again  "  only  a  false  inter- 
pretation of  the  reporter's  own,  which  he  has  mixed  up  with  the 
words  of  Christ,"  namely,  on  the  supposition  of  its  being  a  recollection 
already  weakened  and  confused  !  Neander,  unhappily,  almost  to 
the  same  effect  says,  that  ver.  40  is  an  entirely  unsuitable,  later 
addition,  the  sign  of  Jonas  only  representing  the  "  manifestation  of 
the  Son  of  Man  as  a  whole"  in  contradistinction  to  every  single  sign 
or  miracle.  That  the  resurrection  was  a  sign  only  for  believers  is 
against  the  whole  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (from  chap.  ii.  32,  33  onwards], 
against  Rom.  i.  4,  and  all  the  Apostolic  preaching. 

VOL.  II.  M 


178  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

lously  remained  alive  within  the  fish,  and  that  he  could  pray  for 
help.     The  Spirit,  in  his  record  of  the  prayer,  (for  in  such  his- 
tories, still  more  than  in  other  places,  the  difference  between  the 
written  and   acted  history  holds  good,  so  that  we  do  not  ex- 
pect to  find  the  bare  actual  occurrence  literally  in  the  word) 
views,  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  system  that  pervades  all 
Scripture,  the  depths  of  the   sea  (q^  22^3,  ver-  4),  at  tne 
same  time  as  the  abyss  of  the   realm  of  the  dead,  where  the 
floods  of  destruction,  the  waters   of  Belial  drown ;    the  belly 
of  the  monster  is  the  belly  of  hell  (ViNttt  tgjjl  ver-  3).     Thus 
from  the  prophetical  text  are  derived  the  expressions  of  Christ 
here,  with  which  He  places  the  type  there  already  indicated, 
completely  in  the  light  of  fulfilment :  the  KoCkia  corresponds,  as 
to  the  ^pj  yyn,  so  also  at  the  same  time  to  the  VlNtp  fi£b  anc^ 
the  Kapiia  -n}?  777?  points  back  at  once  to  the  q^  2272  an^ 
the  *q^2  rPrTH2  VlNtl-     ^  Christ  meant  to  denote  by  these 
expressions  nothing  more  than  death  and  the  grave,  inasmuch  as 
the  body  lay  in  the  earth,  then,  not  only  would  the  heart,  the 
centre  of  the  earth,  be  too  strong  an  expression  for  his  sepulchre 
in  the  rock,  besides  its  being  not  true  that  the  Son  of  Man  was 
himself  so  long  in  the  earth — but  what  is  chiefly  to  be  objected 
to  this  is,  that  the  word  of  fulfilment  would  thus  remain  behind 
the  word  of  prophecy.     No,  he  means — let  a  theology  or  dog- 
matism, which  shuts  its  eyes  to  these  things,  say  what  it  will  to 
the  contrary— his  actual  abode  in  the  Sheol,  the  realm  of  the 
dead,  beneath,  and  in  the  heart  of,  the  earth,1  or,  to  speak  in 
dogmatic  phraseology,  the  descent  into  hell,  of  which  Eph.  iv. 
9,  testifies.     That  which  the  type  could  shadow  forth  only  out- 
wardly was,  in  its  mysterious  and  essential  significance,  fulfilled 
in  Him  who  thus  entered  into  the  strong  man's  house  to  bind 
him  there,  who  proved  himself  to  be  victorious  over  him  in  the 
highest  power  of  the  quickening  spirit  of  God,  even  when  the 
leviathan  appeared  to  have  swallowed  Him  up,  and  when  it  was 
said  over  the  earth,  The  prophet  is  devoured,  it  is  all  over  with 


1  Since  microcosmically  the  heart  of  man  actually  corresponds  to  the 
innermost  part  of  the  earth,  for  which  compare  Jam.  iii.  6,  and  Pro  v. 
xxvii.  19,  20,  (and  if  possible  our  interpretations  of  both  passages.) 


MATTHEW  XII.  39,  40.  179 

liim.     "  But  thou  hast  brought  forth  my  life  from  destruction, 
O  Lord  my  God."     Jon.  ii.  7. 

Tliree  days  and  three  nights — not  longer,  and  then  will  the 
Son  of  Man  come  forth  to  life,  as  it  happened  with  Jonah. i 
Then,  just  as  Jonah  preached  to  the  Ninevites,  a  new  preaching 
will  begin,  in  which  the  risen  Saviour  will  be  a  sign  for  repen- 
tance unto  this  generation,  as  Jonah,  saved  from  the  fish,  was  to 
the  Ninevites.  Then  will  He,  who,  even  now  (a  greater  than 
Jonas  is  here !),  displays  Himself  to  your  eyes  and  ears  as  the 
true  sign,  the  bread  from  heaven  (John  vi.  51),  be,  by  the  highest 
possible  miracle,  which  seals  all  that  went  before,  offered  to  you 
as  the  bread  of  life ;  then  will  follow  upon  this  sign  from  beneath, 
wrought  upon  the  Son  of  Man  by  the  power  of  God,  the  Pente- 
costal signs  from  heaven, — for  Daniel's  vision  of  the  glorification 
of  the  Son  of  Man  begins  from  that  time  to  be  fulfilled  (as 
Christ,  Matth.  xxvi.  64,  in  the  depth  of  ignominy,  announces 
by  a  "  from  this  time  forth").  All  this,  Christ  sees  and  signifies 
in  His  words  ;  those  who  heard  Him  plainly  understood  so  much, 
at  least,  as  they  afterwards  came  to  show,  namely,  that  He  would 
rise  again  after  three  days ;  therefore  they  set  a  watch  upon  the 
grave  until  the  third  day.2     (Matth.  xxvii.  63,  64.) 

1  Although  it  is  not  without  significance  that,  precisely  on  the  third 
day,  corruption  in  general  begins  to  appear,  we  are  yet  certainly  not 
at  liberty  with  Hofman  (Weiss,  u.  Erf.  ii.  262)  to  make  that  alone  the 
ground  of  Christ's  words,  which  expressly  refer  to  Jonas.  Comp. 
also  1st  Cor.  xv.  4. 

2  The  refutation  of  the  trifling  and  presumptuous  after-reckoning  of  the 
three  days  and  nights  belongs  only  to  a  note.  In  the  Talm.  Hieros. 
it  is  expressly  said :  "  Day  and  night  make  together  a  space  of  time 
(rtiiy)'  anc*  tne  Part  °f  su°k  *s  as  ^e  whole/'  The  Jews  reckoned 
wxOrjpspa  (2  Cor.  xi.  25),  and  said,  so  many  days  and  nights  (Gen. 
vii.  12 ;  Ex.  xxiv.  18).  (Compare  Esth.  iv.  16  with  v.  1 ;  1  Sam. 
xxx.  12,  13  ;  2  Chron.  x.  5,  12  ;  1  Kings  xx.  29.)  Consequently,  if 
Christ  died  at  the  end  of  the  first  day,  and  arose  at  the  breaking  of 
the  third,  there  are  three  day-night  periods,  and  he  says  here  nothing 
else  than  in  the  other  passages  :  "  in  three  days,  on  the  third  day." 
According  to  Konig  (Descent  into  Hell,  p.  197),  Damascenus  Studita 
has  ingeniously  reckoned,  that  Christ  was  thirty-three  hours  in  Hades 
as  he  was  thirty-three  years  on  the  earth.  This  might  really  almost 
harmonise, — better,  at  least,  than  the  very  summary  combination  of 
Oetinger,  who  speaks  of  forty  hours  in  the  grave  answering  to  the 
forty  days  after  the  resurrection. 


180  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Ver.  41,  42.  But  the  sign  of  Jonah,  too,  will  be  in  vain  ! 
Christ  speaks  here,  in  continuation  of  the  prophecy,  by  no  means 
merely  of  the  unbelief  in  His  person  then  manifesting  itself, 
as  one  might  be  led  wrongly  to  suppose  from  the  koX  Ihov 
wSe.  He  only  goes  out  from  the  present,  taking  it  also  into  his 
view  as  He  does  by  saying :  Now  already  in  my  words  and 
works,  which  prove  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  come  more  than 
Jonah  or  Solomon  did  (ver.  28;  chap.  xi.  12 — 15,  21,  23). 
But  He  especially  speaks  of  the  last  preaching  of  the  Spirit  after 
His  resurrection,  for  He  compares  with  it  the  preaching  of  Jonah 
after  his  deliverance.  As  the  Ninevites  did  not  see  the  sign  of 
the  prophet  with  their  eyes,  but  believed  and  repented  upon  his 
preaching  (eh  to  /cr/pwy/jua  s.  Winer's  Gramm.,  p.  338),  so,  and 
not  otherwise,  was  the  risen  Son  of  Man,  whom  they  no  longer 
saw  with  their  eyes,  a  sign  to  the  Jews  in  the  preaching  of  the 
Spirit  by  the  Apostles.  That,  moreover,  the  people  of  Nineveh 
may  have  known  something  of  Jonah,  from  their  expedition  to 
Israel  under  Pul  (2  Kings  xv.  19,  20),  and  may  have  seen  the  ful- 
filment of  his  prophecy  (2  Kings  xiv.  25),  at  all  events  have 
heard  from  his  own  lips  the  wonderful  history  of  his  deliverance 
from  the  belly  of  hell — all  this,  although  not  declared  in  the 
narrative  (Jon.  iii.),  may  yet  be  presupposed  as  probable,  from 
the  great  success  which  attended  his  preaching ;  it  is  intimated 
to  some  extent  (ver.  5)  in  the  words :  then  they  believed  in  God 
— which  may  indicate  in  general,  it  is  true,  the  ground  of  all 
repentance  (to  which  Christ  here  also  points),  but  may  mean,  at 
the  same  time,  the  miracle  of  divine  power  before  narrated.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  the  comparison  which  Christ  here  makes  implies, 
that  the  sign  of  Jonas  was  not  in  vain  for  the  Ninevites,  but  this 
generation  will  not,  in  like  manner,  receive  unto  repentance  the 
preaching  concerning  the  resurrection  of  the  Son  of  Man,  although 
powerfully  attetsted  by  the  Holy  Spirit.1 

Greater  than  Jonas  !  greater  than  Solomon !  If  such  a  com- 
parison of  the  Lord  from  heaven,  who  is  over  all,  with  children 

1  At  all  events  Christ  will  least  of  all  say  what  Lange  strangely  under- 
stands Him  to  say,  viz.,  that  the  Messiah  is  come  even  as  Jonas  came 
— a  stranger,  a  poor,  unknown,  nameless  man,  attesting  himself  solely 
by  the  power  of  his  inner  life  1  For  he  plainly  speaks  of  something 
future. 


MATTHEW  XII.  41,  42.  181 

of  the  earth,  of  the  incomparable  One  with  those  who  are  alto- 
gether as  nothing  before  Him,  and  who  in  reality  derive  all  that 
they  have  only  from  Him,  is,  on  the  one  hand,  an  expression  of 
condescension  and  love,  asking  in  sadness,  Am  I  less  than  those, 
that  you  despise  me  so  1 — on  the  other,  the  propriety  of  the  com- 
parison is  based  on  the  divine  consecration,  which  exalted  Jonah 
and  Solomon  into  types  of  Christ.  Where  Christ,  in  His  own 
history  or  in  that  of  His  kingdom,  points  to  histories  in  the  Old 
Testament  with  a  like  as  (eh.  xxiv.  37 ;  John  iii.  14),  there,  in 
every  case,  is  a  resemblance  not  arbitrary  and  only  then  super- 
added, but  one  already  prepared  in  the  type.  As  the  typical 
explanation,  like  as  Jonas  was  in  the  fish's  belly?  preceded  the 
affirmation,  a  greater  than  Jonas  is  here  I — so  does  the  following 
comparison  with  Solomon  presuppose  an  entirely  parallel  like  as, 
i.e.,  in  like  manner,  a  typical  reference  to  Christ  of  the  person, 
power,  wisdom,  and  glory  of  Solomon,  of  all  that  characterises 
him  as  Solomon.  If  it  was  fit  for  Solomon  to  be  placed  in  com- 
parison with  all  the  children  of  the  east,  with  Egyptians,  and 
with  all  heathen  poets  (1  Kings  iv.  30,  31),  so  it  is  fit  for  Christ 
Himself  only  to  say:  a  greater  than  Solomon.  Only  in  the 
sphere  of  sacred  history,  at  least  in  types  which  but  faintly 
shadow  Him  forth,  does  He  find  His  like,  i.e.,  such  as  are 
worthy  even  of  being  mentioned  side  by  side  with  Him,  with 
a,  Here  is  one  greater  !  We  find  even  in  the  Old  Testament, 
in  Nathan's  prophecy,  and  in  the  Psalms  founded  upon  it,  how 
Solomon's  reign  of  peace,  his  building  the  Temple,  his  splendour, 
his  marriage,  point  prophetically  to  the  future ;  here,  in  addition 
to  these,  it  is  especially  his  wisdom  that  is  spoken  of,  as  Matth. 
xiii.  16  points  back  to  1  Kings  x.  8.  The  queen  of  the  South 
is  not  so  much  placed  in  antithesis  as  a  woman  to  the  avhpes 
Nivevlrat,  (which  indeed  is  only  =  HYPS  ^tZ?^)'  but,  by  way  of 
climax,  as  one  who  came  even  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  from 
the  far  coast  of  the  foreign  country  that  bounds  the  known 
world,2  to  seek  out  the  anointed  of  the  Lord  who  was  so  much 

1  With  which  obancp  rjv  cvras  eorai,  moreover,  the  veritable  reality 
of  all  that  is  recorded  of  the  prophet,  as  corresponding  to  the  real  his- 
tory of  Christ,  is  maintained  and  proven. 

2  As  already  llomercalled  the  Aethiopeans  M  the  farthest  out  among 
men" 


182  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

renowned,  while  Jonas  came  to  the   Ninevites   to  their  own 
country. 

We  may  certainly,  however,  apply  the  words  of  Christ  in  the 
widest  sense,  and,  taking  into  view  all  the  renowned  names  of 
wise,  and  all  the  wonderful  destinies  of  remarkable  men,  all  the 
missions  and  preachings  confirmed  by  signs  of  whatever  kind, 
say:  Here  is  a  greater  than  any  Jonas-miracle!  Here  is  a 
greater  than  any  Solomon  of  his  nation  and  time !  For  the 
history  of  Him  who,  by  the  suffering  of  death,  was  crowned 
with  glory  and  honour,  is  the  miracle  of  all  miracles  in  the 
world's  history  for  every  one  who  asks  a  sign  ;  the  words  of  the 
Word  are  wisdom  itself  for  all  who  enquire  after  wisdom  and 
earnestly  seek  it.  What  then  shall  we  say  of  the  unbelieving 
generation  of  fools  in  Christendom,  who  esteem  the  fables  of  the 
heathen  and  the  histories  of  the  world's  heroes  more  remarkable 
than  the  cross  and  the  victory  of  Christ  I  who  run  after  this  or 
that  ancient  or  modern  "  hero,"  or  "  classic,"  or  "  genius,"  and 
say  :  Here  is  one  almost  as  great — or,  again,  Here  is  one  really 
as  great,  or,  finally,  Here  is  one  greater  than  Christ !  As  the 
excellent  Dannhauer  on  the  text  exclaims,  in  reference  to  his 
own  time :  "  Carthusians  and  Flagellants  shall  stand  up  in 
the  judgment  against  the  philosophers  of  this  day,  and  condemn 
them."  That  which  Christ  has  said  in  chap.  x.  15,  and  xi.  22, 
24,  He  here  again  says  more  strongly,  from  another  point  of 
view  :  as  the  Gentiles  who,  till  then,  remained  impenitent,  have 
a  more  tolerable  judgment  than  Israel,  so  at  last  shall  those  who 
have  repented,  who  sought,  even  from  afar,  the  truth  of  God 
which  appeared  in  the  midst  of  Israel,  condemn  Israel  by  their 
example— in  that  great  judgment  in  which  all  of  every  country 
and  time  shall  appear  together,  and  all  the  guilty,  besides  the 
protocol  which  they  themselves  have  written,  shall  be  confronted 
with  all  witnesses  for  their  conviction,  whose  conduct  cries  out 
with  reference  to  them  :  Might  you  not  also  have  done  so,  and 
even  much  more  ?  The  last  sign  of  the  Messiah,  then,  will  not 
be  that  Israel  shall  judge  the  heathen,  and  rain  fire  and  brim- 
stone upon  the  Komans,  but  that  the  believing  heathen  world 
shall  condemn  Israel.  Chap.  viii.  11,  12 ;  xxi.  43,  (Rom.  ii. 
27.)  The  Nineveh  of  this  Jonah  will  be  Rome,  whose  power 
bows  before  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  Greece  will  seek  and  find 


MATTHEW  XII.  43,  45.  183 

in  this  Solomon  the  true  wisdom.  But  as  for  this  evil  and  adul- 
terous generation — its  latter  end  will  be  terribly  worse  than  any 
former  destruction  and  judgment,  as  is  now  shown  in  ver.  43  to 
ver.  45.  And  why  so  ?  u  Because  thou  hast  not  known  the  day 
of  thy  visitation  !"     Luke  xix.  44. 

This  transitional  idea,  which  is  only  to  be  pre-supposed  in 
Matthew's  epitomized  collection  of  Christ's  discourses,  is  given 
by  Luke  xi.  33,  36,  as  having  been  also  spoken  by  Christ ;  for 
these  words  in  Luke  stand  plainly  in  close  connection  with  what 
goes  before,  and  are  there,  where  several  transpositions  occur,  to 
be  introduced  between  ver.  23  and  24.  They  are  again  a  repe- 
tition from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  (as  at  ver.  33),  and  need 
no  further  interpretation  here.  We  have  only  to  observe  the 
connexion  here,  according  to  which,  what  is  meant  to  be  said  is : 
The  light  of  my  preaching  shines  even  now  clearly  enough,  and 
after  the  sign  of  Jonas  will  be  set  still  more  clearly  on  the  candle- 
stick, only  the  blindness  whose  light  has  become  darkness,  sees 
it  not.  Ek  KpviTTrjv  may  be  the  Hebrew  idiom  for  the  neuter, 
or  may  mean  really  a  crypta,  a  concealed  passage  or  vault,  the 
sense  remains  the  same.  The  aarpairr}  ver.  36,  is  equivalent  to 
96770?  before,  purposely,  however,  expressed  more  strongly,  in 
order  to  mark  that  the  light  does  not  struggle  through  with 
difficulty,  but,  victorious  over  the  darkness,  instantaneously  illu- 
mines everything.  These  words,  spoken  in  a  spirit  of  mingled 
sadness  and  kindness,  and  only  hypothetically,  of  a  complete  illu- 
mination by  the  light2  of  God,  now  only  conceived  of  as  an  ideal, 
contrast  all  the  more  fearfully  with  the  dark  closing  picture  in 
Matthew,  to  which  we  must  now  turn. 

Ver.  43,  45.  The  words  are  a  parable,  in  which  Christ  (an  evi- 
dent proof  of  the  unity  of  these  discourses),  turns  back  at  the  end 
to  the  beginning  of  his  address ;  he  takes  the  casting  out  of  the 
devil  from  an  individual  demoniac  as  the  figure,  in  so  far  as  he  an- 
nounces an  aggravated  return  of  the  evil  one.  It  thereby  becomes 
worse  with  this  man  than  it  was  before,  and  so  will  it  be  also  with 
this  generation  !  It  is  the  same  generation,  of  course,  that  was 
spoken  of  from  ver.  39  onwards,  although  besides  (which  shows  the 

1  In  this  case  to  be  written  KpinrTrjv.     Euthymius :  anoKpvfyov  oUiau. 

2  On  the  sense  of  which  we  have  already  expressed  ourselves  at 
Matth.vi.  22. 


1S4  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

truth  of  the  interpretation  that  refers  the  words  only  to  it),  the 
beginners  in  the  faith  (ver.  23),  may  also  take  warning  from  such 
a  threatening  prophecy.  Thou  hast  Beelzebub  !  said  the  masters 
in  Israel  to  him.  He  has  patiently  refuted  them,  kindly  warned 
them,  sharply  rebuked  them  ;  now,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  ad- 
dress, announcing  the  end  of  the  people,  he  has  come  so  far  as 
to  retort  upon  them :  This  evil  generation  is  the  great  demo- 
niac, in  regard  to  whom  all  previous  casting  out  will  at  last 
appear  to  have  been  vain.  As  before,  at  ver.  29,  mankind  as  a 
whole  was  represented  as  Satan's  house  and  household,  so  now  it 
is  especially  Israel,  viewed  collectively  as  his  residence,  and  as 
having  fallen  anew  by  their  own  guilt.  We  will  just  examine 
the  details  of  the  parable,  that  we  may  then  see  more  clearly  its 
application. 

The  unclean  spirit  which  dwells  in  the  demoniac,  as  is  sup- 
posed by  way  of  parable,  is  still  to  be  understood  as  one  of  the 
many  subordinate  demons,  and  not  the  prince  of  them  himself 
(who,  in  Mark  iii.  30,  has  the  same  general  title).  He  is  in  reality 
gone  out  of  the  man,  which  presupposes  an  expulsion  by  the 
power  of  God.1  Christ,  we  might  say  with  special  design,  ac- 
cumulates in  a  lew  words  strong  and  massive  features,  taken 
from  the  natural  history  of  the  devil,  as  it  lay  open  before  him, 
so  that  in  all  future  time  it  might  not  be  thought  that  he  spake 
only  according  to  Jewish  superstition,  and  that  he  drew  the 
figure  for  representing  world-historical  realities  from  unreal  re- 
presentations, springing  from  human  delusion  !  Indeed  (as  the 
excellent  Stein  on  Luke  here  also  admits),  he  glorifies  his  wisdom 
precisely  in  this,  that  he  was  able  to  graft  the  loftiest  truths  upon 
erroneous  popular  conceptions.  The  expelled  spirit  wanders 
about  through  dry  places,  districts  without  water,  and  therefore 
without  human  houses  or  inhabitants. ^  Such  waste  places  are  the 
devils'  dwelling  place  when  they  are  not  in  and  among  men  ;  as 
we  find  not  only  in  passages  of  the  apocrypha,  as  Tob.  viii.  3 ; 

1  It  is  by  no  means  mere  appearance  that  is  here  spoken  of,  as  if  the 
malady  were  overcome,  as  if  by  the  healing  of  the  demoniac  damage 
were  done  also  to  the  "  principle  of  evil  itself"  in  the  man  (as  Neander 
understands  it.)  Every  casting  out  of  the  devil  is  an  actual  step  to- 
wards improvement,  and  even  in  the  application  afterwards  to  the  gene- 
ration of  this  time,  this  holds  perfectly  true. 


MATTHEW  XII.  43,  45.  185 

Bar.  iv.  35,  but  even  in  Rev.  xviii.  2  (according  to  prophetic  re- 
presentations, Is.  xiii.  21,  22,  xxxiv.  14),  and  as  is  here  in  perfect 
earnestness  confirmed  by  Christ.  The  ejected  devils  abide  wil- 
lingly at  least  upon  the  earth,  as  they  are  still  at  liberty  to  do, 
and  have  a  certain  pleasure  in  all  that  is  waste  and  desolate  upon 
it,  in  ruined  paradises  and  overthrown  glory.  Then  impelled 
by  inward  pain  he  seeks  rest  i.e.,  first  of  all,  a  temporary 
place  of  abode  and  settlement,  in  which  Christ — (to  whose 
mind  passages  of  Scripture  are  always  immediately  present, 
inasmuch  as  all  his  thoughts  and  knowledge  take  their  rise 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures) — has  again  evidently  Is.  xxxiv.  14  in 
his  eye.1  But  when  the  word  of  the  prophecy,  less  distinctly  ex- 
pressing the  meaning  which  lies  under  the  figure,  speaks  of  the 
finding  of  rest  (ni^ft  JlN!£D>  LXX.  also  avaTravcrtv),  Christ 
here,  as  it  were,  justifies  and  confirms  the  word,  inasmuch  as  he 
goes  on  to  say :  and  findeth  it  not !  For  how  can  a  devil  find 
rest,  which  the  creature  can  find  only  in  God  ?  He  has  lost  it  for 
ever,  he  seeks  it  in  vain,  in  all  waste  places,  which  otherwise  please 
him ;  he  seeks  it  especially  in  vain  there  where  God  the  Lord 
of  creation  will  have  His  rest,  and  where,  therefore,  the  devil  also, 
if  he  can  force  an  entrance,  finds  himself  relatively  best — namely, 
in  man.  Therefore,  the  desire  soon  returns  upon  him  to  look 
after  his  own  more  peculiar  house.  He  declares  his  intention  eVta- 
rpeyjrco,  which  he  cannot  long  leave  unexecuted,  for  he  is  always 
willing  to  return  if  only  he  can.  As,  in  ver.  29,  it  was  Satan's 
house,  as  a  whole,  that  was  spoken  of,  in  which  individual  men 
are  the  household  furniture,  so  now  the  same  expression  is,  with 
equal  truth,  applied  internally  to  the  individual ;  every  man  in  a 
devil's  power  is  his  house.  He  impudently  speaks  of  the  house 
as  his  own  from  the  first — he  knows  still  all  the  secret  passages 
in  it,  as  in  a  stronghold  which  he  had  left,  and  speaks,  like  a  true 
devil,  as  if  he  had  only  gone  out  of  his  own  free  will,  not  confessing 
that  he  was  forced  out.  And  when  he  thus  comes,  how  does  he 
find  it  in  the  case  here  supposed  1     Swept  and  garnished,  as  both 

1  Moreover,  a  perplexing  proof  for  those  who  too  hastily  throw 
many  things  among  the  Jewish  fables,  that  by  the  Q^  anc*  D^H 
■Vyfefc  and  JTT^>  hellish  spirits  are  actually  indicated,  although  not 
the  rabbinical  Lilith. 


180  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

evangelists  have  it.  But  would  not  this  be  contrary  to  the  nature 
of  the  unclean  spirit  who  likes  to  dwell  only  in  the  filth  of  sin  f 
Alas  !  this  garnishing,  which  is  here  meant,  is  to  him  filthy  and 
agreeable  enough ;  for  it  is  the  outward  garnishing  of  hypocrisy, 
it  is  a  sweeping  with  the  besom  of  Pharisaism  which  makes  worse 
that  which  was  already  evil,  in  proof  of  which  compare  Lukexi. 
39,  40.  In  Matthew  there  is  still  the  term  kypkd£ovra,  afford- 
ing a  certain  explanation  of  the  other  two  words  before  which  it 
stands,  and  which  designedly  includes  at  once  the  figure  and  its 
explanation ;  in  the  figure,  empty -,  open  for  free  access,  in  the 
explanation  idle,  left  unguarded  through  indolence,  security, 
hypocritical  conceit,  and  thus  in  the  best  way  prepared  and 
adorned  for  the  devil.1  This  is  a  discovery  going  beyond  his  ex- 
pectation, and  in  which  he  will  have  his  pleasure  and  labour 
not  alone.  Then,  he  goes  away  once  more  (not  concerned 
lest  such  a  house  should  meanwhile  be  lost  to  him),  and  takes 
as  a  reinforcement  seven  other  devils  who  are  worse  than  him- 
self. This  does  not  mean  worse  in  respect  of  wickedness  (ne- 
quiores,  sceleratiores),  for  in  this,  indeed,  there  is  no  difference 
possible  between  devil  and  devil,  but  worse  in  their  power  to 
destroy,  and  in  their  consequent  obstinacy.  (Chap.  xvii.  21). 
Stronger  ones  are  meant,  but,  because  from  them  greater  evil 
(i.e.  in  the  explanation,  worse  sin),  follows  for  the  poor  man, 
Christ  speaks  of  worse  ones.  The  seven  dwell  there  instead  of  the 
one,  are  no  more  driven  out,  and  the  relapse  of  him  who  was 
once  healed  is  worse  than  the  first  illness. 

Who  is  this  man  I  Christ  explains  his  parable  unasked.  Such 
will  be  the  last  end  of  this  evil  generation  !  Consequently,  the 
end  of  the  story  here  narrated  will  be  realised  in  the  then  exist- 
ing last  generation  of  Israel,  which  fills  up  the  measure  of  guilt, 
and  draws  down  judgment  upon  itself.  We  know  now  how  it 
happened.  But  inasmuch  as  Christ  has  put  the  ecr^ara  in  op- 
position to  the  7TpwTot?,  and  begun  the  parable  with  the  actual 

1  Braune,  here  falsely  understanding  it  in  the  good  sense  of  prepared- 
ness for  receiving  the  Holy  Ghost,  entirely  mistakes  the  iron?/  of  the 
expression.  (Stud.  u.  Krit.  1847,  ii.  390).  It  is  truly  not  the  be- 
ginning of  regeneration  that  is  here  spoken  of,  in  which  Satan  might 
yet  again  find  room  for  working,  but  it  is  the  offence  of  the  hypocrite 
in  false  security. 


MATTLEW  XII.  43 — 45.  187 

casting  out  of  the  one,  first  devil,  we  observe,  at  the  same  time, 
that  he  takes  into  one  view  the  collective  history  of  this  entire 
people,  from  the  fathers  downward.  What  was  their  first  devil  ? 
It  was  rude  heathenish  idolatry.  This  God  truly  cast  out  by  the 
Babylonian  exile,  and  this  certainly  was  in  itself  something  good, 
it  was  a  result  obtained  for  the  time.  But  soon  again  in  in- 
dolent security  they  adorned  the  house  which  was  mistakenly 
supposed  to  have  been  cleansed  for  all  time  coming.  And,  the 
more  that  their  pride  recoiled  from  idols,  with  so  much  the  more 
corruption  and  inward  idolatry  must  they  commit  sacrilege  in  the 
true  sanctuary  (Rom.  ii.  22)  ;  in  Pharisaism  there  grew  up  a  yevea 
fioi^aXky  which  went  a  whoring  after  idols  worse  than  the  for- 
mer, j  The  seven  devils  were  not  merely  on  their  way,  they  were 
already  come  when  Christ  spake ;  still  he  speaks  prophetically 
(t'crrat),  because  he  has  in  view  the  last  manifestation  of  this  state, 
the  outbreak  of  the  destruction  which  awaited  the  people  in  judg- 
ment. Nor  is  it  to  be  overlooked,  what  Von  Meyer  in  his  strik- 
ing note  here  says,  that  as  another  application  of  this  many-sided 
parable,  the  ineffectual  casting  out  which  is  followed  only  by  a 
worse  relapse,  means,  at  the  same  time,  the  coming  in  of  the 
kingdom  in  Christ  (ver.  28).  The  manifold  good,  both  in  the 
sphere  of  knowledge  and  of  will,  which  was  actually  called  forth 
by  the  labours  of  Christ  for  a  time,  might  once  more  have  effected 
a  thorough  cleansing  of  the  people,  but  this  also  was  in  vain.  rln 
the  period  between  the  ascension  of  Christ  and  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  especially  towards  the  end  of  it,  this  nation  shows 
itself,  one  might  say,  as  if  possessed  by  seven  thousand  devils^  It 
is  judged,  destroyed,  blinded ;  its  judgment  is  the  great  type  of 
history  for  the  last  judgment  of  the  whole  world,  and  in  its  pre- 
sent blindness  it  must  even  as  the  people  of  God,  without  know- 
ing or  willing  it,  serve  at  least  as  a  warning  and  prophetic  parable 
to  the  world. 

For  we  will  find  that  the  same  holds  good  of  Christendom,  of 
those  who  are  outwardly  called  taken  collectively.  The  apostoli- 
cal age  is  followed  by  the  setting  up  of  the  golden  calf  in  the 
Romish  Church ;  even  idolatry  properly  so  called  breaks  out  on 
every  side.  The  return  from  the  exile  corresponds  in  part  to  the 
Reformation ;  ^or  have  we  far  to  look  for  the  Pharisaism  of 
Lutheranism.  |  At  present,  indeed,  everything  is  more  compli- 
cated, more  spiritual,  and  on  a  scale  of  more  complete  develop- 


188  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

merit,  still  the  ground-features  remain  the  same,  although  Phari- 
sees and  Sadducees,  on  this  side  and  on  that,  in  many  ways 
change  places  in  and  out  of  the  still  remaining  faith  of  the  letter. 
Enough,  that  "  in  the  midst  of  all  the  culture  that  exists,"  with 
all  the  sweeping  and  garnishing  of  the  house  by  art,  science, 
illumination,  industry,  and  speculation,  there  is  already  something 
worse  at  the  bottom  than  a  mere  Laodicean  o-^oXafen/.  j  How 
one  who  has  been  cleansed  only  with  the  besom  of  an  outward  re- 
formation, who  is  only  outwardly  civilized,  is  not  safe  from  coarse 
excesses,  as  a  savage,  outwardly  broken  in,  may  yet  easily  fall  back 
into  wildness,  and  the  nature  which  was  washed  only  on  the  out- 
side revenge  itself  all  the  more  violently  and  filthily— the  first 
revolution  in  the  land  of  civilization  has  begun  practically  to 
show,  and  as  an  additional  impending  proof  of  the  theory,  Ger- 
many, also  more  spiritual  in  its  sins,  as  the  kernel  of  the  Chris- 
tian nations,  begins  in  like  manner  to  develop  itself.i  r  What 
will  it  be  when  the  eayara  comes,  the  last  unbelief  of  completed 
antichristianism,  the  Man  of  Sin., 

Finally,  this  grandly  prophetic  parable  finds  always  its  true 
application  also  in  the  individual,  with  whom  the  same  may  and 
must  take  place,  if,  after  a  first  cure  and  conversion,  he  becomes 
<TXo\d&v  for  the  returning  devil.  Every  relapse  brings  a  worse 
state  (John  v.  14)  ;  but  the  complete  relapse  of  the  regenerated 
person  (which  the  relapses  of  Israel  and  of  Christendom  shadow 
forth  as  a  whole,  just  as  they  are  really  exemplified  in  many 
an  individual,  and  of  which  Christ  here  speaks  generally  accord- 
ing to  the  innermost  kernel  of  the  word),  such  a  relapse  makes  the 
destruction  irreparable,  it  makes  the  person  ripe  for  judgment, 
and  is  another,  nay,  the  most  fearful  expression  of  that  unpar- 
donable sin  spoken  of  above.  Hence  the  Apostle  in  2  Pet.  ii. 
20 — 22  plainly  refers  to  this  parable  of  Christ.  Ovtqx;  etrrai — 
the  Saviour,  as  judge,  has  declared  respecting  his  whole  nation, 
and  it  has  been  fulfilled  before  the  eyes  of  the  world.  A  still 
more  awful  ovtco?  earai  remains  literally  as  the  eaxarov  in  this, 
and  the  future  world,  respecting  the  evil  generation,  most  pro- 
perly so  called,  of  the  lost,  whose  destruction  and  judgment  are 
prophetically  attested  by  all  the  fearfully  ending  catastrophes  of 

1  This  was  written  in  the  year  1844 — what  will  the  reader  now 
say  to  it  ? 


MATTHEW  XII.  48 — 50.  189 

the  men  and  generations  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  people  of 
God  in  the  world's  history,  as  parables  which  already,  more  or 
less,  carry  their  truth  in  themselves. 


Christ's  mother  and  brethren. 

(Matth.  xii.  48—50 ;  Mark  iii.  33—35  ;  Luke  viii.  21.) 

Again,  a  contrast  similar  to  chap.  xi.  23 — 28.  Often  as  the 
future  judge  must  cast  down  to  hell  by  his  word  of  truth,  his 
Saviour-heart  can  yet  never  forget  that  he  is  come  into  the  world 
not  to  judge,  but  to  save.  A  gracious  word  coming  immediately 
after  the  fearful  denunciation  against  the  seed  of  Abraham,  which 
had  become  a  generation  of  vipers — an  expression  of  the  deepest, 
tenderest,  feeling  of  love,  which  still  was  in  his  heart  even  when 
he  spoke  words  of  anger,  and  which  was  called  forth  by  an  inti- 
mation that  was  made  to  him — a  word  also  for  us,  which  is  more 
to  be  felt  than  understood.  He  had  brought  his  address  to  the 
people  to  a  close ;  would  he  have  been  silent  then,  or  what  more 
would  he  have  said  1  Meanwhile,  he  is  interrupted  by  the  inti- 
mation, that  his  mother  and  brethren  had  already  been  standing 
a  long  time  before  the  house,  inquiring  after  him,  endeavouring 
to  come  to  him  in  order  to  say  something  to  him.  We  should 
never  have  thought  of  conjecturing  what  this  was,  did  we  not 
read  it  with  astonishment  in  Mark  (whose  account  we  must  re- 
gard as  parallel,  in  opposition  to  Ebrard's  harmony  which  is  not 
always  correct).  Surrounded  by  the  throng  ot  people,  he  had 
found  neither  time  nor  space  for  eating,  and  carried  along  by 
holy  zeal,  he  had  spoken  without  rest — the  evangelists  giving 
only  the  substance  of  what  he  had  said.  His  kinsfolk1  become 
apprehensive  about  him,  especially  the  unbelieving  brothers,  who 
likely  had  not  yet  desisted  from  going  about  with  the  humble 
first-born,  as  they  were  wont  to  do  in  Nazareth,  who,  again  at  a 
later  period  (John  vii.  3),  are  represented  as  giving  him  advice, 
and  who  here,  most  naturally,  from  the  human  point  of  view, 

For  this  must  at  all  events  be  the  meaning  of  oi  nap  avrov  Mark 
ver.  21,  because  ver.  31  again  takes  up  the  discourse  with  ovv,  Mark 
iv.  10  oi  wept  avrdv  is  something  quite  different. 


190  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

are  for  exercising  their  right  as  brothers,  and  even  the  mother 
stands,  on  this  occasion  at  least,  passively  on  their  side.  They 
will  stop  him,  seize  him,  (tcparrjcrai,  avrbv)  for  they  think  and  say ; 
o-tv  igeaTrj.  Let  us  interpret  this  as  gently  as  we  may,  it  remains 
a  strong  word  i1  he  does  too  much,  forgets  all  moderation  (2 
Cor.  v.  13),  exerts  himself  beyond  his  power,  and  beyond  what 
is  proper ;  certainly  equivalent  to  he  is  beside  himself,  out  of  his 
senses,  knows  not  what  he  is  doing,  so  that  we  have  to  interfere  ! 
Mark  brings  it  expressly  in  connexion  with  the  words  of  the 
scribes :  He  has  Beelzebub !  in  order  to  show  us  at  one  glance 
all  that  happened  from  friends  and  foes  to  Christ  who  remains 
ever  the  same,  and  whom  neither  devilish  blasphemy,  nor  the 
false  love  of  men,  was  able  to  move.  Perhaps  he  will  even  indi- 
cate that  the  friends  of  Christ  heard  the  fearful  word,  and,  at 
least,  in  a  milder  sense,  applied  it  to  him.  But  it  is  altogether 
contrary  to  the  text  (Mark  ver.  22)  to  suppose,  that  the  Pharisees 
also  (on  account  of  the  many  paradoxes  which  Christ  uttered) 
had  merely  meant  to  say,  and  to  spread  abroad  that  he  was  out 
of  his  senses,  crack-brained,  not  quite  wise.  "  Possessed  of  a 
devil,"  and  "  out  of  his  senses  "  are  two  very  different  things.2 
Christ  was  certainly  in  an  unusual  frame  of  awakened  zeal,  but 
He  was  quite  Himself  he  was  fulfilling  his  work  and  office,  viz., 
to  speak  the  word  of  God  to  all  who  would,  and  should  hear  him, 
and  so  to  speak  as  it  was  needful  for  them,  for  instruction,  warning, 
and  judgment.  (What  is  recorded  in  Luke  xi.  27,  28,  also  took 
place  meanwhile).  His  zeal  had  just  carried  Him  to  the  point  of 
opening  up  a  look  into  the  fearful  depths  of  destruction,  from 
which  he  would  willingly  save  those  who  are  yet  willing  to  hear 
and  believe,  when  His  mother  and  brethren  according  to  the 
flesh,  come  in  His  way,  and  as  his  spirit  in  the  e/caraacs — which 
yet  in  reality  was  no  eKaraais — well  perceives,  with  a  carnal  re- 
quest. What  else  can  He  feel  and  think,  and  therefore  say,  than 
what  we  read  in  Matth.  and  Mark.    Away,  perverse  generation  ! 

i  Schleiermacher  thought  that  this  addition  by  Mark  must  always 
remain  strange  even  when  understood  in  the  mildest  possible  sense— 
and  therefore  assigned  it  a  place  among  those  "  accumulations  and  ex 
aggerations  which  are  so  frequent  in  Mark. 

2  But  to  speak  of  ecstacy  in  Christ,  as  Sepp  foolishly  does,  is  folly ; 
he  was  removed  above  ecstacy,  though  not  above  strong  emotion. 


MATTHEW  XII.  48 — 50.  191 

Away,  mother  and  brethren  !  I  speak  as  long  as  I  can  for  those 
who  have  ears  to  hear ;  for  this  am  I  sent,  and  I  know  that  I 
do  not  speak  in  vain  :  here  are  those  who  hear  Me, — these  are 
My  brethren,  My  sisters,  and  mother  ! 

Thus  faithfully  speaks  and  acts  the  true  High  Priest  Him- 
self, according  to  the  word  of  Moses,  (Deut.  xxxiii.  9,  10),  which 
he  wants  to  be  realized  in  his  followers,  and  thus  does  He  set  before 
us  the  brightest  example  of  how  we  should  conduct  ourselves  in 
reference  to  those  family  importunities  which  would  often  so  dan- 
gerously depress  the  spirit.  Eaised  above  all  concern  about  its 
appearing  as  if  he  disregarded  filial  duty  and  brotherly  love,  as 
if,  in  his  prophetical  and  Messianic  dignity,  he  was  even  ashamed 
of  his  humble  relations  (for  only  malice  could  thus  interpret  his 
words),  he  now  repeats,  evidently  more  strongly,  what  he  had 
already  said  at  Cana,  inasmuch  as  the  improper  interference 
was  here  repeated  in  a  stronger  form.  But  the  first  sharply 
repelling  word  is  immediately  followed  by  that  of  unspeakable 
kindness,  in  which  the  mother  and  brothers  are  again  embraced, 
according  to  which  also  the  brothers,  as  soon  as  they  believe  on 
him,  and  become  disciples  of  their  brother,  are  then  truly  his 
brothers.  Thus  to  shame  them,  and  draw  them  to  himself,  be- 
longs to  the  aim  of  his  zeal,  which  is  always  lovingly  wise,  and 
considerate  even  in  its  hastiest  expressions.i  He  extends  the 
gracious  hand  of  blessing  and  protection  over  his  disciples,  just 
as  if  some  one  would  take  them  from  him  ;  he  turns  a  kind  look 
of  love  towards  all  who  sat  around  him,  (others,  therefore,  besides 
the  Apostles  or  his  outwardly  decided  followers,  but  not  those 
also  who  were  now  standing  in  a  hostile  attitude  towards  him, 
all,  in  short,  whose  quiet  sitting  around  the  Master  indicated  that 
they  were  fiadnrd^,  who  would  learn  and  hear),  and  affectionately 
exclaims — Behold  my  mother  and  my  brethren  ! 

This  is  a  precious  word  from  the  heart  of  the  First-born.     It 

i  He  answers  in  the  first  place,  indeed,  the  person  who  had  addressed 
Him  and  perhaps  gladly  so,  in  order  thereby  at  length  to  put  a  stop  to 
His  severe  discourse — but  not  this  person  alone.  Such  sayings  were  re- 
tained and  repeated  to  every  one  whom  they  concerned,  here  certainly 
in  a  short  time  to  the  kinsfolk  of  Christ — and  this  Christ  knew  when 
He  spake  the  words. 


192  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

means  first  of  all  simply :  i~  love  them  as  much  as  my  mother 
and  brethren  (in  which,  at  the  same  time,  the  natural  affec- 
tion of  a  son  and  brother,  which  was  seemingly  disowned  be- 
comes again  apparent),  nay,  more  than  those  who  are  such 
after  the  flesh,  inasmuch  as  they  are  such  in  a  truer  sense. 
There  lies  in  this  certainly,  as  coming  from  the  Son  of  Man  still 
dwelling  on  earth,  something  of  that  humility  which  Timothy 
needed  to  be  recommended  to  practise  (1  Tim.  v.  2),  so  that  he 
should  be  able  to  say  of  the  aged  women :  Behold  I  speak  to 
them  as  to  mothers  !  But  it  has  a  deeper  meanings  and  expresses 
the  actual  spiritual  relationship,  above  all  those  of  a  carnal  kind, 
for  which  Christ  would  prepare,  and  to  which  he  would  elevate 
his  people,  which  he  already  sees  in  the  weak  beginners,  and 
makes  them  brethren,  inasmuch  as  he  calls  them  so.  Heb,  ii. 
11,  12.  But  are  we  to  take  in  this  sense  not  merely  brothers 
and  sisters,  but  also  mother,  as  it  stands  at  the  beginning,  and 
again  with  the  highest  emphasis  at  the  end  of  the  address  ?  By 
all  means.  Zinzendorf  s  naive  circumlocution  :  "  I  reflect  that 
I  was  a  child,  their  race  is  my  mother" — belongs  here  quite  to 
the  surface.  Whosoever  receives  him  has  in  heart  conceived  and 
born  him,  is  himself  a  Mary,  as  also  Mary  only  thereby  became 
and  continues  to  be  his  mother.  (Luke  xi.  28.)  The  congrega- 
tion of  all  the  brethren  (see  also  Ps.  xxii.  22),  is  collectively  the 
true  Mary,1  a  presentiment  of  which  profound  truth  forms  the  con- 
cealed ground  of  the  shocking  Manolatry  of  that  church  which 
exalts  itself  above  Christ. 

But  a  dear  friend  whom  I  will  not  here  name,  has  very  far 
forgot  himself  when,  in  a  sermon  he  makes  Christ  say :  They 
are  to  me  as  father  and  mother  !  This  he  could  not  say.  Where 
in  the  Scripture,  after  Luke  ii.  49,  does  Christ  speak  of  any 
other  father  or  mother  than  the  one  whom  he  here  also  names, 
his  Father  in  heaven  ?  The  mystery  of  His  miraculous  concep- 
tion is  in  all  His  words  plainly  attested,  even  although  there  had 
been  no  account  of  it,  no  dogma  concerning  it.     Brother,  sister, 

1  As  already  Is.  vii.  14  the  Old  Testament  Church,  David's  house 
and  Zion,  the  virgin  whose  faith  at  last  conceives  him  in  Mary.  See 
Hofmann,  Weiss,  und  Erfullung  i.  222  :  and  compare  Micah  iv.  10, 
v.  2. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  1 93 

and  mother :  these  words  express  the  compass  and  limits  of  the 
relationship  of  the  Son  of  God  and  Man  with  the  human  race.1 
This  relationship  has  already  been  laid  open  to  the  whole  race  by 
his  birth  in  the  flesh,  already  involved  in  the  grace  offered  to  all; 
but  it  is  only  truly  completed  in  every  one  who  does  the  will  of 
God  (Mark),  the  will  of  His  Father  in  heaven.  This  means  in 
its  completion,  the  utmost  demands  of  the  law  laid  down  in  Matt, 
vii.  21,  for  the  beginning,  however,  so  as  kindly  to  draw  to  higher 
attainments,  not  more  than  is  expressed  in  John  vi.  40.  Those  who 
hear  God's  word  in  faith  are  to  do  it,  and  shall  do  it  (Luke  viii. 
21)  ;  the  hearing  and  learning  receives  and  has  already  in  itself 
all  the  grace  necessary  for  keeping  it.  (Luke  xi.  28).  With  a 
kindness  that  hastens  to  meet  its  object,  Christ  already  adjudging 
and  appropriating,  promises  everything  to  the  good  beginning, 
which,  alas,  is  so  often  not  a  going  onwards  to  the  end.  (Rom. 
viii.  29).  On  the  other  side — fortius,  as  always,  is  the  other  side 
of  the  judging  word  of  grace — he  who  does  not  hear  and  do, 
Christ  knows  him  not,  even  though  after  the  flesh  he  were  born 
of  his  mother,  nay,  were  His  mother  herself ! 


THE  SEVEN  PARABLES. 

(Matt,  xiii.) 

The  evangelist  opens  up  to  us  here,  just  as  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  a  scene  in  the  teaching  and  preaching  of  Christ  evi- 
dently complete  in  itself,  and  quite  remarkable  in  its  kind.  On 
the  same  day  on  which  what  is  narrated  in  the  preceding  chapter 

1  By  the  way,  this  connexion  of  the  brothers  and  sisters  with  the 
mother  in  the  mouth  of  Christ,  and  frequently  in  the  Gospel  history, 
is  at  the  same  time  the  most  decisive  proof  that  the  "  brethren"  were 
actually  children  of  His  mother.  (Ps.  lxix.  9.)  Yet  not  the  sole 
proof.  The  sainted  Von  Meyer,  unconvinced  indeed  with  many  to  the 
last,  asked  me,  "  Why  is  it  not  said,  The  mother  of  Christ  and  her 
children,  sons,"  and  how  could  relations  be  otherwise  nnmed  in  the 
original  languages  than  "  brethren."  But  the  answer  is  easy.  Christ 
remains  the  centre-point  of  all  relation  and  designation.  His  mother, 
His  brethren.  Relations  must,  at  least  in  Luke  and  John,  be  called 
uvetyioi  or  such  like.  See  my  introduction  to  the  epistle  of  Judc. 
VOL.  II.  N 


194  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

took  place,  Christ  goes  out  of  the  house  (chap.  xii.  46),  and  sets 
himself  by  the  sea-side,  probably  to  seek  rest  and  refreshment. 
But  the  ox^oi  ttoWoI  gather  around  him  anew,  and  in  order  to 
escape  from  this  new  throng  he  enters  into  the  ship  (usually  kept 
in  readiness  for  him  by  Peter  or  others),  and  because  the  people 
remain  standing  on  the  shore,  he  immediately,  without  resting, 
begins  again  to  speak  to  them.  So  much  has  he  to  say  to  the 
world  and  to  judge  of  it  (John  viii.  26),  and  from  hisexhaustless 
treasure  to  bring  forth  things  new  and  old.  (Afterwards,  ver.  52). 
He  has  just  been  speaking  parables,  and  in  parables  he  begins 
anew  to  teach,  in  calmly  instructive  parables,  such  as  correspond 
to  his  frame  of  mind  at  that  time,  seeking  rest  in  vain,  whereby, 
at  the  same  time,  he  composes  his  own  soul  to  the  survey  of  his 
whole  office  and  kingdom,  after  the  sharply  judging  prophecies 
in  chap.  xii. 

Already  does  the  plur.  iv  TrapafioXais  lead  us  to  expect  more 
than  one  parable  as  spoken  at  that  time.  When,  after  certain 
intermediate  words,  narrated  by  Matthew,  addressed  to  his 
disciples,  (showing  wherefore  he  spake  to  the  people  in  parables), 
and  after  the  explanation  of  the  first  parable,  we  read  (ver.  24), 
that  he  addressed  another  parable  to  them — this  certainly  means 
that  it  was  on  the  same  day  (ver.  3).  Consequently  vers.  31 
and  33  are  connected  in  the  same  way  with  ver.  3 ;  and  ver.  34, 
therefore,  coincides  again  with  vers.  3  and  10;  ravra  irdvra 
i\d\r)(T€v.  If  now,  ver.  36,  Christ  having  returned  to  the  house, 
explains  the  second  parable  to  the  disciples,  and  the  evangelist, 
without  any  mark  of  separation,  connects  with  these  words  a 
three  times  repeated  irdXiv  ofxoia  (just  as  before  at  ver.  18,  he 
connects  the  first  explanation  with  the  first  question  concerning 
his  reason  in  general  for  speaking  in  parables),  then  a  question 
whether  they  had  understood  all  these  things  (again,  as  at  ver. 
34),  and  finally,  ver.  53,  (just  as  at  chap.  vii.  28)  closes  the 
whole  :  when  he  had  finished  these  parables — it  is  impossible  with 
all  this  before  us,  otherwise  to  read  and  to  understand  the  writer, 
than  that  Christ,  on  one  and  the  same  day,  on  which  many  other 
things  had  occurred,  consequently  in  pretty  quick  succession, 
spoke  the  seven  parables,  the  first  four  outside  on  the  sea  to  the 
people,  the  last  three  in  the  house  to  the  disciples.  With  this 
agrees  Mark  iv.  (see  especially  ver.  2) — although  all  the  parables 


MATTHEW  XIII.  195 

are  not  there  given,  while  another  is  narrated  which  Matthew 
has  not,  showing  that  Christ  indeed  spake  many  things  on  that 
day,  from  which  Matthew  selects  the  seven  parables  which  con- 
tained the  real  plan  and  order  of  his  teaching  at  that  time.  With 
this  Luke  viii.  likevvise  agrees,  although  there  only  the  first 
parable  is  recorded.  Luke  xiii.  18-21  might  indeed  be  an 
insertion,  without  regard  to  time,  of  what  was  said  on  that  day, 
but  it  may  quite  as  well  indicate  a  repetition  of  that  parable  at 
another  time.  At  all  events,  there  is  not  the  slightest  reason  for 
going  against  the  decisive  words  of  Matthew,  of  which,  in  order 
not  to  break  the  Scripture,  we  cannot  possibly  make  up  our 
minds  to  say,  in  spite  of  their  savouring  so  much  of  the  letter, 
that  "not  much  value  is  to  be  attached  to  them."  If  harmonies 
cannot  reconcile  other  passages  with  this,  we  must  still  go  out 
from  the  firm  data  given  inMatth.  vers.  3, 10,  24,  31,  33,  34,  36, 
51,  53,  and  judge  of  other  passages  according  to  these.1 

The  scene  in  Matthew  is  also  complete  in  itself,  in  so  far  as 
the  surrounding  objects  furnish  the  material  of  the  parables. 
Christ,  looking  from  the  ship,  saw  before  him  the  fields  and 
lands — these  are  naturally  taken  to  represent  the  people  standing 
upon  them.  Seed — this  continues  to  be  the  ground-material 
variously  applied  of  the  first  four  parables,  for  as,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  leaven  stands  closely  related  to  the  farther  history  of  the 
ripened  fruit,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  it  represents  in  itself  the  pene- 
trating, renovating  power  of  the  wonderful  seed.  Another  quite 
similar  application  takes  place  in  the  first  of  the  three  esoteric  para- 
bles ver.  44,  (which,  in  general,  go  deeper  than  the  others)  inas- 
much as,  just  as  the  seed  was  viewed  as  a  leaven,  so  also  may  it 
be  viewed  as  a  treasure  committed  to  the  earth  and  concealed  in 
it.  Now,  however,  the  spiritualized  idea  becomes  quite  detach- 
ed from  this  range  of  figures  so  manifoldly  applied ;  when  the 
transition  is  made  from  the  treasure  in  general  to  the  precious 
pearl,  we  can  hardly  fail  (seeing  that  pearls  are  fished  from  the  sea, 
and,  at  that  time,  especially  from  the  Arabian  gulf),  to  mark  that 
Christ  in  this  parable  returns  to  the  place  from  which  he  speaks, 

1  It  belongs  not  to  our  work  to  refute  the  confusion  in  Ebrard's  note, 
p.  371.  This  arises,  first  of  all,  from  his  understanding,  Mark  ver.  33, 
as  a  parenthetical  (?)  remark,  and  then  also  from  his  reading  Mattb. 
vers.  53  and  54,  in  an  unwarrantably  strict  connexion. 


196  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

as,  in  the  concluding  parable  of  the  net,  it  is  made  to  connect  in 
the  closest  manner  with  the  ship  of  his  fishers  of  men.1  Thus, 
between  the  shore  and  the  sea,  (vers.  1,  2),  the  circle  of  figures 
forms  itself,  in  which,  as  we  shall  soon  see  in  the  interpretation, 
each  succeeding  parable  connects  itself  with  the  foregoing  as  a 
further  development  of  it.2 

As,  notwithstanding  of  all  the  profoundness  of  meaning  which 
belongs  to  the  figurative  language  taken  from  the  operations  of 
God  in  nature  to  represent  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  single  para- 
ble can  yet  never  present  every  side  of  the  subject  with  perfect 
suitableness,  but  must  leave  out  of  view  other  sides  of  it  which 
do  not  enter  into  the  tertium  compar adonis ,  so  it  was  most  con- 
sistent with  the  wisdom  of  Christ  to  deliver  his  instructions  here 
by  means  of  several  parables  supplementing  each  other,  thus  to 
awaken  and  exercise  the  understanding  for  parables,  and  to  place 
the  many-sidedness  of  the  truth  in  opposition  to  the  one-sided 
misunderstanding  of  it.     But  this  is  not  all.     By  turning  the 
significance  of  the  figures  from  one  side  of  the  subject  to  another, 
his  words  have  a  prophetic  import  as  he  advances  into  the  signi- 
fied "  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,"  and  this  remarkable 
cycle  of  parables  has  in  it  an  organic  progress  internally  develop- 
ing itself  in  the  same  way  as  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  its 
kind.      Here,  as  there,  if  we  first  of  all  attend  to  the  extreme 
points,  we  have  the  first  establishment  and  the  final  separation 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,  the  beginning  of  preaching  and  the  final 
judgment  in  the  first  and  last  parables  ;  between  these  the  line 
of  connection  will  have  to  be  drawn, — we  conjecture  it  and  find  it 
too.     But  it  is  not  (and  Bengel  is  here  at  fault)  the  reference  to 
consecutive  periods  in  the  history  of  the  church  that  forms  the 
principal  thread  on  which  we  may  lay  hold ;  for  Christ  will  here, 
in  the  first  instance,  not  prophesy  but  teach.     The  prophecy  must, 

1  As  already  in  my  Hints  for  the  believing  understanding  of  the 
Scripture,  I.  Collection,  p.  46  ss.,  I  expressed  myself  in  almost  the 
same  terms  on  the  connection  and  sequence  of  the  seven  parables ;  in 
which  also  are  additional  remarks  on  the  designedly  instructive  change 
of  figures  according  to  which  seed  and  field,  birds,  leaven,  appear  with 
different  interpretations. 

2  Which  transitions  might  be  still  more  plainly  effected  through  the 
medium  of  subordinate  parables,  one  of  which  Mark  gives ;  this,  in- 
deed, may  have  been  the  only  one  of  this  kind. 


MATTHEW  XIII.        '  107 

from  the  nature  of  the  case,  appear  as  a  result  in  the  back-ground, 
in  so  far  as  the  history  of  the  church  is  nothing  else  than  the  doc- 
trine of  the  church  gradually  developing  itself, — its  own  manifest 
tation.  We  understand,  therefore,  the  order  of  the  thought  on  a 
survey  of  these  parables  ('which,  indeed,  only  the  interpretation 
of  the  particulars  can  make  quite  clear),  to  be  wrhat  will  presently 
be  stated,  and  we  are  not  afraid  of  being  charged  by  the  truly 
intelligent  with  any  artificial  refinement. 

The  objection,  moreover,  urged  for  example  also  by  Neander, 
that  so  many  parables  following  each  other  could  only  have  the 
effect  of  distracting  the  minds  of  the  hearers  by  an  over-fulness  of 
matter,  and  was  therefore  not  in  accordance  with  Christ's  method 
of  teaching,  appears  to  us  to  have  little  weight,  especially  when 
we  consider  that  all  the  seven  parables  were  not  spoken  to  the 
people,  and  that  intervals  of  time  for  reflection  are  marked. 

The  four  parables  to  the  people,  and  the  three  that  follow,  ad- 
dressed to  the  disciples,  are  one,  and  yet  different.  The  first 
speaks  more  exoterically  of  the  outward  form  and  development  of 
the  kingdom  as  a  whole ;  their  fundamental  twofold  idea  is,  in 
its  unity,  sowing  and  harvest.  This  divides  itself  again  into  two 
propositions,  to  which  the  two  connected  larger  parables  and  the 
two  smaller  correspond ;  the  seed  of  the  word  brings  forth  fruit 
only  in  a  few,  yet  such  seed  will  develop  itself  to  a  full  harvest. 
The  first  parable  of  the  different  kinds  of  ground  expresses  the 
first  proposition  as  a  presently  existing  fact ;  the  first  thing  is,  that 
the  whole  field  is  sown,  and  the  springing  of  this  seed  is  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Church.  The  representation, — which  goes  out  from 
the  preaching  that  had  just  been  addressed  to  the  people,  accord- 
ing to  which  the  parable,  as  it  were,  describes  and  explains 
itself, — is  still  to  be  understood  quite  outwardly :  So  it  happens — 
the  ground  of  this  being  not  yet  given.  Not  merely  the  com- 
plete unfruitfulness,  but  also  the  seeming  growth  of  the  seed  for 
a  longer  or  a  shorter  time,  so  that  it  becomes  manifest  only  at  a 
later  stage  that  there  is  to  be  no  harvest,  consequently  the  uncer- 
tain mixture  of  the  seed  before  the  eyes  of  men  is  already  indi- 
cated. This  now  will  awaken  and  draw  out  the  question, 
Whence  comes  this  condition  of  the  land,  and  to  what  will  this 
state  and  course  of  things  lead  ?  The  twofold  answer  is  given  in 
the  second  parable,  which  thereby  also  makes  an   advance,  in 


198  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

respect  of  time,  to  the  approaching,  continuing,  and  increasing 
mixture  in  the  Church.  The  continuance  of  the  kingdom,  after 
the  Son  of  Man  has  sowed  the  seed,  is  certainly  therein  presup- 
posed. But  as  the  question,  Whence  are  the  tares  I  pointing 
back,  includes  in  itself,  at  the  same  time,  a  previous  one,  viz., — 
Whence  is  it  that  all  is  not  good  land  t — so  also  does  the  answer  : 
The  enemy  has  done  this  !  conceal  within  itself,  at  the  same  time, 
a  reference  back  to  the  first  and  foremost  sowing  of  tares  in  God's 
field.  This  parable,  likewise,  already  points  forward  to  the  sepa- 
ration necessarily  coincident  with  the  harvest,  and  denotes  there- 
fore the  reason  and  aim  of  that  which  the  first  parable  had  laid 
down  merely  as  a  fact. 

From  the  conclusion  results  quite  naturally  the  second  prin- 
cipal glance  at  the  full  harvest  to  which,  notwithstanding,  the 
corn  is  to  develop  itself.  As  before,  the  individual  person  was 
represented  first  as  the  ground,  then  as  the  seed  itself,  so  now, 
by  a  new  turn  of  the  figure,  the  entire  kingdom,  the  entire 
company  of  the  children  of  the  kingdom,  is  compared  to  the 
single  seed-corn.  The  small  seed-corn  grows  or  develops  itself 
(ver.  32  takes  up  ver.  30,  according  to  the  ground-idea  of  the 
preceding  parable  in  Mark)  by  virtue  of  the  life-power  inherent 
in  it  as  seed.  This  wonderful  seed,  however,  is  at  the  same  time 
as  a  leaven  (bearing  within  it  from  the  first  the  nature  of  the  last 
product)  which  leavens  the  ground  itself,  changes  it  to  corn  and 
fruit  according  to  its  kind ;  it  penetrates  that  into  which  it  is  put, 
or  spreads  itself  out  by  virtue  of  the  quickening  power  inherent  in 
it.  Mustard  seed  and  leaven  then  represent  the  development 
and  spread  of  the  Church  upon  earth,  which  no  mixture  can 
hinder.  Here,  it  will  be  observed,  an  advance  is  made  toward 
the  deeper  internal  truth,  thus  preparing  the  way  for  the  three 
esoteric  parables,  although,  in  the  first  place,  the  reference  is  still 
mainly  to  the  external  history,  as  it  will  represent  itself.  Each 
parable  belongs  to  every  time ;  but  the  first  may  be  referred 
chiefly  to  the  time  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles  (the  sowing),  the 
second  to  the  period  after  the  departure  of  the  Apostles  (when 
the  tares,  properly  speaking,  appear),  the  third  finds  a  prelimi- 
nary fulfilment  under  Constantine,  the  fourth,  in  the  leavening 
of  the  popular  life  through  the  influence  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
Thus  we  have  presented  here  a  general  survey  of  the  history  of 


MATTHEW  XIII.  199 

the  kingdom,  as  we  might  truly  say  (according  to  Eph.  iii.  18), 
in  the  breadth  of  the  seed  scattering  itself  over  the  field  of  the 
world  (fore-shadowed,  at  least,  by  the  preaching  of  the  Apostles), 
in  the  length  of  the  time  of  growing  till  the  end  of  the  harvest,  in 
the  height  of  imperial  power  which  represents  itself  (at  least  out- 
wardly already  as  heavenly)  in  the  edifice  of  the  Church  over- 
shadowing all  kingdoms  and  nations,  finally,  in  the  depth  to 
which  everything  susceptible  is  penetrated  by  the  new,  leavening, 
and  salting  life. 

But  precisely  in  this  depth  is  implied  the  truth  which  belongs 
to  the  esoteric  doctrine  for  the  Apostles,  that  it  is  not  properly 
in  the  Church  at  large  as  such  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
forms  and  completes  itself,  but  in  each  individual.  The  outward 
history  of  the  Church,  as  a  wdiole,  is  itself  again  only  a  type  and 
parable  setting  forth  this  truth,  as  was  already  hinted  at  vers.  32, 
33.  This  is  the  characteristic  distinction  of  the  three  last  para- 
bles whose  ground-idea,  with  special  reference  to  the  individual 
righteous  ones  who  are  at  a  future  time  to  be  separated  from  the 
rest,  is  now  rather,  the  necessity  of  renunciation  and  trial ;  this 
is  the  true  seed  for  the  true  harvest  in  the  heart  of  man.  This 
points,  at  the  same  time,  to  a  still  later  period  in  the  history  of 
the  Church,  when,  after  the  outward  spread  over,  and  internal 
mingling  with,  kingdoms  and  peoples,  the  renouncing  struggle 
and  victory  of  the  Church,  which  is  to  be  proved  to  be  true,  is 
more  properly  called  forth ;  it  points  to  the  second  principal 
period,  the  character  of  which  is  this  spiritual  development  from 
within,  as,  in  the  first,  it  was  the  unfolding  of  the  Christian  prin- 
ciple. Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like — that  is  as  much  as 
to  say  :  Farther  on, — the  nearer  it  approaches  to  the  harvest  and 
the  separation — it  will  be  like.  The  treasure  in  the  field,  and  the 
pearl  are  again  closely  related,  and  yet  different,  just  as  the 
mustard-seed  and  the  leaven.  Both  speak  of  the  renunciation  of 
everything  else  for  the  one  thing  (necessary  from  the  first,  but, 
in  this  future  state  of  things,  ever  more  necessary).  The  treasure 
in  the  field  represents  it  as  a  thing  hid,  no  longer  known  to  the 
possessor  of  the  field,  which,  however,  by  virtue  of  newly  revealed 
grace,  may  be  found  even  by  those  who  do  not  seek  it ;  the  pearl, 
on  the  other  hand,  represents  it  as  a  thing  precious  beyond  every- 
thing else,  which  is  entirely  overlooked,  and  is  obtained  only  by 


200  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

those  who  come  to  know  it,  and  who  seek  it  aright.  In  the  first 
parable,  therefore,  the  treasure  stands  first  as  a  thing  present, 
and  then  comes  the  man  who  finds  it :  the  other  begins  with  the 
merchant  who  seeks  pearls.  If  the  Reformation  may  be  taken  to 
denote  the  turning  point  of  the  two  periods  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  before  named,  then  the  most  striking  application  would  be 
that  the  treasure  hid  in  the  field  was  then  found  anew,  the  trea- 
sure of  the  word,  and,  therewith,  of  the  true  Church  which  has  its 
life  from  and  in  the  word,  as  Luther  found  the  Bible  in  the 
cloister,  and  in  addition  to  this  the  mystic  theology.  In  the 
period  of  the  final  falling  away,  however,  which  is  now  near  at 
hand,  if  we  are  not  already  living  in  it,  it  will  concern  true 
seekers,  such  as  at  least  are  dissatisfied  with  all  the  false  tinsel 
wares  of  the  market,  and  inferior  goods,  to  find  out  the  one  true 
possession  which  lies  ever  hid  and  unknown  among  all  sorts 
of  merchandise,  and  then — giving  up  all  for  it — to  buy  it. 

Finally,  the  last  parable  speaks  of  the  separation  and  trial  at 
the  end,  as  was  already  preintimated  in  the  second ;  it  forms, 
however,  at  the  same  time  a  complete  conclusion  to  the  series  of 
parables,  and  points  back  again  to  the  beginning.  If  all  the  pre- 
vious figures  which  followed  each  other  (seed,  leaven,  treasure, 
pearl)  were  yet  developed  from  each  other,  we  have  here  at 
last  the  transition,  for  which  the  way  wras  already  prepared  by 
the  pearl,  from  the  parables  of  the  shore  and  the  land  to  the 
parable  of  the  sea.  The  sowing,  from  which  the  whole  series 
started,  appears  here  as  a  catching.  Thus  the  net  is  again,  in 
the  first  place,  the  preached  word,  just  as  the  seed,1  but  it 
is  the  word  in  so  far  as  it  founds  a  church  (the  sowing  makes 
a  field  to  be  the  ground  of  the  sower) — in  so  far  as  it  unites 
individuals  in  a  fellowship  founded  on  the  word  and  its  ef- 
fects, although  it  should  be  a  merely  outward  fellowship,  of 
which  no  account  is  taken  at  the  last.  Consequently  it  is  the 
outward,  mixed  Church  itself,  for  the  contents  of  which  the 
separation  draws  near.  If  Christ  began  with  Himself  as  the  first 
true  sower,  he  here  comprehends  his  Apostles  within  his  view,  in 
whom  He  sees  all  His  future  fishers  of  men,  and  workmen  in 

1  For  in  all  parables,  as  Roos  observes,  Christ  ever  tells  us  to  look 
back  from  the  great  thing  set  before  us  to  the  beginning  of  it  (which,  in 
like  manner,  goes  on  reproducing  itself,  through  all  times). 


MATTHEW  XIII.  11 — 17.  201 

His  kingdom,  whose  net  will  bring  together  fish  of  every  kind 
until  the  angels  make  the  separation. 

Let  any  one  now  say  whether,  in  this  cursory  survey,  we  have 
arbitrarily  put  all  this  into  the  seven  parables,  or  whether  it  pro- 
ceeds from  the  evangelist's  having  of  himself  brought  together 
and  arranged  them  with  a  view  to  this,  or  whether,  which  is  the 
only  thing  that  remains  conceivable  for  us,  Christ  Himself  has 
not  originally  spoken,  at  one  time,  and  in  this  profound  con- 
nexion, all  these  things,  these  parables. 


WHEREFORE  IN  PARABLES  f 

Matth.  xiii.  11—17  ;  Mar.  iv.  11,  12,  21—25;  Luke  viii. 
10,  16—18. 

These  statements  of  Christ  to  his  disciples  about  his  speaking 
in  parables  we  think  it  right  to  place  together,  ere  we  proceed 
to  the  uninterrupted  exposition  of  the  parables  themselves.  The 
question  of  the  disciples  (ver.  10)  plainly  shows,  that  his  address- 
ing the  people  thus  publicly  and  at  greater  length,  without  any 
proper  explanation,  in  nothing  but  finished  parables  (ver.  34) 
was  something  new  and  strange  to  them.  The  beginning 
this  mode  of  address  denotes,  further,  a  later  development  of 
his  relations  to  the  people,  as,  according  to  Mark  xii.  1,  at 
a  still  later  period  Christ  began  to  speak  also  to  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  almost  solely  by  parables.  The  right  understanding  of 
what  Christ  here  says  to  his  disciples  will  show  the  impossibility 
of  supposing  that  this  significant  beginning  of  the  enigmatic 
mode  of  address,  which  was  designed  as  a  judgment  upon 
hardened  hearers,  belongs  to  an  earlier  period  before  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.1    "  Why  speakest  thou  unto  them  in  parables  V 

1  As  the  excellent  and  well-meaning  Ebrard,  after  a  criticism  too 
hastily  completed,  carries  up  to  so  early  a  period  his  otherwise  well 
connected  iSyndesm  G.,  which  also  contains  the  parables,  solely  on  ac- 
count of  the  "  calling  of  Matthew,"  which  must,  he  says,  have  taken 
place  before  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Here  there  is  one  internal  reason 
against  another,  nay  more  than  one  against  this  single  reason,  and  (as 
has  been  said  at  Matth.  ix.  9)  we  can  much  more  easily  imagine 
another  sense  for  that  conclusive  call,  "  Follow  me  1"  than  comprehend 
how  Christ,  in  the  severe  address  given  in  chap,  xiii.,  could,  even  at 


202  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

The  plural  here  further  implies,  that  Matthew  inserts  here  pro- 
leptically  what  properly  took  place  after  several  parables  had 
been  spoken,  therefore  after  vers.  24—30.  Yet  not  after  he  had 
returned  to  the  house  (ver.  36) ;  for  Mark  informs  us,  after  ver. 
2,  iv  irapaftokals  iroWd  had  gone  before,  then  at  ver.  10,  that 
this  esoteric  intermediate  address  took  place  during  a  pause, 
when  the  people,  satisfied  for  the  time  with  a  hihaxf)  which  they 
had  desired,  withdrew,  and  left  him  again  for  a  while  alone  or 
at  rest.  (This  iyevero  Kara[x6va<;  of  Mark,  with  which  Luke  ix. 
18  is  to  be  compared,  is  by  no  means  the  same  as  the  rjkOev  efc  rrjv 
oltctav  of  Matthew,  for  we  find  in  Mark  afterwards  a  twice 
repeated  teal  eXeyev,  vers.  26,  30,  to  which  ver.  33  belongs.) 
This,  however,  we  may  yet  learn  chiefly  from  Mark,  that  the 
fiadnrai  who  put  the  question  were  not  merely  the  twelve,  but, 
along  with  them,  olirepl  avrov,  others,  followers  who  stood  near  to 
hear  him  and  were  enquiring  after  salvation  ;  this  remark  we  will 
find  to  be  necessary  in  order  not  to  misunderstand  the  opposition 
between  the  two  classes  of  individuals  of  whom  bespeaks.  "  Why 
speakest  thou  to  the  people  there  without  as  we  have  not  been 
accustomed  to  hear  thee,  addressing  to  them  no  plain  word,  but 
speaking  of  ground,  rock,  and  thorns,  and  such  like  things,  of 
which  we  can  see  well  enough  that  they  are  parables,  but  nothing 
further  ?  The  people  cannot  surely  understand  them,  since  we 
as  yet  understand  them  quite  as  little !"  To  so  welcome  a  ques- 
tion addressed  to  him  in  so  friendly  a  spirit  Christ  willingly 
replies,  and  it  might  be  said  that  the  answer  which  he  gives, 
only  developes,  properly  speaking,  the  sense  of  that  call  which  he 
had  just  addressed  to  the  people :  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  let 
him  hear!  ver.  9,  as  vers.  16  and  17  shows.      The  ground-idea 

the  beginning,  declare  that  the  people  were  deaf,  and  then,  notwith- 
standing, could  address  to  them  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  A  new 
proof,  that  without  the  most  thorough  exegesis  of  the  discourses  of 
Christ,  the  harmony  must  ever  be  liable  to  errors.  Could  then  the 
enmity  and  impudence  of  the  Pharisees  have  already  been  developed 
even  to  the  extent  of  charging  Christ  with  being  in  league  with  Beelze- 
bub, before  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  or  rather,  couid  this  latter  have 
been  spoken  at  so  late  a  period,  certainly  in  contradiction  to  its  entire 
nature  and  significance?  Alford,  too,  says  quite  rightly  :  the  natural 
succession  of  things  is  against  those  who,  as  Ebrard,  would  place  all 
this  before  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  11.  203 

is:  Because  they  (i.e.  the  greater  number  at  least)  have  no 
longer  hearing  ears  and  perceiving  hearts  to  receive  the  plain 
and  open  word,  therefore  I  hide  it  from  them,  if  haply  they 
might  yet  thus  be  stirred  up  to  give  heed  to  it ;  consequently,  to 
awaken  as  much  as  possible  every  ear  that  yet  hears,  and  as  a 
deserved  judgment  on  all  who  are  thus  dismissed  I1  Christ  must 
certainly,  for  a  considerable  time,  have  spoken  in  such  a  directly 
instructive  manner,  enlivened  indeed  with  o^^ft,  but  still  for 

•  t    : 

the  most  part  plain,  as  we  find  represented  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  before  he  could  pronounce  such  a  judicial  sen- 
tence as  we  find  here  upon  the  unsusceptible  multitude,  and 
could  turn  to  parables  because  of  their  deaf  ears. 

Ver.  11.  The  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  (for  which 
only  Mark  less  correctly  has — the  mystery) — fit  title  and  most 
general  explanation  of  all  the  parables  of  Christ,  and  especially 
of  those  now  before  us.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  itself  a 
mystery  for  the  naturally  earthly  understanding,  and,  like  earthly 
kingdoms,  it  has  its  state  secrets  which  cannot,  and  ought  not, 
to  be  cast  before  every  one.  When,  on  a  frank  and  friendly 
approach  being  made,  no  feeling  of  loyalty  shows  itself,  but 
rather  a  threatening  of  rebellion  (and  such  on  the  whole  had 
evidently  now  come  to  be  the  state  of  the  people  since  the 
announcement  of  the  Baptist,  and  such  addresses  of  Christ 
as  we  find  on  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount),  then  it  is  wise 
and  reasonable  to  draw  a  vail,  which,  however,  is  willingly 
removed  whenever  any  faithful  one  wishes  to  join  himself  more 
nearly  to  the  king.  To  this  belongs  the  citation  of  Matth.  ver. 
35,  the  word  of  the  Lord  by  the  prophet  Asaph  (2  Chron.  xxix. 
30)  in  the  78th  Psalm.  It  is  altogether  wrong,  as  even  Matthew 
shows  by  his  formula  citandi,  to  say  that  Asaph  himself  in  that 
place  speaks  in  his  own  person;  the  ^y  an(^  ^miD  ahke 
strongly  testify  against  this;  comp.  ver.  5,  and  in  the  other 

1  Both  are  meant  in  and  with  each  other,  tloos  well  says :  This 
condescension  to  which  the  Saviour  was,  as  it  were,  constrained  to 
stoop,  was  mingled  with  his  holy  anger.  Again  v.  Gerlach  :  "A 
parable  is  like  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire,  which  turned  the  dark  side 
to  the  Egyptians,  the  bright  side  to  the  people  of  the  covenant ;  it  is 
like  a  shell  which  keeps  the  precious  kernel  as  well  for  the  diligent  as 
from  the  indolent." 


204  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Psalms  of  Asaph,  1.  7,  Ixxxi.  9,  12.  14.  God  himself,  by  the 
prophet,  explains  the  events  which  belonged  to  the  history  of  his 
people  as  an  unwritten  mirv  anc*  their  tf^NJ^bS  as  parables  and 
enigmas.  Matthew,  then,  with  the  deepest  insight  will  here 
show,  that  Christ  now  spoke  to  the  people  not  otherwise  than  he 
had  done  from  the  beginning,  that  the  language  of  God  the 
king  of  Israel  had  remained  the  same  also  after  his  manifestation 
in  the  flesh.1  The  /cefcpvfifiha  awo  /caTa/3o\ri$  koct/jlov  J^pfi 
Dl|2  ^p  are  tne  secrets  of  his  eternal  counsel,  already  expressed 
by  the  Creator  in  the  sign-language  of  nature,  and  the  creature, 
while  these  divine  parabolic  utterances  of  Christ  constitute  in 
Israel  a  new  circle  of  figures,  touching  more  closely  on  sin  and 
redemption.  Here  in  the  first  seven  principal  parables  they  are 
drawn  chiefly  from  nature,  in  which  the  figures  are  already  given 
as  expressions  of  the  hidden  truth  (not  arbitrarily  used  for  this 
purpose)  ;  in  his  later  parables  (as  already  here  at  the  same  time) 
he  draws  them  more  and  more  from  Israel's  prophetic  circle  of 
types,  when  he  opens  his  mouth  as  well  to  reveal  as  to  hide,  in 
figures  of  inexhaustible  meaning,  the  depths  of  the  plan  of  his 
kingdom.  The  heavenly  sowing  on  earthly  ground,  the  outgoing 
of  all  efficacy  from  the  word,  the  conflict  of  the  eternal  will  of  love 
with  creature  freedom,  the  thorns  of  the  lost  paradise  beside  and 
among  the  new  seed,  the  power  and  cunning  of  the  enemy,  the 
patience  of  the  householder  till  the  harvest,  on  account  of  which  in 
the  long  intervening  period  the  evil  also  can  and  must  grow  and 
ripen,  the  great  proceeding  from  the  small,  the  secret  nature  of 
the  transforming  power,  the  seeking  and  finding  on  the  part  of 
the  man,  the  long  mixture  previous  to  the  speedy  separation  at 
last,  the  beginning  and  end,  not  merely  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
but  the  end  of  the  world,  in  which  what  was  not  there  from  the 
beginning  is  judged— are  not  these  purely  mysteries  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  %  And  does  not  Christ  declare  them  by  figures 
in  which  God,  from  the  creation  onwards,  has  spoken  them  to  our 
ears,  in  a  way  as  loud  as  it  is  secret. 

To  you  it  is  given  to  know,  to  understand  them,  inasmnch  as 
you  understand  my  parables.     Therefore  truly  given  from  above, 

This  more  at  large  in  my  seventy  selected  Psalms,  i.  p.  104,  and 
iollowing-. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  12.  205 

revealed  (chap.  xi.  25 ;  xvi.,  17) — but  why  only  to  you  ?  Be- 
cause you  bring  to  these  mysteries  open  ears  and  enquiring 
hearts.  To  them  it  is  not  given,  and  never  can  be  given,  because 
this  is  wanting  in  them.  Luke,  rot?  Be  \onrols ;  Mark  has  the 
most  striking  expression,  which  we  willingly  take  from  him  as 
having  been  spoken  by  Christ — rot?  cPco.  Who  are  those  without  ? 
(This  recurs  again  in  passages  such  as  1  Cor.  v.  12,  and  more 
and  more  sharply  defined  on  to  Kev.  xxii.  15.)  First  of  all,  in 
reference  to  the  company  whom  Christ  was  addressing,  they  are 
opposed  to  the  ol  irepl  avjbv  who  were  remaining  round  about 
him  in  the  ship,  or  near  to  him  addressing  questions  to  him ; 
those,  therefore,  who  now  went  away  because  they  in  the  mean- 
time had  heard  enough,  or  properly  speaking  nothing, — "  hearers 
by  chance  and  by  the  by,"  who  hear  and  yet  will  not  hear.  To 
such  people,  everything  comes  the  same  as  in  parables  (see 
Mark),  for  even  the  direct  word  is  still  more  dark  to  them.  But 
not  because  God  keeps  back  anything  which  he  will  not  give,  as 
is  distinctly  shown  in  what  immediately  follows. 

Ver.  12.  A  weighty  word,  as  regards  which  all  interpretation 
is  vain,  unless  the  spirit  reveal  it  to  those  who  are  taught  by 
practice  and  experience.  It  is  the  great  key  to  all  the  ways  of 
God  with  fallen  man,  it  is  the  theodicy  of  his  holy  love  and 
righteousness  as  it  will  show  itself  in  the  end  when  all  shall  be 
revealed !  God's  free  and  abundant  giving — but  man's  having  as 
a  condition  thereof;  God's  righteous  taking — but  man's  not  having 
as  the  reason  of  this — these  are  two  weighty  secrets  between  God 
and  man.  The  entire  seeming  contradiction  in  the  letter,  that 
to  him  who  has  shall  be  given,  from  him  that  has  not  shall  be 
taken  away,  urges  us  to  a  deeper  investigation  and  explanation  of 
the  saying.  The  full  development  we  shall  leave  to  chap,  xxv., 
where  Christ  himself  explains  it  by  a  complete  parable;  so  much 
we  would  here  observe  preliminarily,  namely,  that  the  having 
indicates  a  receptivity,  a  faithfulness  which  receives  and  keeps. 
He  who  has,  although  he  has  not  from  his  own  strength, — for  all 
that  can  be  had,  nay  each  one  himself  who  can  have,  comes  from 
God,  yet  in  contradistinction  to  him  who  has  not,  he  has  from 
a  cause  and  determination  within  himself,  as  the  whole  of  the  first 
parable  respecting  the  ground  proves.  He  who  will  have  and 
thereby  can  receive,  has  so  far  already  that  which  is  to  be  re- 


206  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ceived,  for  he  has  the  open  hand  for  the  gift  which  is  then  cer- 
tainly imparted,  the  ear  for  the  word,  the  heart  for  the  healing 
grace.  Further,  he  who  holds  fast,  keeps  and  uses  (for  only  by 
use  can  it  be  kept),  for  him  the  gift  will  increase  until  he  shall 
have  abundantly.  There  is  here  no  standing  still  on  either  side. 
He  who  has  not,  who  neither  will  receive  and  take  at  the  begin- 
ning nor  use  to  the  end,  from  him  will  be  taken  away  that  which 
he  has.  This  still  sharper  contradiction  decidedly  implies  that  o 
e^efc  is  to  be  taken  ironically.1  First  of  all,  as  Luke  ver.  18  has  it : 
o  §otcel  e'xejj> — for  every  excov  who  does  not  keep  (jcarexei)  is  only 
a  Bokcov  ex^tv  in  a  manifold  sense.  It  is  an  imaginary  having, 
the  nothingness  of  which  is  to  be  made  manifest  by  a  so-called 
taking,  which  yet  properly  indeed  takes  nothing  from  him.  It 
is  an  earlier  having  which  has  become  loss  through  his  unfaithful- 
ness, 2  John  8.  Other  references  of  this  comprehensive  say- 
ing are  not  excluded  which  at  last  reach  even  to  the  entire 
judicial  stripping  of  the  unfaithful  one,  so  that  he  is  left  naked 
and  bare  even  of  all  that  God's  long-suffering  had  still  left  to  him 
as  a  portion  in  the  meanwhile. 

Ver.  13.  Therefore  speak  I  to  them  in  parables :  this  direct 
answer  to  the  question  of  the  disciples  has  hitherto,  it  is  to  be  re- 
gretted, received  very  generally  a  one-sided  explanation  from  the 
following  on,  although  it  must  first  of  all  be  understood  as  an 
evident  consequence  from  the  foregoing  oti,  together  with  all  that 
follows.  How  has  this  truth,  as  earnest  as  it  is  friendly,  been 
obscured  by  the  one-sided  explanation  which  has  been  given  to 
it,  as  if  Christ  here  speaks  to  them  in  parables,  in  order  that  they 
may  not  understand  !  Only  read  what  the  very  unjustly  slighted 
Mark,  ver.  33,  says  truly  by  the  Holy  Ghost :  He  spake  the 
word  to  them  as  they  were  able  to  hear  it.  (Comp.  John  viii. 
43).  Does  that  mean  "  not  understand  ?"  Christ  does  not  merely 
say  in  what  follows,  as  will  soon  appear  :  "  Therefore  speak  I  to 
them  in  parables,  because  they  do  not  understand," — nor  has  he 
in  ver.   12   said:  "Therefore,  that  they  may  not   understand." 

1  Luther's  saying  commonly  adduced  here  is  well-known  :  "  Where 
the  word  of  God  is  understood,  there  it  multiplies  itself  and  betters 
the  man  ;  but  where  it  is  not  understood  there  it  grows  less  and  hurts 
the  man."  We  think  this,  however,  not  exhaustive  enough,  inasmuch 
as  it  does  not  depend  merely  on  the  understanding. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  13.  207 

Either  of  these  as  separated  from  the  other  is  "  in  no  sense  a 
justifiable  idea," — the  latter  still  less  so  than  the  former.  The 
truth  takes  both  together,  as  Christ's  word  here  stands  between 
what  precedes  and  what  follows.  Does  Christ  then  speak  pur- 
posely to  the  wind  !  Are  not  parables  given  to  be  heard,  and  if 
they  may  yet  possibly  be  rightly  heard  to  be  understood  ?  Christ 
does  not  light  his  lamp  in  vain,  as  he  assures  us  in  Mark  ver. 
21,  23.  To  what  purpose  is  it  then  that  he  lets  it  shine  until  the 
night  comes  when  none  can  see  to  work,  and  that  He  so  patiently 
and  diligently  instructs  this  people  also  even  to  the  last? 

A  parable,  as  has  often  been  truly  said,1  has  for  the  hearer, 
according  to  his  state  and  the  relation  in  which  he  stands  to  it, 
two  sides  ;  it  is  concealing  and  revealing  at  the  sametime.  But 
even  its  concealing  works  towards  a  revealing ;  inasmuch  as  it 
draws  after  it  the  truth  which  is  signified,  urges  it  only  the  more 
strongly,  and  precisely  "  because  it  is  not  understood,  acts  as  a 
spur  and  provocative  to  further  reflection."  Whoever  then  will 
no  longer  be  moved  by  it  to  ask,  seek,  find,  and  understand,  in 
him,  and  only  in  him,  it  proves  its  depriving,  judging  power,  for 
in  the  case  of  such  their  own  guilt  becomes  now  fully  mani- 
fest, that  they  would  not  hear  although  they  could.  In  this  way 
is  Mark  iv.  33,  to  be  understood,  and  thus  does  the  parabolic  ad- 
dress come  with  a  final  sifting  efficacy  among  the  multitude,  to 
awaken  and  save  every  one  who  is  yet  capable  of  hearing  and 
willing  to  hear,  but  to  leave,  or  rather  entirely  to  deliver  over  to 
righteous  punishment,  the  wilfully  deaf. 

In  parables  (or  proverbs,  iv  Trapoi/iiaR,  John  xvi.  26,  29, 
which  is  almost  the  same,  comp.  Ez.  xx.  49),  i.e.  as  much 
as  to  say  in  a  manner  unintelligible,  and  indeed,  where  it  is 
not  fables  like  those  of  Aesop  which  speak  of  natural  things 
concerning  beasts  and  men,  but  eternal  wisdom  that  forms  its 
rrtb&D2'  an<^  t^iereui  expresses  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven — the  secrets  of  its  eternal  counsel  from  the  beginning — 
the  understanding  of  their  meaning  is  a  thing  not  so  hastily  or 
easily  to  be  spoken  of.  Still,  (and  this  is  the  other  side),  the  eter- 

1  For  example,  already  Bacon  (de  augm.  scient.  ii.  13).  Est  autem 
usus  ambigui  atque  ad  contraria  adhibetur.  Facit  enim  ad  involucrum, 
facit  etiam  ad  illustrationem. 


208  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

nal  wisdom  of  love  speaks  in  this  way  more  intelligibly,  more 
loudly,  more  openly  of  its  secrets,  than  ever  an  Aesop  of  the  west, 
or  a  proverb-maker  of  the  east,  was  able  to  do.  "  The  profoundest 
wisdom  of  nature,  the  world,  and  man  (more  correctly,  the  re- 
vealing wisdom  of  God  himself)  is  connected  with  the  simplest, 
nearest,  most  memorable  figure.  For  the  stubborn  and  the 
frivolous,  this  is  still  the  only  language  which  in  a  happy  moment 
can  soften  and  awaken  them.  After  they  have  once  heard  it  as 
a  parable,  the  figure  sticks  to  them,  the  mirror  is  ever  turned 
towards  them,  and  they  cannot  but  look  into  it  at  some  time  or 
other"  (HafeH).  "  If  Christ  would  not  speak  to  the  wind,  He 
must  needs  break  up  the  truth  into  parts — separate  it  into  such 
instances  so  harsh  to  our  ear  and  moral  feeling,  in  which  ab- 
straction must  make  use  of  all  its  hermeneutical  magic  power  to 
drive  it  back  from  the  nearness  where  it  causes  us  so  much  un- 
easiness, to  the  remote  wilderness,  amid  the  mist-light  of  gene- 
rality" (Kleuker).  That  which  experience  proves1  in  our  day 
among  the  8)(\oi<z  of  the  Church,  cannot  have  been  otherwise  in 
the  time  of  Christ ;  thus  to  understand  the  conduct  and  words  of 
Christ,  cannot  be  characterised  as  the  arbitrary  interpretation  of 
a  commentator.  Therefore,  speak  I  to  them  in  parables  ;  that  to 
every  one  who  still  has  anything,  may  yet  be  given;  and  then 
that  from  him  who  has  not,  may  be  taken  away.  To  which  second 
idea  Christ  now  carries  out  his  answer. 

Vers.  13 — 15.  After  having  first  given  a  direct  declaration 
concerning  the  present  obduracy  of  the  people  (which,  however, 
is  also  to  be  found  in  the  Prophets  :  Jer.  v.  21 ;  Ez.  xii.  2, — in  the 
latter  passage,  it  is  expressly  said  immediately  before,  j-p^  i* 
OH  ^ft)>  Christ  quotes  at  large  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  the 
same  with  which  John  (chap,  xii.)  must  needs  close  his  account  of 
the  public  testimony  and  labours  of  Christ ;  and  Luke,  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  his  account  of  the  apostolic  testimony  to 
Israel — the  same  as  we  find  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  still 
abiding  upon  them,  as  it  was  already  announced  at  the  first  in 
Deut.  xxix.  4.     '  AvanrXiqpovTOLi  at  all  events  intensifies  the  signi- 


1  Although  many  preachers  practise  as  much  as  in  them  lies  the 
putting  back  of  the  near  truth  into  the  mist  of  generality,  here  meant 
by  Kleuker. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  13 — 15.  209 

fication  of  the  simple  verb ;  although  it  is  not  precisely  (as  gene- 
rally in  Greek)  again,  or  once  more  fulfilled,  it  yet  means  entirely 
fulfilled,  now  attains  its  entire  truth ;  that  which  was  already 
meant  in  the  prophecy  as  such,  is  now  first  fulfilled,  although 
had  also  its  fulfilment  at  that  time  in  the  contemporaries  of  the 
prophet.  (Comp.  this  emphatic  use  of  the  word  in  1  Thess.  ii.  16). 
The  first  six  chapters  of  Isaiah  form  an  introductory  ground- 
work to  the  whole  book,  consisting  of  three  parts  :  Chap,  i.,  in 
immediate  connexion  with  the  time  present,  begins  with  the 
Prophet's  contemporaries,  who  were  to  be  chastised,  as  it  were  to 
show  the  foundation  upon  which  the  entire  structure  of  the  dis- 
courses that  point  to  the  distant  future  is  raised.  Chap.  ii. — v. 
brings  forward,  by  way  of  contrast,  Israel's  calling  and  destiny, 
which  stands  in  the  remotest  prospect,  in  order  again  to  come  down 
from  this  elevation  to  rebuke  the  people  now  fallen  away  of  them- 
selves (chap.  ii.  5),  and  to  show  the  grace  which  is  for  the  righteous; 
here,  as  it  were,  the  two  extreme  points  are  laid  down  between 
which  the  prophecy  is  to  move.  Here  already  the  future  Messiah 
announces  himself  by  the  significant  name,  which  entirely  cor- 
responds to  the  circle  of  ideas  used  by  Christ  in  the  parables : 
fjft^,  sprout,  shoot  of  a  preserved  and  renewed  planting  of  the 
Lord,  from  which  at  last  is  to  proceed  a  glorious  fruit  of  the  earth 
(chap.  iv.  2). — Israel  is  represented  in  a  parable  as  at  present  the 
unfruitful  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  In  chap,  vi.,  finally,  there 
is  added  the  sending  and  instruction  of  the  Prophet,  who, 
in  his  own  time,  finds  no  hearing,  but  who  is  still  to  prophesy 
for  the  future,  because  under  the  general  corruption  a  holy  seed 
(ver.  13)  remains  hid  and  preserved.  In  the  original  text,  we 
find  nothing  but  imperatives  addressed  to  the  Prophet,  as  before 
to  the  people.  Whilst  he  threateningly  announces  to  them : 
"  hear  ye,  and  understand  not !"  he  is  himself  to  harden  their 
heart,  to  blunt  their  ears,  to  close  up  their  eyes.  How  such 
language,  which  retains  its  truth,  is  to  be  rightly  understood,  the 
whole  Scripture  shews  us  :  the  imperative  is  the  sharpest  form, 
of  the  threatening  future,  the  prophecy  calls  forth  into  manifesta- 
tion the  existing  obdurateness,  which  is  to  develop  itself  through 
their  own  guilt  in  regard  to  the  word.  Thou  shalt  speak  to  them 
in  vain,  preach  them  entirely  deaf,  at  the  same  time  already  equiva- 
lent to :  thou  shalt  predict  their  obduracy,  according  to  the  form  of 
VOL.  II.  O 


210  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

expression  occurring,  for  example,  at  Jer.  i.  10.  Let  it  not  be 
overlooked,  that  these  deaf  and  blind  ones  are  the  same  to  whom 
healing  and  salvation  is  afterwards  announced  (chap.  xxix.  9 — 
12,  18 — 19,  xxxv.  5,  xlii.  7),  to  which,  indeed,  Christ  himself  re- 
ferred in  Matt.  xi.  5.  Christ  is,  therefore,  truly  come  to  heed 
them,  as  Isaiah  also,  in  his  time,  spoke  from  the  grace  of  God  in 
a  sincere  yet  friendly  manner  to  the  people.  But  that  which  was 
then  manifest,  receives  now  a  more  complete  fulfilment ;  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  too,  proves  at  first  to  them  only  an  occasion  of 
greater  hardening  (John  ix.  39),  and  the  true  salvation  also  of 
Israel  according  to  the  flesh  which  is  there  promised,  is  thereby 
put  back  to  the  distant  times  of  a  second  future.  All  this  is  in 
Isaiah,  as  a  whole,  partly  typified  in  the  Prophet  himself,  partly 
predicted  for  the  future  of  Christ ;  therefore,  in  Matth.  xv.  7 — 9, 
a  similar  word  is  taken  from  the  same  connexion  (Is.  xxix. 
9—13). 

Already  the  Sept.,  with  which  the  citation  here  literally  corres- 
ponds (as  also  the  Chald.,  at  least  at  the  beginning),  has  rendered 
the  Imperative  by  a  more  intelligible  Future  ;  and  Kimchi  ex- 
pressly observes  that  the  Imperative  is  in  that  passage  put  for  the 
Future.  Observe,  now,  how  it  corresponds  to  itself:  not  compre- 
hend or  understand,  although  they  hear,  not  apprehend,  discern, 
or  see  into,  although  they  see.  Observe  the  further  order  and 
progress  of  the  expression,  which  very  significantly  goes  out  first 
from  the  heart  to  the  ears  and  eyes,  in  order  to  return  again 
through  the  eyes  and  ears  to  the  heart.1  For  according  to  the 
state  of  the  heart,  the  ear  hears  ;  and  just  as  one  has  heard,  so  he 
sees ;  an  intelligent  insight  results  from  an  intelligent  hearing  of 
the  word.  The  way  back  must  now  be  the  same,  namely,  that 
the  preaching  which,  by  means  of  parables,  is  set  with  special  dis- 
tinctness before  the  eyes,  again  awakes  the  hearing  ear;  and 

'Enaxvvdrjj  the  Hebr.  tottJTTj  which  indicates  a  hardening  of  the 
heart,  specially  induced  by  the  fat  of  prosperity  and  pride  (Deut.  xxxii. 
15).  BapeW  fJKovaav,  Hebr.  "l^ffo  as  a^so  ^aprjKoosj  surdaster  occurs. 
'EKdpuvorav,  Hebr.  properly  ^t£i"b  °f  the  smearing  of  the  eyes,  here  in- 
cluding both  sleepiness  and  short-sightedness,  our  blinking.  Expres- 
sions, therefore,  all  of  which  indicate  a  not  yet  entire  deadness  in  the 
power  of  the  sonse. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  16,  17.  211 

thus  the  access  to  the  heart  is  opened  up  for  the  right  under- 
standing of  it.  But  the  heart  is  and  remains  the  decisive  thing, 
all  is  properly  only  one  sense  of  the  heart ;  they  perceive  not  with 
the  heart,  they  are  not  converted  that  they  might  be  saved ! 
The  IdacofMac  of  the  Sept.  corresponds  exactly  to  the  Heb.  nq^ 

r  .  .  .  T  t: 

vj>,  of  which  we  find  in  Mark  the  true  interpretation  :  and  their 

sins  should  be  forgiven  them  (as  the  Chald.  ^nS  tt2fHZ?,vl>  Kimchi 
fflT^Dn  fc^m  tttDSJl  n^Dl)*  ^n^s  fearful  consequence  intro- 
duced by  the  /.nqirore  has  certainly  (to  speak  with  Pfenninger),  a 
half-ironical  force ;  "  they  feared  evil,  when  they  heard  that  I 
would  save  them !"  But  on  this  very  account  the  ground  of 
such  a  /jbrj7TOT€  is  taken  away  from  Christ,  wTho  still  ever  speaks  to 
the  deaf,  and  is  laid- in. their  not  hearing,  in  their  not  perceiving, 
in  their  hearts,  which  will  not  be  converted.  Nothing  is  clearer 
than  this,  and  the  true  light  is  thus  thrown  on  the  ha  which 
has  been  obscured  by  the  predestinarians  (and  which  Mark  ver. 
12,  and  Luke  ver.  10,  put  by  contraction  for  the  on  in  Matt. 
ver.  11).  Philological  controversy,  which  would  make  it  a  mere 
eK^artKov,  is  of  no  avail,  and  certainly  does  not  quite  meet  the  true 
sense ;  for  it  is  by  all  means  the  purpose  of  God,  that  in  his  grace 
the  fruitlessness  of  which  he  knew  beforehand,  man's  guilt  and 
destruction  should  manifest  and  develop  itself;  this  remains  the 
judicial  element  in  that  blindness  which,  otherwise  in  the  word  of 
truth  where  are  no  empty  phrases,  could  never  be  traced  back  to 
God.  Once  more  the  sum  is  this :  Christ  preaches  here  to  the 
last  as  the  Apostles  in  like  manner  did,  in  all  patience  and  long- 
suffering,  above  all  in  order  that  whoever  has  ears  may  yet  hear, 
ver.  9.  But,  because  the  ears  which  they  have  they  yet  have 
not,  or  do  not  use,  as  he  well  knew,  he  speaks  with  the  second 
and  secondary  purpose,  that  their  not  knowing  may  be  judged  as 
a  not  willing. 

Vers.  16,  17.  Christ  here  turns  a  look  of  consolation  upon  his 
dear  disciples,  as  before  at  chap.  xi.  25,  hence  at  a  later  period, 
according  to  Luke  x.  21 — 24,  Christ,  connecting  together  both 
addresses,  repeats  them.  It  remains  true  that  Christ  makes  the 
hearing  ear  and  the  seeing  eye  (Prov.xx.  12),  therefore  it  is  given  to 
the  disciples.  But  only  because  they  havey  as  was  also  said  before. 
All  the  prophets  too  longed  for  the  coming  of  Christ,  of  whom  they 


212  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

testified  (1  Pet.  i.  10 — 12)  ;  nay,  even  those  who,  in  past  times, 
were  righteous  by  faith,  whose  believing  expectation  and  hope 
pointed  to  Him  who  was  now  come.  (John  viii.  56 ;  Heb.  xi. 
13,  16,  39.)  In  the  simplest  parable  from  the  mouth  of  Christ 
there  is  more  than  in  all  the  former  words  of  God,  which  the 
prophets  themselves  could  declare,  for  it  is  immediately  added : 
Hear  ye  now  the  parable  of  the  sower  !  Hear  ye  who  have  in- 
quiring hearts,  hear  it  aright — with  repeated  emphasis  on  this 
word  "  hear,"  whose  decisive  significance  between  God  and  man 
pervades  the  whole  of  the  first  parable,  as  also  the  whole  discourse 
concerning  parables. 

Mark  vers.  21 — 25,  and  Luke  vers.  16 — 18,  give  the  additional 
information  that  Christ,  further,  after  explaining  the  first  parable 
to  the  disciples,  said  again  what  he  had  already  said  in  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  Matthew  v.  15,  (with  which  then  both  evan- 
gelists connect  the  foregoing  proverbial  saying  in  Matt.  ver.  12). 
Chiefly  the  first  saying  concerning  the  light  seems,  as  was  very  na- 
tural, to  have  been  often  repeated  by  Christ,  as  in  Luke  xi.  33  we 
found  it  addressed  to  the  people  shortly  before,  just  as  now  to  the 
disciples.     As  the  sower  sows  the  seed  that  it  may  shoot  forth, 
so  the  light  comes  into  the  world,  as  a  lamp  is  brought  into  a 
room  (such  an  analogy  lies  certainly  in  the  word  epxerai  in 
Mark),  that  it  may  give  light ;  where  it  seems  to  hide  and  obscure 
itself,  this  certainly  is  not  proper  to  it.     At  the  same  time,  the 
words  are  still  more  closely  applicable  to  the  listening  disciples  : 
Think  not  that  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  of  which 
I  spoke,  are  committed  to  you  to  be  kept  secret ;  you  twelve 
know  and  should  remember  that  I  send  you  to  speak  in  the  light 
that  which  you  now  receive  secretly,  to  preach  afterwards  on  the 
housetops  what  you  now  hear  in  the  ear!     (Matt.  x.  26,  27). 
Observe  how  significant,  precisely  here,  is  this  referring  of  the 
disciples  back  to  the  first  word  which  was  declared  before  all  the 
people  to  be  the  kindled  light,  and  how,  afterwards  at  the  first 
sending  out  of  the  disciples,  the  word  which  foretells  the  growing 
publicity  of  their  preaching  again  recurs  to  this.    (Matt.  x.  26). 
This  prediction  finds  its  fulfilment  also  with  special  reference  to 
the  parables,  in  so  far  as  they  become  ever  more  clear  as  the 
history  of  the  world  and  the  church  progresses. 

When  in  Mark  and  Luke  we  find,  further,  the  charge  ad 


MATTHEW  XIII.  3 — 9.  213 

dressed  to  the  disciples,  Take  heed  what  (or  how)  ye  hear — this  is 
only  to  be  taken  as  another  application  of  the  general  call :  He 
who  has  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear !  But  it  is  sharpened  in  its 
form,  with  special  reference  to  the  disciples  who  have  eyes  and 
ears ;  their  seeing  is  to  be  a  more  careful  looking  to  themselves 
also  after  hearing,  while  the  people  have  not  even  the  first  seeing 
in  order  to  hearing.  Finally,  Mark  ver.  24  is,  in  like  manner,  a 
repetition  in  another  form  of  what  is  said  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  Matt.  vii.  2,  and  serves  thus  to  the  full  understanding  of 
ver.  25.  (From  which  it  necessarily  follows  that  Trpoared^aerac 
can  only  be  equivalent  to  So0r)(reTai,  fieTpr)6r)creTai,  and  is  by  no 
means  to  be  understood  with  many  (as  Alibrd)  :  more  will  be 
expected  of  you  hearers  of  the  mysteries  of  God,  greater  demands 
will  be  made  of  you.)  For  the  rest,  it  is  equally  impossible  and  un- 
necessary for  us  to  show  how  the  manifold  interpretations  of  a  like 
kind  stand  related  to  the  ip sis sima  verba  of  Christ;  we  remain  satis- 
fied in  so  far  as  there  is  no  contradiction  on  the  supposition  of  a 
substantially  correct  account,  and  not  allowing  ourselves  to  be  mis- 
led by  discrepancies  that  may  be  pointed  out,  we  perceive  throughout 
the  same  spirit  and  sense  in  the  fluctuating  letter.  That  is  the 
only  true  result  to  which  we  must  return,  after  all  our  criticism 
and  learning, — at  one  with  the  reading  and  hearing  church  of  the 
faithful.  If  any  one  can  make  out  something  better  without 
injury  to  the  faith  which  keeps  fast  hold  of  the  word,  without 
disturbing  the  simplicity  which  understands  it — I  have  at  least 
not  found  such  in  the  libraries  and  book  markets. 


THE  SEED  IN  THE  DIFFERENT  SORTS  OF  GROUND. 

(Matt.  xiii.  3—9,  18—23 ;  Mark  iv.  3—9,  13—20; 
Luke  viii.  5—8,  11—15). 

The  parables  of  Christ  can  never  be  characterised  as  "  loose 
and  jejune,"  and  their  figures  are  never  "  obscure."  (Evang.  K. 
Z.  1833  Nr.  14).  Each  single  parable  cannot,  indeed,  say  every- 
thing, but  must  be  supplemented  by  others ;  this,  however,  is 
even  less  true  of  the  parabolic  than  of  the  proper  form  of  address, 
because  the  picture-words  of  God  in  the  creation  and  the  relations 


2 14  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

of  man's  history,  are  more  copiously  expressive  than  the  logically- 
dividing  words  which  result  from  human  thinking.  It  belongs 
to  us  humbly  to  follow  the  divine  truth  imprinted  on  the  figure, 
and  rather,  by  due  reflection,  to  let  the  particulars  evolve  them- 
selves than  by  a  too  hasty  interpretation  to  go  beyond  them.  It 
is  to  be  regretted  that  the  most  of  preachers  treat  this  parable  of 
the  sower  in  particular  in  such  a  manner,  that  only  the  general 
principal  truth  respecting  the  good  and  bad  ground  remains, 
while  the  three  kinds  of  bad  ground  are  not  clearly  distinguished 
from  each  other.  We  will  endeavour  to  avoid  such  confusion  as 
shortly  and  clearly  as  possible. 

In  the  midst  of,  and  after  the  intensest  zeal  in  indefatigably 
speaking  the  word  of  God,  which  only  a  few  hear  and  keep, 
Christ  here,  as  it  were,  composes  his  own  soul,  so  as  to  take  the 
most  quiet  and  reflective  view  of  the  state  of  the  case.  This 
opens  to  us,  at  the  same  time,  the  furthest  view  into  the  first 
fundamental  mystery  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  the  co-opera- 
tion of  divine  efficacious  grace  with  the  exercise  of  the  human 
will  in  faith  or  unbelief,  faithfulness  or  unfaithfulness,  upon  which 
its  effect  depends.  As  long  as  fruit  grows  from  seed,  even  to  the 
last  day,  and  the  seed  needs  a  soil  in  order  to  its  springing  and 
growing,  so  long  must  this  be  the  most  appropriate  figure  within 
the  whole  sphere  of  nature  for  such  a  coincidence  and  correspon- 
dence, according  to  which  the  fruit  comes  not  from  the  earth 
without  the  seed,  but  only  from  it,  and  again  the  seed  cannot 
prosper  and  grow  without  the  favour  and  will  of  the  soil.  Hence, 
in  general,  such  a  figure  has  been  used  at  all  times,  to  represent 
spiritual  labour  on  the  heart  of  men  and  its  effect. 

Christ,  however,  gives  us  the  innermost  truth  when  in  the  ex- 
planation (in  Luke)  he  begins  by  saying :  The  seed  is  the  word 
of  God,  i.e.,  also  conversely :  The  word  of  God  is  a  seed.  The 
word  of  man  also  sows  itself  in  many  ways  in  the  hearts  of  men, 
so  that  the  wonderful  power  and  efficacy  of  the, word  is  thereby 
made  manifest ;  that,  however,  which  comes  to  man  and  works 
in  him,  in  the  most  wonderful  and  independent  manner,  is  the 
word  in  the  highest  sense  (Mark  ver.  14),  which  the  heavenly 
sower  sows,  the  word  of  God.  Once  only  at  the  first  creation 
did  the  earth  bear  grass,  herbs,  and  trees,  which  had  their  seed  in 
themselves,  spontaneously  without  previous  sowing,  for  then  the 


MATTHEW  XIII.  3—9.  215 

creative  word  was  itself  the  seed ;  since  then,  however,  nothing 
grows  unless  seed  be  first  put  into  the  earth.  Thus  does  the 
word  of  God  which  now  is  not  in  man,  nor  proceeds  from  him, 
come  to  him  from  without,  and  from  above,  as,  by  another  appli- 
cation of  the  figure,  the  fructifying  rain  and  snow  from  heaven 
(Isa.  lv.  10,  11).  Here,  indeed,  the  written  word  is  not  ex- 
cluded, yet  it  is  the  preached  word  that  is  principally  meant, 
the  written  word  only  in  so  far  as  it  is  preached,  or  preaches 
and  sows  itself.  In  the  word  which  proceeds  from  the  mouth  of 
God,  although  communicated  through  the  mouth  of  man  (pr}fi>a 
6eov,  Rom.  x.  17),  is  a  power  of  God  (Rom.  i.  16),  a  living, 
generative,  and  forming  principle,  as  in  every  seed-corn,  which 
therefore  (to  speak  with  Luther)  no  one  can  thoroughly  sift,  which 
bids  defiance  to  all  the  learned.  The  word  of  God  is  also  called  a 
meat,  which,  however,  gives  life  anew,  and  does  not  merely  sus- 
tain and  nourish  what  is  already  there,  which  does  not  assimilate 
itself  to  the  form  and  condition  of  man,  but  rather  transmutes 
him  into  its  own  new  form,  as  the  wonderful  principle  of  the 
seed  transforms  the  soil  and  its  sap  into  the  plant  according  to 
the  kind  of  seed.  It  is  the  incorruptible  seed  of  regeneration  (1 
Pet.  i.  23),  as  e^vro^  X070?  (James  i.  21).  Even  the  smallest 
word  and  saying  which  comes  to  us  from  the  word  of  God  in  the 
widest  sense  (Rom.  x.  18,  in  the  sense  of  Ps.  xix),  preached  in 
all  the  world,  nay,  even  speaking  silently  and  yet  loudly  in  all 
nature, — is  such  a  living,  powerful  seed.  Christ,  however, 
although  not  excluding  this,  yet  here  means  and  names  princi- 
pally the  finished  revelation  and  sum  of  all  the  divine  word  to 
man,  the  icord  of  the  kingdom  (Matth.  ver.  19)  which  He  sows 
and  preaches,  first  of  all  in  His  own  person,  and  then  by  His 
messengers  and  sowers. 

Now,  some  have  thought,  that  in  the  sower  there  is  an  in- 
tended contrast  between  the  ordinary  truth  of  the  figure  and  the 
application  of  it  here  made,  inasmuch  as  the  sower  here  is  a 
quite  uncommon  one  :  for  he  scatters  his  seed  wastefully  every- 
where around,  even  in  those  places  where  nothing  can  grow, 
conduct  which  would  be  foolish  in  any  other  husbandman.  This, 
however,  is  not  right,  and  is  an  unprofitable  refinement  of  criti- 
cism, going  beyond  the  limits  of  the  figure,  which  is  quite  simple 
and  complete  in  itself.    The  parable  speaks  of  the  sower  (Matth. 


216  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ver.  18,  comp.  ver.  3,  6  airelpcov),  who  just  acts  according  to  his 
office  and  work  :  he  goes  forth  to  sow,  he  sows  the  word.  (Mark 
ver.  14.)  Thus  did  Christ  pass  through  the  whole  land  with 
His  preaching,  thus  will  He  have  His  gospel  preached  to  every 
creature,  thus  are  the  servants  of  the  word  to  leave  nothing 
unsown,  even  no  way,  and  no  stone,  for  the  field  of  God  is  by 
right  the  whole  worid.  God  will  maintain  His  right  to  it,  gain  it 
again  to  Himself,  or,  at  least,  testify  to  its  being  His :  He  does 
not  even  acknowledge  the  right  of  any  other  to  the  way  beside 
the  field,  as  the  diligent  husbandman  at  least  tries  every  year 
anew  to  gain  the  reclaimable  footpath  on  the  border  or  in  the 
middle  of  his  field ;  he  knows  well  the  stony  ground,  but  he 
works  it  also  before  and  with  the  seed  (as  we  shall  afterwards 
see)  ;  He  will,  at  all  events,  sow  everywhere  for  a  testimony  that 
He  does  not  let  the  land  want,  that  to  Him  properly  it  belongs. 
The  first  great  fundamental  idea  of  the  parable  then  is  :  God  on 
His  part  sows  diligently,  always,  and  everywhere,  all  must  at 
least  hear  the  word,  though  it  should  be,  in  the  case  of  many, 
against  their  will  and  without  effect  I  And  where  fruit  is  not 
brought  forth,  the  fault  lies  with  the  ground  ;  it  was  sown  also 
iust  that  this  might  be  evident. 

Christ  here  comprises  in  three  principal  classes  really  all,  one 
mio-ht  almost  say,  the  thousandfold  kinds  and  mixtures  of  the 
soil  that  yield  no  fruit  unto  the  harvest,  which  are  therefore  all 
the  more  carefully  to  be  distinguished  from  each  other.  But 
here,  it  is  to  be  regretted,  the  mass  of  preachers  fall  into 
much  confusion,  or,  when  they  aim  at  strictly  distinguishing, 
into  many  mistakes.  When  we  look  at  the  words,  there  ap- 
pears at  first  sight  to  be  a  gradual  ascent  from  the  worst  to 
the  less  bad,  so  that  the  truly  good  ground  is  at  last  connected 
with  that  which  is  least  bad  :  first,  there  is  no  reception  of  the 
seed  at  all,  then  a  shallow  reception  and  a  short  growth,  then 
there  is  even  a  complete  taking  root  and  a  larger  growth,  not  yet 
reaching,  however,  to  maturity.  Let  us  look  more  closely  at  the 
particulars,  in  order  to  see  whether  this  first  understanding  of 
the  words  approves  itself  as  the  only  correct  one. 

Some  seed  falls  irapa  rrjv  6$6v  (as  all  the  three  evangelists 
agree  in  saying)  i.e.,  not  certainly  on  the  country  roads  and  high 
ways  themselves,  but  in  their  neighbourhood ;  the  sense,  however, 


MATTHEW  XIII.  3 — 9.  217 

plainly  is,  that  this  margin  of  the  field  has  been  wrongfully 
made  to  be  part  of  the  way,  and  trodden  hard  like  it,  so  that  the 
seed  only  remains  lying  on  the  surface,  and  is  given  up  to 
destruction.  If  the  field,  which  its  owner  and  sower,  neverthe- 
less, does  not  yield  up,  comprehends  the  whole  human  world, 
then  the  road  which  lies  beyond  it,  and  upon  which  really 
no  seed  is  to  be  cast,  would  be  Satan's  kingdom  and  province, 
or  the  sphere  of  the  altogether  outward  natural  life,  for  which 
there  is  no  word  of  God  at  all,  no  seed  that  could  spring  up  in 
it.  And  both  are  true,  for  viewed  in  reference  to  the  human 
hearts  lying  upon  its  boundary,  or  which  have  already  become 
almost  such  a  way,  it  is  really  one  and  the  same  thing :  Satan 
has  his  way  and  his  kingdom  in  which  the  spirit  has  become 
altogether  sensual,  sunk  into  the  lower  sphere  of  the  creature. 
Many  and  various  are  the  things  which  have  power  to  make  the- 
hearts  of  men  so  hard,  among  which,  at  the  present  time,  "  the 
freight-waggons  of  business"  are  not  to  be  forgotten.  These, 
then,  are  such  as  hear  indeed  with  the  outward  ear,  but  no  longer 
perceive  or  understand  with  the  heart ;  who  first  of  all  live  entirely 
unsusceptible  in  the  earthly  and  outward,  their  heart  a  thorough- 
fare for  thoughts  and  devices  drawn  from  a  sphere  which  has 
nothing  in  common  with  the  truth  and  power  of  life  in  God's  word. 
The  indifferent  (not  merely  those  sunk  in  vice  and  wickedness) 
whose  way  is  never  to  feel  repentance,  or  to  look  at  anything  in 
themselves  which  might  awaken  such  a  feeling,  who  offer  to  the 
seed  no  soft  place  into  which  it  might  penetrate,  or  where  it 
might  be  covered.  They  are  so  when  the  seed  is  scattered, 
when  they  are  brought  into  contact  with  it;  more  than  this 
Christ  will  not  say  here,  although  we  may  justly  suppose  further, 
how  from  youth  upwards,  or  at  a  later  period,  they  may  have 
become  so  by  their  own  and  others'  fault.  This,  in  its  own  time, 
God  will  find  out  andjudge,  he  will  certainly  act  unrighteously 
to  no  one,  but  yet  will  not  overlook  the  secret  beginnings  in 
which  the  soul  thus  surrendered  itself,  and  threw  itself  away 
upon  vanity.  Enough,  that  of  the  judgment  nothing  is  now 
said  in  the  parable,  but  only  of  the  fact :  Grace  works  super- 
abundantly. Although  there  were  no  susceptible  ground,  still 
the  sower  sows  the  word  even  upon  it,  and  is  such  a  one  truly 
described  as  6  napa  ir\v  6Bbv  a  it  a  p  e  I  ?,  i.e.,  at  least  sown  upon, 


218  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

as  it  might  be  translated  f  No,  the  expression  has  a  deeper 
reference,  and  finds  its  justification  in  this,  that  the  man  pro- 
perly so-called,  the  person  himself  (as  he  will  or  ought  to 
become),  is  conceived  of  as  the  plant  already  present  in  the 
seed  as  soicn,1 — there  being  here  an  anticipation  of  the  second 
parable.  Christ  speaks  even  of  an  ecnrapixevov  iv  rrj  icaphiq 
— for  where  there  is  a  man  there  also,  although  it  may  seem 
quite  otherwise,  is  still  a  heart  and  conscience,  a  possibility 
that  the  seed  may  penetrate,  however  hardened  he  may  be, 
a  beginning  of  the  new  growth  wherever  seed  lies,  although  it 
may  be  ever  checked  and  arrested.  That  which  is  heard, 
although  it  be  not  understood,  yet  lies  on  the  surface,  in  the 
memory,  and  might  still  penetrate  farther  were  favourable  rain 
to  follow  the  sowing — if  there  were  not  one  who  acts  contrary  to 
the  good  sower.  It  is  not  a  merely  human  and  natural  result, 
then,  if  the  seed  cannot  at  all  spring  up.  Wherever  such  seed 
lies  thus,2  the  evil  one  comes  (Mark,  Satan  ;  Luke,  the  devil,  so 
that  we  can  make  no  mistake  as  to  who  is  spoken  of)  the  coun- 
ter-worker of  the  sower,  from  his  kingdom  and  province,  whose 
evil  counsel  and  will  declared  against  God's  counsel  of  grace, 
which  overlooks  no  one,  is  in  these  terms :  that  they  believe  not, 
and  be  saved  !  So  it  is  now  :  where  the  Creator  has  worked,  the 
destroyer  always  follows — still  more,  where  the  Restorer  begins, 
the  enemy  hinders  and  resists.  He  is  never  more  busy  than  in 
those  places  where  God  has  just  sowed,  he  always  follows  (dra 
LukeJ  and  comes  evdicos  (Mark)  wherever  he  can  come,  to  de- 
stroy the  good  seed.  He  comes,  however,  not  precisely  in  his 
own, person,  but  the  devouring  birds  are  his  power  and  his  host. 
He  is  the  spirit  that  rules  in  the  air  and  fills  the  atmosphere,  in 
which  those  live  who  walk  after  the  course  of  this  world.  Christ 
here,  certainly  with  design,  makes  use  of  the  birds  of  heaven  (as 
is  added  in  Luke,  and  perhaps  also  in  Mark)  as  an  emblem  of 

1  Alford  quite  truly :  "  The  seed  sown  becomes  the  plant ;  it  is 
therefore  the  representative,  when  sown,  of  the  individuals  to  whom 
the  discourse  refers.''  Lange  expresses  it :  "  The  history  of  his  life  be- 
comes identical  with  the  history  of  the  seed.  The  fate  of  God's  seed 
in  the  man  is  the  fate  of  the  man  himself." 

2  In  Matthew  it  is  placed  before  by  anacolauthon  :  iravrbs  <xkovovtos 
Kalfif)  o-vvuvtos,  where  such  a  one  is  found.  In  Mark  ver.  15  onov  is  to 
be  construed  with  what  follows,  so  that  the  same  sense  arises. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  3—9.  219 

the  manifold  means  and  instruments,  all  of  which  serve  the  evil 
one  in  order  to  the  taking  away  of  the  word.  The  little  animals 
appear  harmless,  and  yet,  as  regards  the  excellent,  truly  heavenly 
seed,  they  are  mere  birds  of  prey  (Matth.  apird^ev  equivalent  to 
alpei  Mark  and  Luke) — the  arch-robber,  Satan,  lets  them  fly. 
They  are  trifles,  but  many  of  them  together,  and  they  are 
powerful,  so  that  every  bird  carries  away  its  little  corn.  These 
are  the  thoughts,  talk,  and  business  of  the  world,  that  dis- 
sipate the  mind,  and  keep  it  in  an  atmosphere  of  frivolity,  pre- 
venting all  entrance  of  what  is  heard  to  the  heart;  they  are  not 
cares  and  lusts  which  come  from  within  out  of  the  heart,  for  this 
would  be  to  anticipate  the  third  kind  of  bad  ground.  Here  there 
is  as  yet  enough  in  the  hindrances  which  fly  past  from  without, 
because  the  soul  lives  entirely  in  this  outward  sphere.  In  Luke 
it  is  also  said  beforehand  that  the  seed  is  trodden  down,  which 
belongs  as  a  thing  of  course  to  the  designation  "  on  the  way-side," 
so  that,  on  this  very  account,  there  follows  the  assurance  that, 
besides  this,  destruction  comes  to  the  seed  from  other  quarters. 
Christ  might  perhaps  also  have  said  :  the  wind  carries  it  away, 
or  the  like,  but  He  will  declare  more  strongly  that  the  good  seed 
entirely  perishes,  which  could  only  be  expressed  by  the  birds 
eating  it  up.1 

Other  seed  falls  on  .  stony  ground ;  not  precisely  hard  and 
naked  rock  (for  Luke  iirl  rrjv  irerpav  is  to  be  explained  from 
Matth.  and  Mark),  but  on  ground  which  has  some  earth  indeed 
on  the  surface,  but  a  rocky  bottom  farther  down,  as  is  not 
uncommon  especially  in  Palestine.  This  appears  to  be  a  little 
better  than  the  former,  but  it,  too,  is  properly  no  ground  for 
growth,  merely  for  the  first  springing  for  a  while.  Rock  slightly 
covered  with  earth  is  always  soonest  green,  but  is  soon  again 
decayed ;  the  reason  is  expressed  in  a  threefold  form  with  one 
and  the  same  meaning  :  because  it  has  not  deep  earth,  therefore, 
also,  not  moisture  enough,  consequently  also,  not  root  (Matth. 
and  Mark,  already  in  the  parable  give  all  the  three,  and  then 
again  in  the  explanation),  i.e.,  only  root  which  does  not  strike 
deep  enough,  therefore  as  good  as  none.    The  KavfiaTL^eadai  of 

1  It  is  not  indeed  the  living  seed  of  the  word  of  God  in  itself  that  is 
destroyed,  but  in  so  far  as  it  is  sown  in  a  heart,  as  its  seed,  as  the  germ 
of  a  new  man — as  he  is  here  considered. 


220  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  heat  of  the  sun  is  indispensably  necessary  to  all  growth,  it 
properly  helps  growth  in  what  is  good;  here,  however,  the  effect 
is  a  grjpaiveaOai.      These   are  such  as  are  at  first  somewhat 
susceptible,  who  really  receive  and  understand  the  word  they  have 
heard,  but  they  are  shallow  and  superficial ;  a  little  deeper  be- 
neath the  easily  moved,  deceptive,  false  softness  of  heart,  there  is 
the  rocky  bottom  of  the  hard,  proud  heart,  into  which  the  seed 
may  not  penetrate  even  less  than  in  the  trodden  way  (which  is 
here  preliminarily  to  be  carefully  observed).    In  order  to  the  effi- 
cacy of  the  seed  of  the  word,  the  nourishing  sap  must  come 
from  our  soil,  as  the  oil  for  the  lighted  lamp.     True,  the  sap  is 
again  nothing  else  than  the  rain  and  blessing  of  heaven,  which 
has  before  been  drunk  in  by  the  earth,  but  this  cannot  penetrate 
into  the  rocky  ground.     The  seed-corn,  in  order  to  its  successful 
growth,  must  send  forth,   as  well  upwards  as  downwards,   its 
germ,   extending  in  a  twofold  direction  from  the  centre  point 
of  the  generative  principle,   nay,  must  even  at  first  and  more 
strongly  take  root  downwards,  than  grow  upwards.     Where  it 
only  speedily  shoots  upwards,  it  has  but  a  diseased  growth,  and 
has  no  firm  hold  of  the  earth.     But,  on  account  of  the  identity 
which  we  have  already  found  between  the  seed  sown  and  the 
person  here  considered,  it  is  said  also,  ver.  21  (Mar.  ver.  17; 
Luke  ver.  13)  that  these  people  have  no  root  in  themselves  :  the 
not  taking  root  is  precisely  their  own  fault  and  character.     He 
who  quickly  with  joy  receives  the  earnest  word  of  truth  which 
judges  the  principle  of  the  heart  and  conscience,  perceives  not  at 
all  its  serious  meaning  and  difficulty,  expends  his  strength  before 
the  time  in  shallow  feeling,  in  hasty  words,  instead  of  receiving 
it,  as  he  ought,  with  the  calm  earnestness  which  marks  a  thorough 
work  slowly  effected.      Then   the   sun   arises    (avareXXet  rises 
higher  at  mid-day,  or  in  summer,  according  to  the  time  of  the 
day  or  year),  and  this  the  weak  seed,  which  has  shot  up  in  a  way 
not  natural,  cannot  bear.     This,  too,  is  a  hindrance  from  without, 
as  in   the  former  kind,  yet  different  from  the  voracious  birds 
which  do  not  belong  to  the  ground.     The  sunshine  and  its  heat 
mean  no  harm  to  the  seed,  but  come  rather  as  an  ordinance 
from  God  to  promote  the  growth,  and  are  even  necessary  to  it. 
(The  avareWeiv  of  the  sun  corresponds  to  the  avcLreXkeiv  of  the 
seed).      Affliction  or  persecution    (Luke   concisely   ireipaa^) 


MATTHEW  XIII.  3 — 9.  221 

comes,  indeed,  also  indirectly,  through  the  men  of  this  world, 
and  from  the  evil  one,  yet  not  in  entire  opposition  to  God's 
counsel  and  will,  but  on  account  of  the  word,  belongs  therefore 
itself  to  the  word,  proceeds  from  it,  and  corresponds  to  it  in  the 
natural  order  and  progressive  development  of  the  kingdom.  No- 
thing ripens  without  heat,  and,  in  the  case  of  a  good  root,  it  must 
promote,  and  not  hinder  the  growth.  The  general  designation 
of  a  man  of  the  second  class  is  Trpoa/ccupos,  which  is  not  to  be 
rendered  either  by  inconstant  or  changeable  alone,  for  the  word 
includes  both  ;  what  subsists  and  continues  only  for  a  fit  or  con- 
venient time,  continues  only  for  a  while.1  Luke's  explanation 
7rpo<?  Kaipov  Triarevovaiv  is  also  to  be  read  not  merely  as  1  Cor. 
vii.  5,  but  at  the  same  time  as  opposed  to  the  inconvenient  fcaipbs 
ireipao-fjiov. 

The  third  kind  of  ground  is  certainly  neither  trodden  into  a 
path  nor  stony,  therefore  the  seed  takes  deep  enough  root  in  it, 
and  its  growth  continues  longer  and  rises  higher,  shoots  up  even 
into  the  stalk,  and  seems  to  put  forth  ears.  Such  a  man  hears 
the  word,  and  that  not  merely  as  those  of  the  first  class,  but 
really  hears  it  as  those  of  the  fourth  class:  he  hears  and  under- 
stands it — for  in  all  the  three  evangelists,  the  antithesis  lies  pro- 
perly in  the  bringing  forth  fruit.  But  it  fails  in  this,  it  also 
does  not  reach  this  point:  Matth.  and  Luke  aKapiro^  y [ve- 
ra i,  it  becomes  at  last,  shows  itself  in  the  final  issue  to  be  un- 
fruitful, although  a  quite  different  appearance  really  gave  pro- 
mise of  fruit ;  Luke  ov  reXeo-fopovcn,  they  do  not  bring  to  the  full 
period,  an  expression  also  used  of  pregnant  persons.  Satan  then 
with  his  devouring  host  does  nothing  to  this  man,  he  has  taken 
the  word  to  heart  with  true  apprehension  of  it.  Nor  is  he,  by 
any  means,  hurt  by  the  assault  of  temptations,  and  opposition,  he 
has  root  in  himself,  through  a  deeper  experience,  which  keeps 
him  from  falling  away  at  once,  when  he  is  offended ;  he  has  there- 
fore, on  the  one  hand,  a  good  earnest  will  to  bring  forth  fruit,  for 
how  otherwise  could  the  seed  grow  to  such  an  extent  in  him  % 
What  is  it  then  that  injures  him  ?  Insincerity  in  everything 
The  indecision  of  his  not  yet  settled  will !  On  his  ground  are 
the  thorns,  or  rather,  as  they  do  not  grow  till  afterwards,  their 

i  "  Dependent  on  the  time,  serving  the  spirit  of  the  time"  (as  Lange 
expresses  it)  does  not  at  all  lie  directly  in  the  expression. 


222  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

concealed  roots  are  in  it.  Here  the  parable  stretches  beyond  the 
natural  figurative  sphere  into  that  of  the  biblical  types,  accord- 
ing to  which  the  thistles  and  thorns  of  the  luxuriant  tares, 
growing  spontaneously  out  of  the  earth  since  the  first  curse  (as  it 
were,  the  serpents  and  vermin  of  the  ground),  represent  the  state 
of  the  natural  heart  of  man,  in  which  sin  already  dwells  and 
luxuriates,  2  Sam.  xxiii*  6  ;  Jer.  iv.  3.  This  other  seed  is  already 
there  since  man  was  made  evil  by  the  evil  one  ;  and  when  any  one 
only  allows  this  to  grow  up  along  with  the  good  seed,  Satan  does 
not  need  to  sow  it  anew,  and  may  for  a  long  time  see  the  good 
seed  growing  up  along  with  it,  conscious  all  the  while  of  his  vic- 
tory over  it.  This  is  Satan's  host  within  the  heart,  more  hostile 
than  the  birds  mentioned  before,  so  that  here  the  circle  of  the 
three  kinds  of  ground,  where  Satan  maintains  his-  right  and 
power,  completes  itself.  What  creeps  more  stealthily,  or  is  more 
difficult  to  eradicate  and  more  dangerous,  than  the  fibrous  roots 
of  lusts  sown  from  the  very  first  in  the  heart  of  man  I  They  go 
in  (as  Mark  has  it)  between  the  wheat,  i.e.,  they  grow  up  amongst 
it  (ver.  7,  avefirjcrav),  and  choke  the  word,  notwithstanding  of 
the  prosperous  increase  it  has  already  made.  These  lusts  are  de- 
noted by  Matth.  in  a  twofold  form,  as  the  care  of  this  world  and 
the  deceitfulness  of  riches :  which  may  certainly,  first  of  all,  be 
understood  of  the  poor  and  the  rich,  although,  on  farther  conside- 
ration, it  will  appear,  that  the  "  desire  to  become  rich"  deceives 
also  the  poor,  as  in  like  manner  riches  carry  with  them  their  own 
cares.  Luke  adds  to  these  the  rjBovds,  in  general,  and  finally 
Mark  at  ire  pi  ra  \otira  eiridvfiiaiy  in  order  that  we  may  not 
understand  riches  or  poverty  alone,  in  the  literal  sense.1  IIXov- 
T09  is  in  general  equivalent  to  property,  possession,  enjoyment, 
anything  whatever  that  belongs  to  the  world,  and  everywhere  ex- 
cites care  as  well  as  pleasure.  Tov  /3/ou,  equivalent  to  tov  alwvo? 
tovtov,  belongs  probably  to  all  the  three  ideas.  The  rjBovai  axe 
at  the  same  time  mere  dirdrai  and  vice  versa;  nay  even  the  fieptfiva 
is  the  same  desire  towards  what  is  earthly,  represented  and  dis- 
guised as  care.  'Attcltt)  and  rep-v/a?  are  related  also  in  the  Greek 
writers.      All  this,  however,  in  itself  comes  neither  from  riches 

1  Not  precisely  :  desires  after  what  remains  (other  things)  i.e.,  after 
this  and  that  (after  all  sorts  of  things),  but  it  means  :  and  whatever 
else  is  of  this  kind. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  3 — 9.  223 

nor  from  poverty,  neither  from  a  superfluity  of  the  good  things  of 
this  life,  nor  from  want,  pain  or  hunger,  but  only  develops  itself 
through  such  ireipaayuo^  and  is  already  in  the  heart  and  grows 
out  of  it.  Now,  those  who  allow  it  to  grow  up  with  the  seed  of 
the  word,  so  as  at  length  to  destroy  it,  are  the  insincere  and  half- 
hearted, who  do  not  press  on  to  conquest  and  decision  for  what 
is  good,  but  go  so  undecidedly  to  work,  that  for  a  while,  no  one 
knows  what  will  come  out  of  them,  whether  or  not  they  will  yield 
ripe  fruit  and  a  harvest — but  at  last  the  want  discovers  itself! 

We  are  now  prepared,  after  the  examination  of  the  three 
classes,  to  look  more  narrowly  at  their  order  and  connexion,  so 
as  to  get  beyond  the  common  interpretation.  The  hindrances  to 
the  springing,  growing,  and  ripening  follow  each  other  according 
to  the  time  of  this  threefold  development  of  the  seed.  The  first 
are  people  whom  the  word  does  not  awaken,  because  already  its 
reception,  the  springing  of  the  seed,  has  been  hindered ;  the 
others  are  "  awakened"  people  who,  however,  come  to  nothing 
because  they  have  not  steadiness  and  root  for  growth ;  the  third 
are  even  converted  people,  whose  sanctification  does  not  come  to 
maturity  but  goes  back  again.  In  like  manner  it  might  be  said, 
that  the  first  hindrance,  viewed  generally  and  as  a  whole, 
threatens  the  period  of  childhood,  which  lives  for  the  outer  world, 
and  is  yet  unsusceptible  of  the  higher  truth ;  the  second,  the 
period  of  youth,  which  is  as  susceptible  as  it  is  inconstant ;  the 
third,  a  still  farther  advanced  age,  when  the  ripening  in  sanctifi- 
cation depends  on  the  rooting  out  of  indwelling  sin.  Already, 
we  see,  that  Christ  in  his  representation  goes  out  indeed  from 
principal  classes  distinguished  from  each  other  by  the  reception 
which  is  given  to  the  word  coming  or  already  come  to  them  ;  by 
no  means,  however,  in  the  deeper  sense  can  he  mean,  that  these 
three  classes  exclude  each  other.  We  must  rather  say,  further, 
that  the  three  classes  include  each  other,  so  that  he  who  has  found 
himself  in  the  one  must  soon  also  find  himself  in  the  others,  whether 
he  begin  with  the  first  of  these  or  with  the  last.  The  three 
figures  taken  together,  supplement  each  other,  and  correspond 
properly  to  the  whole  man,  in  so  far  as  understanding,  feeling, 
and  will  receive  the  word :  the  first  do  not  understand  it,  al- 
though they  have  heard  it  and  think  that  they  have  understood  it 
as  any  other  word,  so  that  it  is  still  present  in  their  memory  ;  the 


224  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

second  feel  its  power  not  truly  inwardly,  although  they  seem  to 
have  been  exceedingly  "  affected"  by  it ;  with  the  last  there  is 
awanting  the  pure  subjected  will,  notwithstanding  of  their  know- 
ledge and  experience.1  Do  we  not  see,  then,  that  the  gradual  rise 
to  somethirg  better  is  merely  apparent,  and  that  the  corruption 
and  the  resistance  of  the  human  heart  rather  only  discovers  itself 
in  such  progress,  in  an  ever  more  aggravated  form  f  It  is  altogether 
superficial  to  take  the  first  class  in  the  sharpest  sense  as  repre- 
senting the  hardened,  of  whom  the  discourse  cannot  be,  inasmuch 
as  the  trodden  way  is  not  yet  a  rock.  By  all  means  (and  this  is 
what  has  led  to  that  mistake),  the  first  class  corresponds  here,  first 
of  all  to  the  blind  and  deaf,  who  are  described  in  Matth.  ver.  13, 
15  according  to  Is.  vi. ;  but  this  unsusceptibility  is  very  different 
from  that  which  dogmatic  phraseology,  and  the  Scripture  also 
in  other  places,  means  by  "  hardness"  in  the  proper  sense.  It  is 
a  threatening  picture  for  them,  still  it  by  no  means  represents  an 
irremediable  state ;  otherwise  Christ  would  not  here  seek  by 
parables  to  open  their  ears  to  hear.  The  first  kind  of  ground  re- 
presents to  us  the  outward  appearance  and  state  of  things  with  the 
majority  in  all  times  ;  this  first  figure,  taken  as  it  were,  from  the 
surface  further  develops  itself,  however,  to  the  second  and  third 
which  were  already  implied  in  it.  The  hardness  of  the  human 
heart  is  not  merely  the  result  of  being  outwardly  trodden  upon, 
it  shews  itself  in  a  more  advanced  stage  as  the  internal  rocky 
ground,2 — and  hast  thou  found  that  it  has  gone  so  far  with  thee, 
then  will  a  true  self-knowledge  soon  discover  to  thee  also  the  crop 
of  thorns.  He  who  has  become  a  way  on  which  the  devil's  hosts 
have  free  scope,  is  himself  to  blame  for  this,  although  the  first 
treading  down  of  this  way  was  the  work  of  the  devil ;  it  is  the 
devil,  in  like  manner,  who  has  made  the  land  rocky. within,  and 

1  One  might  at  the  same  time  say  not  without  a  certain  truth :  The 
first  are,  in  reference  to  the  word,  the  phlegmatic,  the  second  the  san- 
guine, the  third  the  choleric  and  melancholic  together.  Strangely 
playing  upon  the  passage,  so  that  the  most  wonderful  consequences 
may  proceed  from  it,  Lange  even  views  it  in  reference  to  the  four 
religions  of  (he  world  ;  Heathenism,  Judaism,  Mahommedanism,  Chris- 
tianity. Would  that  Christendom  were  the  good  ground !  Mis- 
sionaries find  even  Heathenism  more  susceptible. 

2  As  the  rock  of  the  sensual,  natural  man,  reaching  almost  to  the  sur- 
face, as  Braune  says. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  3—9.  225 

has  also  sown  his  thorns  in  it,  although,  as  regards  both,  it  is 
again  the  fault  of  the  man  if  they  continue  and  do  not  give 
place  to  the  word.  The  three  figures  are  distinct  from  each 
other,  in  so  far  as  they  may  be  understood  to  represent  the 
leading  character  as  manifested  of  different  men,  stages  of  life, 
churches,  even  nations,  and  yet  they  are  so  far  fundamentally 
one,  as  there  is  no  single  individual  who  must  not  in  some  "way 
or  other  find  himself  in  all  the  three.  Finally,  as  there  is  a  pro- 
gress in  the  manifestation  of  corruption  from  the  first  to  the 
third,  so  there  is  also  a  retrograde  movement  from  the  third  to 
the  first.  If  thou  lettest  the  tares  grow,  will  it  not  soon  come  to 
this,  that  every  word  which  thou  hearest  anew  shall  only  so  super- 
ficially impress  thee  as  it  does  the  stony  ground  hearers  ?  And 
being  thus  inconstant,  art  thou  not  become  again  a  trodden  way  ? 
Or  rather,  is  it  not  worse  to  receive  the  word  with  joy  and  yet 
not  with  earnestness,  so  as  to  let  it  take  root,  than  not  to  appre- 
hend it  at  first  ?  Is  not  the  guilt  of  the  third  the  greatest,  and 
liable  to  the  severest  judgment  ? 

What  now  the  good  ground  is,  upon  winch,  when  God  sows  at 
large,  always  some  seed  falls,  and  which,  as  we  are  here  told  be- 
forehand, does  not  fail — we  may  easily  and  rightly  understand 
from  the  threefold  antithesis  to  the  bad  which  is  given  in  the 
expressions  themselves,  Mark,  ver.  8 :  iScBov  Kapirov  (ver.  7 
KdpTTov  ov/c  eScoKe),  and  this  it  does  avafiaivovTa  (while  in  the  first 
ground,  not  even  a  green  crop  sprung  up  as  the.  first  fcapiros  of  the 
seed),  teal  av^dvovra  (while  this  av%dveiv  was  wanting  at  least  in 
the  second).  In  general,  the  good  ground  is  first  of  all  soft  or 
loose  on  the  surface,  then,  it  is  also  deep  or  soft  below,  finally,  it 
is  pure,  free  from  the  seed  of  tares.  The  pure  and  good  heart, 
then,  is  susceptible  for  receiving,  solid  for  keeping,  sincere  or  de- 
cided, self-denying,  earnestly  persevering  in  letting  the  divine 
seed  work  within  it  by  that  power  which  ever  tends  towards 
fruit.  Which  triad  we  find  again  expressed  in  Luke  ver.  15,  in 
the  dfcoveiv,  Kare^etv,  and  viro^ovr}.  The  first  condition  is  the 
right  hearing,  that  it  be  really  heard,  and  is  denoted  by  different 
words,  in  Matth.  ovvikvai,  Mark  irapahe^eadai,  Luke  it icn eve iv. 
For,  truly  to  hear  the  word  as  God's  word,  and  to  believe  it,  is 
certainly  in  the  first  stage  one  and  the  same,  and  is  found  wher- 
ever the  heart  is  soft  for  such  hearing.     (2  Chron.  xxxiv.  26, 27, 

VOL.  II.  P 


226  ,    THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

^qS  Tp)*  But,  as  between  hearing  and  hearing,  so  at  a  far- 
ther stage  between  believing  and  believing,  there  is  still  a  differ- 
ence. Luke,  (ver.  13)  places,  in  opposition  to  the  jmrj  iricrrevaavT^ 
ver.  12,  a  real  irLcrrevova-i  of  the  second  kind,  but  the  iriai^veiv 
must  perfect  itself  in  the  virofiovr)  (which  is  again  placed  in  op- 
position to  the  cKpiaravTcu). — Let  us  inquire,  now  that  we  are 
come  to  the  true  point :  How  can  a  human  heart  be  pure  from 
the  bad  seed  of  lusts,  and,  if  it  must  be  so  at  first,  in  order  to 
afford  good  ground  for  the  seed  of  God,  i.e.,  if  it  must  be  already 
purified,  to  what  purpose,  then,  is  this  seed  of  regeneration  ? — thus 
shall  we  find,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  parable,  the  key  to  all  the 
questions  which  it  suggests  preliminarily  as  a  proposed  enigma. 
As  the  new  wine  requires  new  bottles,  and  finds  indeed  only  old 
ones,  which  itself  makes  new,  even  so  it  is  with  the  good  heart 
for  the  good  seed.  That  newness  of  the  bottles  consists  precisely 
in  this,  that  they  are  made  open  to  receive  what  is  new,  the 
/capita  KaXr)  kcu  ayadr)  needs  only  from  first  to  last  to  be  a  true, 
honest,  upright  heart,  then  will  the  seed  be  efficacious  !  There, 
indeed,  where  choking  thorns  come  in  the  way,  the  similitude 
from  nature  is  no  longer  applicable  to  the  mystery  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven ;  as  a  parable  it  has  already  reached  its  limits, 
where  the  truth  goes  beyond  the  similitude.  There  is  a  miracu- 
lous seed  superior  indeed  to  all  natural  seeds,  so  powerful  that 
by  its  growth  it  can  and  will  choke  all  thorns.  Nay  more,  it  can 
also  break  through  the  rock  in  striking  its  root  down  into  the 
earth,  and  can  make  that  to  be  again  a  field  of  God  which  was  a 
way  of  the  prince  of  this  world.  This  is  already  the  effect  of  the 
seed,  and  it  is  prepared  and  accompanied  by  the  rain  and  the 
plough.  He,  then,  who  humbly  and  submissively  yields  himself 
up  to  the  heavenly  sower,  with  all  his  sowing,  helping,  furthering, 
efficacy,  becomes  good  ground,  and  brings  forth  his  fruit.  And, 
according  to  the  condition  or  capacity  of  the  soil,  as  also  according 
to  the  faithfulness  of  the  working  (his  own  or  another's)  he  brings 
forth  fruit  an  hundred-fold  (which  according  to  Gen.  xxvi.  12,  is 
the  entire  blessing  of  God),  sixty-fold,  or  thirty-fold.  Again 
three  steps  also  in  the  degree  of  fruitfulness  ;x  which  means,  how- 

1  Only  not  as  Roos  who  for  once  deviates  into  foreign  ideas,  and  is  for 
interpreting  thus :  Thirty  corns  from  one  corn — this  takes  place  when 


MATTHEW  XIII.  3 — 9.  227 

ever,  that  the  same  measure  is  not  required  of  every  one,  that  it 
would  rather  be  a  mischievous  temerity  to  attempt  to  increase 
gain  beyond  the  given  talent.  Mark  reverses  the  steps  in  the 
degree  of  fruitfulness,  while  Luke,  by  mentioning  the  hundred- 
fold alone,  will  teach  us,  according  to  the  meaning  of  the  spirit 
in  such  a  change  of  words,  that  wherever  ground  brings  forth 
as  much  fruit  as  it  can,  it  is  reckoned  an  hundred-fold. 

Where  now  is,  and  whence  comes,  the  good  ground  1  In  this 
first  parable  it  is  only  declared,  in  accordance  with  present  experi- 
ence, that  when  the  entire  word  of  God,  the  word  of  the  kingdom, 
comes  to  men,  it  is  found  side  by  side  with  the  bad ;  but  pre- 
cisely therewith  it  suggests  the  questions  which  the  second  parable 
answers.  Will  Christ  then  say,  that  there  are  from  the  first  good 
and  bad  human  hearts  I  The  answer  is  found  in  Matth.  vii.  11, 
Mark  vii.  21,  22.  Where  is  the  rich  man  whom  riches  have  not 
more  or  less  deceived,  or  the  poor  man  whom  riches  have  not 
allured  I  Where  is  a  poor  man  without  cares  of  this  life,  or  a 
rich  man  without  care  and  heart-disquiet  arising  from  his  pos- 
sessions f  Where,  in  fine,  is  a  human  heart  without  lusts  in  it  ? 
Nowhere,  then,  is  the  good  ground  natural.  The  natural,  car- 
nal man  receives  not  that  which  is  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  (1  Cor. 
ii.  14.)  Consequently,  even  the  second  and  third  kind  is  no 
longer  this  natural  man  as  he  is,  but  as  grace  has  already 
worked  and  softened  him,  and  has  more  or  less  even  prepared 
an  entrance  for  the  seed.  In  the  prophet  we  read  (Isa.  xxviii. 
24)  :  Doth  a  plowman  plow,  or  break,  or  harrow  his  land 
always  for  the  sowing — without  going  on  to  soiv  f  The  same 
holds  conversely :  Does  he  sow  at  once,  or  only,  without  first 
ploughing  and  then  harrowing  the  land  ?  The  good  land  is  of 
God's  preparing ;  His  rain  softens  what  is  hard  trodden,  His 
miraculous  plough  breaks  in  pieces  the  rocks,  His  plants  spring 
up,  choke  even  the  thorns ;  His  heats  of  affliction  promote 
growth,  rather  than  burn  up.  Before  the  gospel  of  the  king- 
dom, there  went  forth  the  law  and  the  preaching  of  repentance ; 
along  with,  and  before,  every  true  word,  his  secret,  precursive  grace 
works,  in  order  to  prepare  the  Terar/fjuevovi  (Acts  xiii.  48)  for 

one  faithful  soul  communicates  the  word  which  it  believes,  and  by 
which  it  is  saved,  to  thirty  others,  so  that  they  also  shall  be  saved  I 


228  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  preached  word.  Here  the  grounds  that  determine  the  issue 
lie  much  farther  back,  and  more  concealed,  and  only  come  first 
into  manifestation  in  the  conflict  of  the  preached  word  with  the 
heart. 

But,  again,  in  all  this  there  is  no  gratia  irresistibilis,  no  decre- 
tum  absolutum.  The  man  obeys  or  resists  this  divine  working, 
under  which  the  progress  to  what  is  better  or  worse  is  then  deve- 
loped and  confirmed.  And,  even  to  the  last,  must  the  sowing 
and  working  of  man,  spoken  of  in  Gal.  vi.  7  ;  Jer.  iv.  3  ;  Hos. 
x.  12,  correspond  to  the  sowing  of  the  word  on  the  part  of  God, 
in  order  that  what  is  sown  may  grow  to  fruit ;  thus  it  goes  on 
even  to  the  harvest,  according  to  the  principle  laid  down  in 
Matth.  xiii.  12.  Heb.  vi.  7,  8  describes  the  third  kind  of  bad 
land  in  complete  antithesis  to  the  first ;  it  is  by  no  means  the  first. 

Thus  our  parable  teaches  not  merely  the  impartial,  universal 
grace  of  the  sower,  sowing  everywhere  openly,  with  diligence 
and  zeal,  but  also  in  that  exceeding  patience  which  does  not  yet 
give  up  the  bad  land,  points  farther  back  to  the  working  before 
and  at  the  sowing.  But  man  is  only  all  the  more  to  blame  should 
this  grace  continue  for  him  in  vain.  What  is  the  fruit  which  the 
great,  good,  and  patient  husbandman  and  sower1  will  have  %  Not 
single  fruits  or  words,  but  a  man  of  God  born  again  by  the  word, 
and  fitted  for  every  good  work.  For  this  reason  6  airapei^  ol 
cnreipofievoL,  GTrapevres  in  the  explanation  given  in  Matt,  and  Mark, 
do  not  signify  merely  as  is  wont  to  be  observed:  land  sown 
upon,  (although  in  the  Greek,  airelpeiv  apovpav  or  yfjv,  is  also  said) 
— but  this  form  already  glances  over  to  the  following  parable,  in 
which  the  children  of  the  kingdom  are  them  selves  entirely  the  sown 
and  fruitfully  grown-up  good  seed.  Precisely  as  Luke  (ver.  14) 
uses  avfiTTVLiyovrai,  passively  of  men,  as  at  the  same  time  of  the 
fruit. 

We  hope  that  this  our  interpretation  in  some  small  measure 
answers  to  the  word  of  Christ,  which  (Mark  iv.  13)  makes  a 
thorough  understanding  of  this  parable  to  be  of  high  importance  : 
If  ye  understand  not  this,  how  will  ye  understand  all  the  other 
parables  I  It  is  the  enigma  to  which  we  consider  those  that  fol- 
low as  the  key.      The  question,   Whence  f  which  is  immediately 

1  Jam.  v.  7  also  meant  of  Him, — ecos  av  \dj3r)  to  be  referred  to  Kapnos. 
Thus  does  our  vnopovfi  also  proceed  only  from  His. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  24 — 30.  229 

suggested  chiefly  by  the  first  kind  of  ground,  finds  its  answer  in 
the  second  parable.  The  third  parable  of  the  great  and  high- 
growing  mustard  seed  corresponds  to  the  second  kind  of  ground, 
in  which  the  growth  is  wanting ;  the  fourth  parable  of  the  leaven 
stands  opposite  to  the  third  kind  of  ground,  in  which  there  is  the 
want  of  a  purifying  penetration.  The  self-denying,  all-surrender- 
ing, nature  of  the  good  heart  appears  in  the  fifth  and  sixth,  and 
the  seventh  winds  up  all  with  the  separating  judgment. 


WHEAT  AND  TARES. 

(Matth.  xiii.  24—30,  37—43.) 

The  varying  application  of  the  figures  in  the  different  parables, 
which  we  noticed  already  at  the  commencement,  is  fitted,  gene- 
rally speaking,  to  excite  the  attention  to  penetrate  beyond  the 
figure  to  the  thing.  But  the  new  application  which  is  here  in 
this  second  parable  given  to  the  "  seed,"  signifies  something  more 
than  this,  and  has  its  truth  in  the  internal  connexion  of  these 
two  principal  parables  which,  rightly  understood,  supplement 
each  other.  In  the  first,  we  have  the  beginning,  how  the  word, 
as  the  seed  of  regeneration,  comes  to  and  into  men  ;  in  the  other, 
the  progress,  which  at  the  same  time  first  reveals  the  internal  pro- 
per course  of  the  thing :  Men  themselves  as  the  birth  and  fruit 
proceeding  from  the  word.  The  new  man  is,  as  it  were,  nothing 
but  the  word  of  God,  as  Luther  or  J.  Arndt  would  say.  And, 
indeed  as,  in  the  natural  figure,  the  chain  which  connects  fruit 
and  seed  ever  renews  itself,  so  that  the  seed  itself  must  be  called 
the  fruit  in  the  most  proper  sense  (Is.  lv.  10),  so  are  the  children 
of  God  really  sown  again  as  seed  on  the  field  of  the  world.  But 
who  sows  this  good  seed  ?  He  alone,  the  new  holy  Son  of  Man, 
whose  humanity  itself  is  the  noble  wheat-corn  for  all  this  abun- 
dant fruit.  (John  xii.  24 ;  iv.  36).  Hence,  in  the  first  parable, 
over  which  the  veil  hangs,  we  may  still  understand  by  the  sower 
every  one  who  speaks  the  word  of  God,  who  preaches  the  gospel 
of  the  kingdom  ;  now,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  declared  with 
emphasis  that  Christ  alone,  even  when  he  employs  others  in  the 
work,  is  the  true  sower.  For  he  has  the  good  seed,  he  is  himself 
the  good  seed. 


230  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Ver.  24.  TlapiOrj/cev — laid  the  parable  before  them :  not  pre- 
cisely as  a  meal  (ver.  52),  rather  as  a  certain  instruction,  as  the 
solution  of  an  enigma,  which,  indeed,  was  again  itself  mysterious 
(Acts  xvii.  3).  rO/noi(o07],  although  a  common  expression,  yet 
intimates  that  the  comparison  is  not  made  merely  by  the  speaker, 
but  already  lies  in  the  figure  and  the  thing.  According  to  the 
eternal  counsel  of  God,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  thus  arranged, 
constituted,  predicted  in  the  natural  figure.  In  the  dative  dvOpcowo) 
(Tirelpovri,  the  whole  story  stands  comprised.  To  sow  good  seed, 
in  the  deeper  sense,  is  God's  prerogative  ;  men  can  merely  take 
care  of  it  in  order  to  its  growth,  they  can  never  procure  and  give 
the  first  seed  of  what  is  good.  All  good  has  come  from  God  at 
first  in  the  creation,  all  renovating  good  in  the  evil  world  comes 
again  from  God,  but  through  this  Son  of  Man  of  Nazareth. 
Herein  lies  an  answer  more  than  sufficient  to  that  question  of 
Nathaniel.  He  sows  good,  i.e.,  at  the  same  time,  nothing  but  good, 
true,  pure,  and  unmixed  seed  (see  ver.  27,  and  comp.  Lev.  xix. 
19).  On  his  field  (purposely  ev  tw,  instead  of  ek  top),  according 
to  the  right  of  possession,  and  this  field  is  the  world.1  Christ  could 
not  possibly  say  anything  else  here  than  " the  world"  and  all 
preachers  and  interpreters  who,  without  reason,  substitute  "  the 
Church"  for  this,  losethereby  a  highly  important  ground  feature  of 
the  parable.  For  here  is  already  presupposed  and  comprehended 
what  we  read  in  Matth.  xxviii.  19  :  the  great  sowing,  which  was 
done  once  indeed  as  a  living  groundwork  and  beginning,  was  for 
all  nations,  in  all  countries  ;  its  effect  goes  on  as  a  further  and 
further  sowing  without  limits.  In  no  period  of  the  history  of  the 
kingdom  ought  we  to  understand  and  explain  as  his  field  only 
that  which  has  been  already  sown,  we  ought  to  build  no  garden^ 
hedo-e  around  the  %i  Church,"  as  if  it  were  confined  and  enclosed 
within  certain  countries.2  It  is  true,  on  the  other  hand,  that  it 
is  not  the  world  as  the  evil  world,  that  is  meant,  but  as  the  field 

1  Roos  thinks  that  "  in  this  parable,  therefore  (where  it  is  said,  his 
field),  the  field  is  now  the  principal  idea  of  the  whole,  just  as  before, 
the  seed  (Luke  viii.  5,  his  seed)."    But  this  mistaken  idea  will  hardly 
admit  of  being  carried  out. 

2  Roos,  therefore,  is  again  very  wrong  when  he  says :  "  In  the  second 
parable  the  kingdom  of  heaven  has  already  a  special  field,  or  a  place  of 
its  own  upon  earth." 


MATTHEW  XIII.  25.  231 

of  the  Son  of  Man  which  he  has  sown  and  will  sow,  as  his  pre- 
sent kingdom  on  the  earth  (ver.  41),  to  which  the  perfected 
heavenly  kingdom  of  the  Father  (ver.  43),  stands  opposed,  as  the 
field  yields  up  its  fruit  to  the  barn.  That  the  field  is  not  yet  the 
barn — therein  lies  the  great  truth  which  the  Donati3ts  of  old  did 
not  comprehend,  and  therefore  in  their  controversy  perverted 
the  whole  parable.  When  they  laid  stress  upon  this,  that  Christ 
says  "  the  world"  and  does  not  therefore  speak  of  his  Church 
in  the  world,  they  overlooked  blindly  enough  that  Christ,  in  this 
phrase,  at  the  same  time  recognises  no  other  enclosed  Church- 
field  in  this  world,  but  leaves  the  boundaries  open,  consequently, 
even  the  mixture,  which  exists  in  the  "  world"  must  also  be 
understood  of  the  world  in  so  far  as  it  continually  becomes,  and 
is,  his  field.1 

Ver.  25.  On  the  field  stands  now  the  sown  wheat,  the  children 
of  the  kingdom,  here  in  a  different  sense  from  chap.  viii.  12. 
There,  they  are  such  as  were  patiently  borne  with  in  the  out- 
ward appearance  and  calling,  who  had  a  claim  to  the  kingdom 
until  their  being  cast  out  reveals  its  want  of  foundation ;  here 
they  are  such  as  have  a  true  claim  and  retain  it,  they  are,  what 
they  are  called,  the  good  seed.  They  are  such  as  have  been 
made  alive  by  the  word  of  God,  bearing  its  goodness,  its  truth, 
its  life  in  themselves.  They  are  those  through  whose  diffusion 
and  fruitfulness  the  world  is  to  become,  and  will  become,  the 
kingdom.  Where  any  such  good  seed  has  fallen,  and  may  yet 
fall,  there  the  King  who  sows,  prepares  and  vanquishes  for 
himself  slowly  and  patiently  this  kingdom.  The  kingdom  van- 
quished and  won  as  a  field  by  sowing  !  What  a  word  this  for 
destroying  all  false  conceptions  of  this  kingdom !  The  tares  are 
the  children  of  the  evil  one,  for  ver.  39  points  back  to  ver.  19; 
he  who  sows  them  is  the  devil  (their  father,  John  viii.  44,  as  the 
children  of  the  kingdom  have  God  for  their  Father,  Matth.  ver. 
43),  consequently,  they  are  his  work  (1  John  iii.  8),  the  fruit  of 
his  sowing.      The  devil  sows  error,  lies,  wickedness,  offence,  and 

1  Hence,  on  the  other  hand,  Augustine  erroneously  objected  to  the 
Donatists  that,  world  stands  here  for  Church.  This  alone  by  no  means 
settles  the  matter.  Rather,  because  the  tares  are  not  to  be  cleared 
away  from  the  world  that  is  to  be  sown  upon,  they  must  also  remain 
upon  it  after  it  has  been  sown  (where  we  properly  expect  to  find  them.) 


232  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

hindrance  against  what  is  good,  but  this  sowing  springs  up  and 
shows  itself  in  persons,  who  are  therefore,  themselves  also,  com- 
prehended under  the  offences,  ver.  41. 

Here  Christ  certainly  means,  as  the  words  first  of  all  intimate, 
a  second  sowing  by  the  evil  one,  which  again  comes  amongst  the 
wheat1  after  the  Son  of  Man  has  first  sown  his  good  seed  in  the 
evil  world,  after  he  has  sown  wheat  amongst  the  devil's  first  and 
everywhere  present  tares.  For  the  devil's  first  sowing,  the 
tares  which  the  enemy  has  first  scattered  in  every  soul  to 
which  the  word  can  be  preached,  stands  already  on  the  field  of 
the  world,  for  whence,  otherwise,  at  the  first  preaching  of  the 
word  of  the  kingdom  are  those  evil  hearts  which,  according  to  the 
first  parable,  it  finds !  The  tares  here,  in  this  parable,  are  then  not 
such  as  grow  besides  of  themselves  on  the  field  of  the  world,  in 
so  far  as  it  is  the  devil's  kingdom,  but  such  as  shew  themselves 
anew  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  These  may  properly  be  denoted 
as  a  second  sowing,  coming  between  the  wheat,  for  the  devil  has 
not  merely  seduced  men  at  first,  but  is  always  seducing  the  whole 
world,  he  delays  not  to  come  again,  especially  wherever  God 
with  his  word  of  grace  has  come  (ver.  19).  He  does  not  tear 
out  the  wheat,  for  this  he  has  neither  the  power  nor  the  inclina- 
tion ;  not  the  power,  because  the  strength  of  the  good  seed  from 
God  at  the  first  resists  him ;  nor  the  inclination,  because  his 
malice  and  wickedness  rather  lead  him  to  choke  the  wheat  by  a 
secretly  growing  influence,  and  thus  to  mar  God's  sowing.  It  is 
his  greatest  pleasure  to  sow  between  the  ivheat,  nay,  (a  truth 
which  goes  beyond  the  figure),  to  put  into  the  wheat  the  danger 
and  the  tendency  again  to  become  tares,2  just  as  the  good  sower 
has  torn  away  his  tares  from  him,  and  made  wheat  of  them. 
But — and  this  is  of  importance  afterwards  as  regards  the  answer 
of  the  householder — this  second  sowing  is  only  a  continuation, 
consequence,  and  manifestation  of  that  first  and  initial  sowing  to 
which  it  points  back,  as  also  he  who  in  the  fulness  of  time  sows 
as  the  Son  of  Man,  as  the  concealed  Logos  and  Mediator  through 
whom  all  renovation  is  effected,  has  already  sown  from  the  begin- 

1  Observe  the  probably  genuine  reading  eVeWeipei'.  Vulg.  superse- 
minavit. 

2  Daub  :  "  The  enemy  who  puts  into  the  wheat  the  tendency  itself 
to  become  tares."     (Jud.  Ischar.  ii.  7). 


MATTHEW  XIII.  25.  233 

ning  his  good  seed  as  the  preparation  for  his  kingdom  then 
coming  into  manifestation. 

While  men  slept:  Almost  all  preachers  continually  interpret 
this  of  an  offence  and  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  appointed  watch- 
men (Is.  lvi.  10),  and  cannot  omit  bringing  in  here  also,  against 
the  text,  their  otherwise  well-founded  castigatory  lectures  against 
their  order.  It  is  not,  indeed,  enough  to  object  to  this  interpre- 
tation, that  this  sleeping  is  afterwards  not  explained,  for  neither 
is  there  any  interpretation  of  what  is  said  by  the  servants  ;  in 
like  manner,  taken  strictly,  it  is  not  enough  to  say  that  the 
av0pcQ7roL  in  the  parable  are  found  altogether  apart  from  the  seed, 
the  good  and  the  bad,  for  the  servants  are  represented  in  the 
same  way,  because  the  parable  does  not  admit  of  its  being  other- 
wise, although  they  themselves  are  also  a  part  of  the  wheat.  But 
what  already  is  decisive  as  regards  the  true  meaning  of  our  Lord 
is  this,  that  it  is  by  no  means  said:  the  servants  slept — these 
rather  show  themselves  as  watching  and  guarding  with  all  laud- 
able zeal.1  As  indeed,  in  that  period  of  the  church  to  which  the 
parable  chiefly  points,  the  apostles  certainly  did  not  sleep,  but 
watched  and  were  zealous  for  the  purity  of  the  church.2  In 
addition  to  this,  finally,  the  parallel  parable  in  Mark  iv.  27,  gives 
the  certain  truth,  that  men  have  day  and  night,  that  they 
must  sleep  and  rise  again  at  the  proper  time ;  no  one  in  ordinary 
life  (according  to  which  the  parable  is  to  be  explained)  watches 
his  field  all  night  against  such  wickedness  as  that  here  described ; 
consequently,  by  this  feature  of  the  parable  nothing  else  is  ex- 
pressed than  by  night  (as  Job  xxxiii.  15),  in  darkness  and 
secrecy.  This  is  the  way  of  the  evil  one  in  all  that  he  does,  just 
as  in  the  parable  the  malicious  enemy  will  not  sow  his  tares  in 
day-light  lest  the  faithful  servants  should  immediately  surprise 
him,  and  counteract  the  mischief  before  it  was  rightly  accom- 
plished.    Secretly  does  the  enemy  put  his  seed  into  the  Lord's 

1  For,  with  Roos  for  example,  to  speak  of  other  servants  who  came 
afterwards  as  more  zealous,  but  too  late,  so  that  now  the  earlier  church 
discipline  no  longer  prospered,  is  evidently  against  the  text. 

2  Very  wrongly,  as  also  contrary  even  to  the  progress  of  prophetical 
chronology  in  the  parables  as  we  find  it,  Thiersch  (12  Vorlesung)  will 
date  the  occurrence  later,  and  now  accuse  the  bishops  under  the  Chris- 
tian empire  of  the  criminal  "  sleep" 


234  THE  GOSPEL  m<*  ST  MATTHEW. 

field,  reckoning  on  its  springing  up  at  a  later  period,  so  that  no  one 
observes  him  but  the  Lord  alone,  who  indeed  knows  all ;  secretly 
does  he  go  his  way — in  which  words  the  same  thing  is  said — he 
is  contented  with  his  work,  and  is  quite  willing  to  be  denied  by 
all  who  think  that  there  is  no  devil,  or  that  he  has  at  least  done 
and  accomplished  nothing  more  here — until  the  confusion,  alas ! 
discovers  itself,  and  the  doubtful  "  Whence  V  is  no  longer  to  be 
warded  off.  Precisely  this  is  the  signification  of  that  feature  in 
the  parable,  of  which  Neander  thinks  that,  being  introduced 
merely  to  fill  up  the  picture,  it  has  no  signification. 

Ver.  26.  Seen  from  a  distance  and  in  the  infancy  of  the 
young  vegetation  all  seems  to  be  wheat  on  the  field ;  it  is  also 
called  so,  and  the  small,  concealed,  but  strong  beginnings  of  the 
hindrance,  the  mystery  of  wickedness  which  Satan  has  put  in,  in 
opposition  to  the  equally  deep  planted  mystery  of  grace,  are  over- 
looked even  by  apostolic  eyes  without  special  illumination.  This 
was  the  form  of  the  Church  at  its  first  commencement.  Soon, 
however,  more  than  one  Ananias  breaks  forth  in  the  midst  of 
those  who  seemed  to  have  one  heart  and  one  soul  in  Christ ; 
more  than  one  Simon  among  those  who  believed  and  were  baptized. 
That  which  the  third  kind  of  ground  before  represented  in  the 
case  of  the  individual  repeats  itself  in  the  mass  :  when  the  grain 
shot  higher  and  brought  forth  fruit,  then  were  seen  the  tares  now 
much  more  rapidly  out-growing  it.  Tore  itjxivn,  then  they  became 
manifest,  and,  by  the  want  of  good  fruit,  or  rather  by  their  bad 
fruit,  were  known  as  a  spurious,  pernicious  after-growth,  imitating 
the  form  of  the  wheat.  It  is  not  without  special  reason  that 
Christ  has  not  here  again  said  anavdai  in  general,  but  t&avia ; 
for  although  both  go  together,  and  tares  of  every  kind  are  not 
here  excluded,  he  yet  brings  into  prominence  the  special  reference 
of  the  tares  to  the  wheat  in  their  worst  species.  ZiC,avia  signifies 
what  we  call  darnel,  also  after-wheat,  cockle  weed,  &c.  It  is, 
as  Schubert,  in  his  Natural  History  significantly  says,  the 
"  only  poisonous  grass,"  the  true  counterpart  to  corn  in  nature, 
hard  to  distinguish  from  wheat.  Christ  has  certainly  both 
these  things  in  his  eye,  its  resemblance  to  wheat,  and  its 
poisonous  noxiousness,  and  it  is  not  without  reason  that,  in  the 
striking  change  of  name,  he  here  penetrates  into  the  physio- 
logy of  nature.      When,  however,  in  the  Talmud,  where  the 


MATTHEW  XIII.  27,  28.  235 

word  is  pjj|  (instead  of  r^yft)  coined  etymologically  from  ;-jsj, 
actual  wheat  of  a  degenerate  kind  is  understood  by  the  expres- 
sion/ this  is  indeed  true  in  a  certain  sense,  but  by  no  means  cor- 
responds to  the  parable  of  Christ,  in  which  the  genuine  is  distin- 
guished from  the  spurious,  the  fruitful  grain  from  the  tares,  even 
from  their  first  origin  and  seed.  He  here  teaches  his  servants 
to  distinguish  what  is  not  from  God  but  from  the  evil  one, 
although,  with  false  and  hypocritical  appearance,  it  stands  in  the 
midst  of  what  is  good ;  he  even  predicts  already  that  with  know- 
ing glance  they  shall  be  able  to  detect  it  when  its  time  comes.2 
Thus  might  it  be  said,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  mixture  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  is  not  so  much  anything  new,  as  rather  a  sepa- 
ration of  the  mixture  already  acknowledged  to  exist  in  the  world ; 
for,  inasmuch  as  the  servants  of  the  Lord  even  now  see  and 
lament  the  mixture  in  the  Church,  it  may  be  said  that  the  old 
and  new  tares  of  the  evil  one,  because  they  grow  among  the 
wheat,  have  become  manifest.  When  the  world  becomes  the 
Church-field,  then  its  sin  will  show  itself  in  a  different  way 
from  what  it  did  before,  So  is  it,  and  so  will  it  be,  just  as  there 
is  no  field  or  garden  upon  earth  without  tares,  which  must  be 
weeded  out :  this  Christ  assures  us  of,  and  predicts,  up  to  this 
point  (in  the  first  part  of  the  parable),  only  as  a  fact,  as  in  the 
entire  foregoing  parable ;  now,  however,  He  carries  the  thing 
farther  to  the  important  question  and  answer. 

Ver.  27,  28.  Is  not  this  afield  and  thy  field?  This  is  the 
question  which  these  servants  address  to  this  Master,  well  know- 
ing what  and  how  much  they  are  saying,  and  presenting  thus 
their  question  in  a  form  all  the  more  enigmatical,  and,  as  far  as 
regards  their  own  thoughts,  unanswerable  in  contrast  to  the  actual 
state  of  things.  Where  wheat  grows  there  is  a  field,  there  a 
previous  sowing  has  taken  place,  a  sowing  of  good  seed :  else, 

1  When  in  the  times  of  the  flood  the  earth  committed  whoredom, 
seed  was  sown  and  the  earth  brought  forth  jyflj  instead.     Hence  now 

the  bastard  grows  among  the  grain. 

2  If  the  literature  of  the  Apocryphal  and  Gnostic  periods  (truly  the 
first  Ci£avia)  are  now  again  sought  for,  so  as  to  cause  offence  and  con- 
fusion— this  is  pure  wilfulness.  Others  rightly  set  before  those  who 
are  candid  precisely  this  spurious  material,  in  order  to  a  salutary  and 
convincing  comparison  with  the  genuine. 


236  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW 

whence  comes  the  good  fruit?  The  wheat  then  makes  the  field, 
be  it  much  or  little,  even  though  ten  times  as  many  tares  should 
stand  "  among  the  wheat."  (Or  "  upon  the  field,"  ver.  36,  for 
this  is  the  same  thing).  Now  the  servants  farther  know  so  much 
of  their  Master,  that,  in  a  question  which  wants  and  needs  no 
answer,  they  unconditionally  take  it  for  granted  that  he  has  sown 
no  darnel  on  his  field !  They  do  not  imagine,  like  many,  for 
whom  the  perplexing  whirl  of  church-history  and  heresy-history 
yields  no  other  result  in  the  end  but  fearful  doubt,  that  all  this 
must  have  arisen  from  the  seed  not  having  been  quite  pure  at  the 
beginning.  So  much  the  more  enigmatically — as  the  darnel  has 
evidently  been  carefully  sown  in  abundance — does  the  unavoid- 
able doubt  present  itself :  Whence  has  this  field  these  tares  ?  As 
good  servants  of  the  good  and  wise  householder,  they  do  not  lose 
confidence  in  him,  they  do  not  immediately  leave  his  service 
when  they  find  matters  so,  but  come  to  him  with  the  question,  as 
modest  as  it  is  urgent,  in  which  they  confess  their  difficulty. 
This,  now,  is  indeed  the  proper  question  of  all  questions,  the 
ground-question  of  the  philosophy  of  all  times,  relating  to  the 
origin  of  evil,  the  enigma  of  sin  in  God's  world.  It  treats  of  the 
tares  in  the  world,  which  appear  as  an  after-wheat  even  on  the 
place  where  Christ  has  sown,  and  look  all  the  worse  on  this 
account ;  and  this  second  sowing  points  plainly  enough  back  to  a 
first  sowing  of  tares  in  the  garden  of  God.  When  we  find  al- 
ready in  the  earth  the  positive  "  tendency  to  inculture,  to  wild- 
ness,"  this  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  true  type  of  humanity — which, 
without  a  first  evil  in  it,  would  not  be  so  immediately  susceptible 
of  that  which  destroys  the  good  implanted  in  it.  Inasmuch,  then, 
as  the  servants  inquire  first  of  all  only  after  the  origin  of  the  evil 
in  the  newly-made  planting,  their  question  points  also  back  to  the 
other,  concerning  the  origin  of  evil  in  general,  and  in  reality  in- 
cludes it.  It  is  as  if  Christ  here  put  into  the  mouths  of  those 
who  heard  the  foregoing  parable — the  question :  Has  God,  then, 
made  human  hearts  having  rocky-ground  and  thistle-seed  in 
them?  In  this  deeper  sense  of  the  question,  let  us  mark  and 
feel  the  strong  earnestness  and  emphasis  of  the  answer  to  such  a 
question  :  An  enemy  hath  done  this. 

Thus  does  the  entire  Holy  Scripture  reply  to  this  question,  not 
otherwise,  not  less  and  not  more.   This  great  answer  removes  the 


MATTHEW  XIII.  27,  28.  237 

origin  of  evil  in  the  human  world,  as  completely  from  God,  as 
from  man,  inasmuch  as  it  names  the  evil  one ;  but  further  than 
this,  it  answers  nothing,  and  we,  too,  ought  to  rest  satisfied  with 
this.  I  have  sown  no  tares !  Thus  testifies  the  Creator,  from  whom 
nothing  evil  proceeds,  and  this  is  already  presupposed  by  all 
servants,  who  honestly  ask,  even  before  they  receive  the  answer. 
He  who,  in  any  way,  so  speculates  as  to  trace  back  to  God  the 
occasion  and  ordination  of  sin,  be  it  in  phrases  ever  so  cunningly 
concealed — has  against  him  God's  pure  and  clear  word  in  the 
Scripure,  as  also  in  the  conscience  ;  he  makes  Christ  a  liar,  who 
not  merely  in  his  word,  but  in  his  whole  person  and  manifestation, 
in  his  entire  new  sowing  of  the  good  seed,  is  the  living,  actual 
protestation  of  God  against  all  fellowship  of  his  holiness  with  what 
is  evil.  So  far  from  the  righteous  Father  having  created  it,  he  sets 
himself  directly  against  it  in  his  Son,  and  it  is  his  work  to  judge 
it  and  to  eradicate  it.  But,  just  as  little  is  the  first  origin  of  evil 
to  be  ascribed  to  man,  and  the  kingdom  of  hell  is  not  on  the 
earth  (Wisd.  i.14).  All  that  is  evil  in  man  has  its  root  in  a 
deeper,  altogether  spiritual,  kingdom  of  evil, — of  evil  which  is 
completely  so,  originally  and  finally — and  is  only  its  sowing  and 
issue.  He  who  so  speculates  as  presumptuously  to  rob  the  poor 
man  of  his  single  excuse,  which  in  reality  has  still  a  ground 
of  truth  :  "  The  serpent  deceived  me " — let  him  see  well 
whether  he  is  not  going  against  the  Scripture,  as  well  as  against 
the  inmost  testimony  of  conscience,  and  rendering  the  enigma 
still  more  inexplicable  by  making  out  flesh  and  blood  itself  to 
be  Satan.1  No,  the  householder,  in  his  answer,  adheres  to  what 
is  right.  There  is  an  enemy  who  is  his  enemy  (ver.  25),  and  of 
whom  with  a  sublime  simplicity,  he  assures  his  servants  who  were 
not  able  to  comprehend  his  night  work :  An  enemy  has  done 
this  !  In  the  parable  it  is  properly  e^fyjo?  avOpaynos,  a  hostile 
man,  i.e., here,  as  opposed  to  Christ,  a  hostile  being,2  although  with 

1  "  The  doctrine  concerning  Satan  belongs  to  the  revelations  which 
God  hath  given  to  man" — aye  even  to  those  that  are  especially  kind  and 
comforting.  He  who  denies  here,  only  accuses  himself  beyond  what  is 
due. 

2  In  the  Roman  law  there  are  punishments  against  such  malice  on 
the  part  of  hostile  neighbours.  Roberts  (Orient,  illustr.)  speaks  of 
Indian  proverbs  concerning  this ;  Trench  (on  the  parables),  who  cites 
this,  mentions  a  case  which  occurred  in  Ireland  of  a  dismissed  tenant 
who  acted  thus  out  of  revenge. 


238  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

perfect  justice,  and  with  a  profound  penetration  into  the  sense  of 
the  words,  Luther  taking  already  into  view  the  interpretation  in 
ver.  39,  renders  :  The  enemy  hath  done  this !  For  the  house- 
holder will  thereby  tacitly  say.  at  the  sametime :  Yex  not  your- 
selves, I  know  well  what  you  know  not,  I  know  my  enemy.  It 
is  not  to  be  overlooked,  how  the  cnreLpcov  to  koXov  airep^ia  is 
followed  by  the  enemy  as  the  6  o-ireipa?  ra  ^dvca,  who  has 
sown  the  tares,  as  now,  so  also  from  the  beginning.  This  is  as 
much  as  to  say,  Who  else,  then,  is  the  evil  one  but  this  beginner 
and  father  of  all  evil  I  The  sin  which  exists  only  in  the  living, 
personal  will,  can  have  no  beginning  out  of  the  personal  will,  its 
origin  must  be  in  a  beginner.  There  is  then  "  a  kingdom  of  con- 
scious wickedness,"  out  of  the  human, — a  point  of  unity  and  begin- 
ning in  a  radically  evil  personality.  This,  again,  is  among  the 
things  hid  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  this  answer  is  no 
answer.  For  the  householder  says  nothing  further  ;  and  if  we 
speculators,  less  modest  than  these  servants,  should  begin  again 
to  ask,  Whence  then  comes  the  enemy  and  the  devil  ?  Thou 
hast  surely  not  created  him?  How,  then,  has  he  become  the 
devil  f  the  householder  in  the  parable  is  silent,  and  the  whole 
Scripture  and  revelation  is  silent  at  this  limit,  as  also  Moses 
at  the  very  beginning  of  it  in  Gen.  i.  2,  mentions  the  brood- 
ing darkness,  and  lets  the  serpent  speak  in  paradise  without  a 
how  or  whence.  The  angels  may,  perhaps,  know  the  when  and 
the  outward  how,  a  little  more  exactly  than  we  children  of  men 
could  understand  it  even  if  anything  were  written  about  it ;  but 
the  internal  How !  and  Whence  I  of  the  fall  is  most  probably 
just  as  much  hid  from  them  as  from  us.  For  sin  is  just  that 
which  is  absolutely  perverted,  it  is  that  which  has  no  ground,  how, 
then,  could  there  be  another  ground  out  of  it  from  which  it  might 
be  explained?  The  Creator  alone,  before  whom  there  is  no 
mystery,  fathoms  the  abyss,  as  he  does  the  hearts,  of  men,  (Sir. 
xlii.  18),  hell  is  naked  before  him  and  destruction  has  no 
covering — (Job.  xxvi.  6).  To  the  eye  of  the  creature  the 
final  judgment  and  the  first  origin  of  evil  is  an  equally  dark 
abyss.  In  fine,  we  poor  sons  of  man,  to  whom  this  word  con- 
cerning the  devil  yet  reaches  some  comfort,  ought  to  rest  satis- 
fied with  this:  the  tares  are  there,  are  actually  manifest  as 
such— and   the  good,  wise,  householder   says:    They   are   not 


MATTHEW  XIII.  28,  29.  239 

from  me !  It  is  an  enemy.  When,  therefore,  that  heathen, 
urging  the  missionary  for  information  beyond  this  point,  asks, 
Why  does  God  not  slay  the  devil,  (as  even  Kant  relates  in  his 
Rel.  innerhalb  der  Granzen  d.  blossen  Vernunft  p.  100),  it  is 
better  to  be  silent  than  with  affected  wisdom  to  say  with  Daub 
(Jud.  Ischar.  ii.  178)  "  He  could  only  answer, — from  love  to 
thee."  This  unsatisfactory  answer,  however,  Daub  endeavours 
to  confirm  with  no  small  acuteness. 

Ver.  28,  29.  The  servants,  with  a  modesty  and  contentedness 
with  the  answer  they  had  received  which  might  well  be  imitated 
by  us,  proceed  no  further  theoretically,  indeed,  although  practi- 
cally they  do.  Quite  naturally  and  pardonably,  with  a  zeal, 
indeed,  which  is  at  least  more  laudable  than  the  vain  curiosity 
that  might  have  inquired  further,  If  thou  knowest  it  why  didst 
thou  suffer  it?  Couldst  thou  not  ward  off  the  malice  of  the 
enemy,  and  protect  this  field  ?  Hast  thou  then,  the  Master, 
been  at  fault,  hast  thou  slept  ?  they  rather  draw  the  hasty  in- 
ference :  If  the  hurtful  and  scandalous  tares  are  not  there  with 
thy  will,  then  wilt  thou  not  that  we  act  as  faithful  servants  and 
get  rid  of  them  where  and  how  we  may  be  able  ?  Who  are  these 
servants,  and  what  is  meant  by  this  rooting  out  f  Precisely  these 
two  things  are  omitted  in  the  explanation  which  is  given  of  the 
parable,  an  omission  which  many  a  commentator  may  have 
greatly  regretted.  But  in  the  first  place,  Christ  will  thereby 
show  that  the  centre  point  of  the  parable  by  no  means  lies  (as  is 
falsely  supposed)  in  this  prohibition  to  root  out  the  tares,  but 
really  and  only  in  the  disclosure  made  in  the  words  :  The  enemy 
hath  done  this !  from  which  follows  all  that  is  further  said  in  the 
way  of  setting  their  minds  at  rest,  and  the  reference  to  the  end 
of  the  world.  Accordingly,  it  would  have  been  somewhat  super- 
fluous to  have  said  further  to  the  apostles :  Ye  are  these  servants. 
They  saw  well  enough,  from  the  explanation  of  the  rest  of  the 
parable,  that  they  were  represented  by  these  persons,  and  would 
soon  perceive  this  still  more  clearly  when  the  parable  was  ful- 
filled in  history.  That  which  concerns  our  practice  is  made 
clear  to  us  by  practice,  if  only  we  give  honest  heed  to  Christ's 
word.  The  servants  are  plainly  enough  the  workmen  in  the 
employment  of  their  master,  whose  business  it  is  to  take  care  of 
the  field  until  the  harvest ;  and  although  they,  at  the  same  time, 


240  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

are  a  part  of  the  good  seed,  they  are  yet  represented  here  as  in 
their  official  character  distinct  from  the  field  and  belonging  to 
the  master. 

A  short,  and  direct  No  comes  from  the  mouth  of  Christ  in 
reply  to  their  question  ;  and  here  (more  than  formerly  in  con- 
nexion with  the  sower)  is  the  proper  place  for  speaking  of  an 
extraordinary  husbandry,  in  which  the  process  is  not  the  same  as 
in  the  natural.  For  this  is  actually  the  import  of  the  answer  : 
here  the  case  is  quite  different,  and  the  thing  is  not  done  merely 
by  your  thus  weeding  out  the  tares.  Just  as  it  was  not  you  who 
sowed  the  good  seed,  and  who  saw  the  enemy  in  the  night,  so 
neither  are  you  the  people  for  making  a  speedy  end  to  the  mis- 
chief !  True  it  is,  that  in  ordinary  husbandry  the  weeds  are 
carefully  rooted  out  as  much  as  possible  (ver.  40  (oairep  avWe- 
r/ercu  /cat  Kaierai,  as  this  is  wont  to  be  done),  and  the  servants 
do  not  first  ask  whether  they  may  or  ought  to  do  so ;  but  here 
the  master  forbids  it.  Now,  that  we  may  rightly  understand  him, 
what  does  he  forbid  and  what  does  he  not  forbid  ?*  Above  all 
things  it  is  not  the  rooting  out  of  tares  by  each  individual  from  his 
own  heart,  which  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  duty  strongly  enjoined,  for 
which  we  need  only  refer  to  Matth.  v.  29,  30.  Neither,  further, 
are  we  to  understand  as  meant  a  duty  equally  self-evident, 
namely,  the  combating  all  sins  and  lies  proceeding  from  the  devil 
by  the  good  word  of  God,  the  word  of  truth — in  which  Christ 
himself  has  laid  this  down  as  an  unconditional  principle  in  chap, 
xv.  13.2     We  are  not  therefore  to  look  on  with  open  eyes  and 

1  In  Tholuck's  Litt.  Anzeiger  1847,  there  is  a  good  review  of  the 
principal  points  connected  with  this  question,  showing  how  commen- 
tators have  at  all  times  given  themselves  pains  with  the  answer  to  this 
question  in  its  various  aspects,  and  puzzled  themselves  with  imperti- 
nencies  which  they  have  raised  contrary  to  the  parable.  But  when  in 
that  article  Stier  is  classed  with  those  interpreters  who  have  not  yet  even 
touched  the  real  difficulty,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  strict  inter- 
pretation of  b&via,  which  is  there  afterwards  denoted  as  the  only  solu- 
tion of  the  difficulty,  had  already  been  given  precisely  so  by  me, 
together  with  many  other  things,  in  which  I  think  that  I  have  hit 
the  true  sense  not  less  successfully  than  has  been  done  in  that  treatise. 

2  Here  Thiersch  for  example  is  quite  right  when  he  renews  the  old 
distinction  :  The  prohibition  has  respect  not  to  evil  things  (false  doc- 
trine and  ordinances  to  which  the  Catholic  Church  shows  so  much  in- 
dulgence !)  but  to  persons,  to  evil  ones. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  28,  29.  241 

slack  hands  when,  in  open  day,  the  enemy  works  mischief  and 
puts  hindrances  in  the  way ;  we  are  by  no  means  heedlessly  and 
indifferently  to  let  the  darnel  stand  when  we  see  it  because  it  is 
there,  much  less  are  we  to  call  it  wheat.  (Is.  v.  20).  Further, 
nothing  is  said  here  of  the  office  of  worldly  magistrates  whom 
God  hath  appointed  to  take  vengeance  on  evil  doers,  even  to  the 
punishment  of  death,  but  only  of  that  which  the  servants  of  Christ 
as  such  should  or  should  not  do  in  his  Church,  in  his  spiritual 
husbandry.  There  is  no  ground  certainly  for  that  distinction 
between  darnel  and  other  tares,  on  which,  e.  g.  Melanchthon, 
Calvin,  Bengel,  and  others  lay  great  stress,  as  if  open  and  gross 
sinners  who  are  well  known  are  by  all  means  to  be  rooted  out, 
but  not  the  "  outside  Christians,"  as  Wesley  expresses  it,  who 
cannot  be  identified  ;  for  on  the  one  hand  it  is  taken  for  granted, 
that  the  servants  knew  well  enough  what  was  the  after-wheat — 
and  that  not  merely  in  the  way  of  presumption,  as  is  groundlessly 
maintained  in  Tholuck's  Anzeiger — on  the  other  hand,  the  expla- 
nation of  the  parable  afterwards  given  includes  actual  a/cavSaXa 
among  the  tares  which  are  to  be  allowed  to  remain.  Should  it 
be  said  (as  is  maintained  there  also),  that  these  are  only  such  as 
have  come  to  maturity  at  the  time  of  the  harvest,  while  their 
doubtful  beginning  formerly  afforded  ground  for  the  prohibition 
to  root  them  out, — we  cannot  regard  this  distinction  as  in  accor- 
dance either  with  the  text  or  the  thing  itself;  for  assuredly  from 
the  very  first  there  existed  manifest  offences  enough,  and  it  was 
precisely  these  that  drew  forth  the  question  of  the  servants  in  the 
parable.  Still  (without  our  needing  to  justify  this  in  opposition  to 
the  parable)  all  true  Church  discipline  by  the  word,  the  key 
which  looseth  and  bindeth  even  to  the  putting  away  of  the  bad 
from  the  Church  (Matth.  xviii.  17 ;  1  Cor.  v.  13),  retains  its  un- 
disputed right ;  for  this  is  so  self-evident  that  on  this  very  ac- 
count the  parable  can  contain  no  special  reference  to  it,  and  may 
simply  without  any  danger  abide  by  that  which  it  says.  The 
parable  moves  in  quite  a  different  sphere  from  that  of  the  ques- 
tion concerning  Church  discipline.  The  true  explanation  rather 
lies  in  this,  that  while  even  the  strictest  Church  discipline  reaches 
only  in  certain  extreme  cases  to  the  temporary  casting  out  in 
order  to  reformation,  the  question  here  respects  the  general 
removal  without  more  ado  of  all  that  is  essentially  bad,  spurious 
VOL.  II.  Q 


242  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

in  itself.  The  householder  forbids  and  will  not  allow  what  the 
servants  wish.  These  would  have  all  the  tares  removed  entirely 
from  the  field,  from  their  place  among  the  wheat,  from  the  king- 
dom of  Christ,  ver.  41.  But  because  the  field  is  the  world,  that 
were  equivalent  to  removing  the  bad  out  of  the  world  (slaying  the 
heretics),  in  order  that  the  good  may  not,  on  their  account, 
have  to  leave  the  world  so  as  to  have  a  pure  field  of  God — and 
so  strange  a  thing  as  this,  the  impossibility  of  which  is  at  the 
same  time  self-evident,  the  servants  themselves  neither  imagine 
nor  wish,  for  in  the  original  text  they  speak  properly  neither  of 
weeding  nor  of  rooting  out,  but  of  avWeyeiv,  so  that,  as  appears 
right  to  them,  everything  may  properly  be  in  its  own  place. 
They  would  like  to  have  a  pure  field  of  pure  wheat ;  and  this  to 
God's  wisdom,  goodness  and  justice  is  impossible.  They  do  not 
rightly  know  themselves  what  they  would  have  in  their  inconside- 
rately hasty  word — and  this  is  the  key  to  the  right  understand- 
ing of  it.  For, — and  we  speak  now  beyond  the  figure,  inasmuch 
as  the  words  themselves  truly  point  beyond  the  figure, — if  the 
servants  had  gathered  the  tares,  it  would  have  been  difficult 
for  them  to  find  out  where  to  have  put  them,  seeing  that, 
as  servants,  they  could  not  condemn,  and  the  everlasting  fire  is 
as  little  in  their  power  and  at  their  command  as  any  other  world 
into  which  they  might,  in  the  meanwhile,  deliver  over  and  con- 
vey the  evil-doers— any  other,  we  say,  because  their  duty  is  to 
bring  the  Gospel  to  the  whole  of  this  world  as  the  field  of  Christ, 
but  not  to  transport  sinners  beyond  its  limits  as  bad  neighbours. 
There  is  then  good  ground  for  the  No.  It  duly  acknowledges, 
at  the  sametime,  their  well-meant,  not  less  laudable  than  incon- 
siderate earnestness  and  zeal ;  it  is  given  jiot  in  the  way  of  re- 
buke but  of  friendly  instruction ;  hence,  with  what  immediately 
follows,  it  does  not  remain  a  mere  blunt  negative,  but  takes  the 
form  of  a  confidential,  condescending,  instructive  opening  up  of 
the  ground  and  reason  of  the  prohibition.  If  your  clumsy  hands 
were  to  be  applied  to  the  complete  weeding  out  of  the  world  and 
church-field,  you  would  destroy  the  good  with  the  bad  !  How  ! 
First,  because  in  your  shortsightedness  you  could  not  enough 
distinguish  between  them  ;  the  full-grown  tare,  as  also  the  wheat, 
which  has  already  come  to  fruit,  you  might  know  well  enough, 
but  the  tender  springing  of  the  good  seed  from  ever  successive 


MATTHEW  XIII.  28,  29.  243 

sowings  (rbv  %opToy),  you  might,  in  your  zeal  (which  would 
rather  do  too  much  than  too  little,  so  that  you  might  only  make 
thorough  work  of  it),  mistake  many  a  blade  of  it  for  tares.  Just 
as,  on  the  other  hand,  many  a  future  darnel  would  escape  your 
detection.1  Then  the  roots  of  the  enemy's  sowing  lie  so  deep  that 
you  might  not  be  able  to  get  down  to  them,  and  there  would  be 
no  end  to  your  work,  as  the  tares  would  always  spring  up  again.2 
Further,  in  the  third  place :  Even  although  you  could  rightly 
distinguish  every  blade,  and  could  get  down  even  to  the  under- 
most roots,  you  would  yet,  even  against  your  will,  pull  away  and 
root  out  the  wheat  a/j,a  avrols.  For  the  roots  of  the  two  kinds 
of  plant  are  as  much  intertwined  with  each  other  in  the  common 
earth  as  the  plants  on  the  surface,  and  even  more  so.  Men  in 
the  world  are,  by  the  relationships  of  state,  nation,  family,  and  the 
like,  so  entwined  with  each  other,  and  have  so  grown  together, 
so  to  speak,  that  the  hand  of  man  must  infallibly  hurt  the  good, 
if  at  any  cost  it  would  entirely  separate  it  from  the  bad.3  So 
close  between  the  wheat  has  the  enemy  in  his  cunning  sown  his 
tares,  so  thoroughly  has  he  penetrated  all  the  relations  of  men 
with  his  mischief,  even  those  in  which  grace  carries  on  its  deep- 
laid  work ;  but  God's  wisdom  (not  yours !)  will  keep  watch  over 
the  good  and  the  true,  preserving  the  good  and  judging  the  evil- 
doers. Men  have  therefore  to  give  good  heed  to  that  warning  : 
Destroy  it  not,  for  there  is  a  blessing  in  it  (Is.  lxv.  8),  as  also  to 
the  apostolical  rule :  The  Lord  hath  given  power  to  edify,  not  to 
destroy  (2  Cor.  xiii.  10).  It  is  most  true,  then,  that  in  weeding 
out  the  tares  (as  Hammann  says),  we  should  make  slow  haste,  lest 

1  They  have  shown  throughout  the  entire  history  of  the  Church,  that 
they  cannot  yet  perfectly  distinguish  between  the  tares  and  the  wheat, — 
the  greater  the  zeal  so  much  the  less  have  they  been  able ! 

2  Outside  the  parable,  which  indeed  speaks  only  of  wheat  and  tares 
from  the  first  sowing,  lies  the  truth  in  itself  right  and  important,  that 
the  tares  also  may,  under  God's  patience,  yet  become  wheat.  In  this 
does  the  word  of  Christ  only  thus  touch  the  limit  of  the  parable,  that  we 
should  cherish  the  fear  of  rooting  out  future  wheat  along  with  the  tares. 
Hieronymus  :  Monemur,  ne  cito  amputemus  fratrem,  quia  fieri  potest, 
ut  ille,  qui  hodie  noxio  depravatus  est  dogmate,  eras  resipiscat. 

3  Tares  in  general  twine  themselves  very  firmly  above  and  under  the 
earth,  The  darnel  or  cockle-weed,  which  is  found  with  us  among  the 
oats,  is  moreover  very  difficult  to  root  out,  because  it  continues  in  the 
earth  three  years. 


244  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

summumjus  be  perverted  into  summa  injuria.  Finally,  when 
Zinzendorf,  as  Schubert  informs  us,  had  recourse  to  the  expe- 
dient of  pulling  up  and  transplanting  the  wheat,  this  was  just 
the  same  mistake  in  another  form;  in  all  such  churches  and 
congregations  there  is  felt  the  necessity  of  preserving  the  tares 
which  are  ever  again  rising  up  among  them,  at  least  in  the 
outward  appearance  and  form  of  the  wheat,  so  that  they  may  be 
able  to  say  at  last :  Here  we  have  thoroughly  weeded  out !  And 
then,  with  good  intent  indeed,  they  account  for  the  growth  of  the 
worst  tares  by  bringing  the  charge  of  base  hypocrisy  against  such.1 
In  short,  the  householder  carries  the  point  against  his  servants. 

Ver.  30.  In  order  completely  to  set  their  zeal  at  rest  he  kindly 
says  still  more  to  them,  gives  them  an  answer  which  goes  beyond 
their  question,  and  intimates  to  them  in  what  this  state  of  things 
which  they  are  meanwhile  to  tolerate  will  at  length  issue,  after 
having  shown  them  whence  it  was.  They  are  right  in  this,  that 
tares  are  not  wheat,  and  wheat  is  not  tares,  and  further  in  this, 
that  both  cannot  always  remain  mixed  and  together.  Therefore 
he  says  :  Leave  the  matter  to  me,  it  will  be  rightly  attended  to 
in  its  proper  season !  He  names  both  classes,  and  therefore 
recognises  only  these  two  classes  :  the  tares,  which  are  in  the 
least  degree  poisonous,  are  yet  tares,  and  the  humblest  blade, 
with  its  one  or  two  corns  on  the  short  light  ear  is  yet  true  wheat ; 
the  least  among  the  little  is  still  a  child  of  the  kingdom,  as  he 
who  only  bears  no  fruit  is  still  an  evil-doer.  The  separation  will 
not  fail  to  take  place  when  the  evil  which  has  come  amongst  the 
good  in  the  world,  the  former  and  future  kingdom  of  God,  will 
be  judged  and  done  away  with.  But  only  when  this  harvest 
comes  will  be  the  right  time  for  this ;  now  is  the  season  for  neces- 
sary development  towards  maturity.  This  development  is  won- 
derfully attained,  just  by  the  fellowship  of  the  good  and  the  bad.2 

1  What  Lange  says  here  is  not  too  sharply  paradoxical,  that  these  zeal- 
ous servants  (as  Christ,  elevated  above  their  strong  feeling,  sees)  would 
be  more  dangerous  to  the  wheat  than  the  enemy — nay,  that  the  weeders 
who  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  field  of  wheat  are  guilty  of  an  offence 
against  the  distinct  command  of  Christ. 

2  Or  as  might  also  be  said :  of  the  called  and  the  elected.  For  "  it 
contradicts  all  ideas  of  Church  and  Christianity  to  attempt  to  fix  the 
limits  of  the  Church  of  the  elect  and  to  leave  the  Church  of  the  called 
to  itself."     Nitzsch,  pract.  Theol.  i.,  197. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  30.  245 

If  the  evil  doers  were  all  together  on  one  land,  what  a  hell  upon 
earth!  Therefore  is  their  power  broken,  while  apparently 
greater  freedom  is  given  to  it.  But  if  the  good  were  all  together 
undisturbed  by  the  bad,  would  it  not  be  desirable?  By  no 
means,  for  they  are  not  yet  perfectly  good,  and  would  not  grow 
to  maturity  in  righteousness  without  conflict  and  temptation, 
without  the  practice  of  faithfulness  and  love  among  sinners. 
Therefore  only  let  both  grow  (Rev.  xxii.  11)  and  grow  together 
— which  Matthew  aptly  expresses  by  the  single  word  crvvav^a- 
vecrdcu.  The  harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world,  i.e.,  of  this  now 
mixed  state  and  course  of  the  world,  rod  al£vo<s,  and  the  true 
reapers,  better  qualified  and  furnished  for  this  than  the  ser- 
vants -who  themselves  belong  to  this  present  world,  will  be  the 
angels,  to  whom  Christ  will  in  due  time  commit  the  work  which 
he  now  forbids  his  servants  to  do.  (Rev.  xiv.  15).  These 
angels  are  just  as  little  figures  of  speech  or  parables  as  the  devil 
is ;  both  are  realities  by  which  the  parable  is  explained.1  First 
of  all  the  tares  are  to  be  gathered  together,  so  that  the  righteous 
may  witness  with  hallelujahs  the  judgments  of  God,  and  all  that 
was  right  and  pure  in  their  former  zeal  for  God's  kingdom  and 
glory  be  satisfied ;  but  the  judged  are  put  out  like  Judas  in 
the  night,  when  the  Son  of  Man  is  glorified  among  his  own. 
What  bundles  these  will  be — many  smaller  ones  into  the  one  great 
one — when  those  who  have  sinned  together,  in  particular  the 
seducers  and  seduced,  will  now  also  suffer  punishment  together, 
and  pain  determined  by  the  strictest  retributive  justice  will  con- 
summate such  fellowship  !2  That  they  may  be  burned — as  is  wont 
to  be  done  to  thorns  and  thistles  and  all  tares,  when  any  one  has 

1  To  understand  with  many  (e.g.  recently  Zeller  in  Beuggen)  by 
these  angels  (as  opposed  to  the  devil!)  men  risen  from  the  dead,  is  an 
altogether  unjustifiable  caprice. 

2  It  is  only  an  ingenious  application  with  a  certain  measure  of  truth, 
when  Zeller  remarks  on  these  bundles,  how  the  ecclesiastical,  political, 
social  tares,  driven  by  the  tendency  to  association,  will  more  and  more 
separate  themselves  from  the  ground  of  the  Church,  and  unite  in  all 
sorts  of  societies,  sects,  clubs,  &c.  (As  already  Cocceius  brought  for- 
ward something  similar  in  his,  in  other  respects,  very  strange  pro- 
phetico-historical  interpretation.)  The  bundles  in  the  text  are  bound 
by  the  angels  evidently  only  at  the  end  of  the  world — the  associations 
of  sinners  formed  already  beforehand  of  themselves,  only  prefigure  and 
pioneer  the  way  for  these. 


246  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

cleansed  a  field  of  these  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  7).  But  put  the  wheat 
into  My  barn — He  here  reminds  the  people  again  of  the  Bap- 
tist's word,  concerning  Him  who  will  thoroughly  purge  his  floor 
and  gather  His  wheat  into  the  garner  (chap.  iii.  12)  ;  He  thus,  at 
the  conclusion,  as  yet  without  any  explanation,  tells  all  who  have 
ears  to  hear,  who  is  the  householder  in  this  parable.  Observe, 
at  the  sametime,  the  singular  airoOrjKTjv  which  will  represent 
itself  temporarily,  in  the  purified  Church  of  the  latter  time, 
finally,  in  the  glorified  earth. 

Ver.  41 — 43.  After  some  brief  hints,  he  keeps  for  the  disciples 
the  more  full  and  proper  disclosure  of  the  mighty  consummation. 
First  of  all  he  now  adds  to  the  /cara/cavo-ai,  of  the  parable  in  the 
repetition  at  ver.  41  an  express  irvpl,  in  order  that  having  given 
a  distinct  meaning  to  every  thing  else  he  may  also  explain  this 
figurative  fire  (chap.  vi.  30)  as  the  metaphor  for  another  real 
fire,  so  that  in  this  feature  also  the  figure  and  the  thing  almost 
coincide,  although  the  irvp  aafieaTOv  of  the  Gehenna  is  of  ano- 
ther kind  from  our  present  fire.  So  much  only  is  certain 
from  the  place  in  which  the  words  occur,  that  we  are  not  at 
liberty  to  say  of  this  furnace  of  fire  that  it  is  again  a  mere  figure. 
It  is  the  real  lake  of  fire  (Rev.  xix.  20),  of  which  already  such 
passages  as  Ps.  xxi.  10  remotely  prophesy ;  it  is  by  no  means 
merely  the  expression  taken  from  the  furnace  into  which  the 
grass  is  cast,  or  into  which  oriental  despots,  such  as  Nebuchad- 
nezzar caused  criminals  to  be  cast.  The  wailing  and  gnashing  of 
teeth  (chap.  viii.  12  ;  xxii.  13 ;  xxi  v.  51)  are  to  be  understood  in 
the  same  real  sense,  for  these  tares  are  not  consumed  in  the  eter- 
nal fire,  else  it  would  not  be  unquenchable,  and  they  never  again 
become  wheat.  The  Son  of  Man  will  send  His  angels — this 
points  back  to  the  entire  import  of  John  i.  51,  and  forward  to 
all  the  plain  intimations  concerning  the  judgment  hereafter 
given  as  in  Matth.  xvi.  27  ;  xxiv.  31  ;  xxv.  31.  Stumbling- 
blocks  and  evil-doers  we  find  mentioned  together  already  in  Zeph. 
i.  3  (onrtJrn-nN  rn^tl^ftn)?  an(*  m  J°°  xxxviii.  13,  mention 

•  t    :  it  v  ••  :  -  - 

is  made  of  the  evil  doers  who  shall  at  one  time  be  shaken  out  of 
the  earth;  passages  which  Christ  has  doubtless  in  mind  here. 
The  putting  together  of  these  two  has  for  the  most  part  been  not 
rightly  understood,  inasmuch  as  the  stumbling-blocks  are  taken 
to  denote  either,  in  the  first  place,  the  false  teachers  and  dis- 


MATTHEW  XIII.  14,  43.  247 

turbers  of  the  church  (Kom.  xvi.  17),  or,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
idea  is  supposed  to  be  expressed  that  every  evil-doer  and  worth- 
less person  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  already  by  his  very  existence 
acts  the  part  of  a  a(cdv§a\ov  (as  we  have  explained  at  chap.  xii. 
30).  Christ,  however,  seems  to  speak  here  plainly  of  tilings  and 
persons  :  in  such  a  way,  indeed,  as  that  the  evil-doers  themselves 
again  belong  to  the  general  conception  of  things  that  offend  in 
the  kingdom ;  still,  by  the  latter  being  placed  first,  more  is  said 
than  what  can  be  explained  of  individual  persons.1  For  there  are 
offences  brought  into  existence,  indeed,  by  evil-doers,  and  con- 
tinuing to  live  in  evil-doers,  which  have  often  arisen  at  an  early 
period,  and  then  remain  long,  and  continue  to  work  their  mis- 
chievous effects.  "Keligious  and  ethical  heresies"  according  to 
the  common  usage  of  the  phrase,  is  not  comprehensive  enough ; 
there  are  stones  of  stumbling,  evils,  corruptions  of  the  most  va- 
rious kinds,  as  political,  &c.  All  these  (jrdvra  ra  crfcdv$a\a,  so 
that  not  one  shall  be  overlooked  or  left  behind)  shall  then  be  re- 
moved with  the  judgment  of  those  who  have  raised  them  up,  or 
who  have  fallen  upon  them,  and  been  broken. 

Then  remain  the  righteous,  who  are  matured  and  perfected  in 
righteousness.  What  a  separation!  This  takes  place,  indeed,, 
by  virtue  of  the  necessary  internal  attraction  of  what  is  homo- 
geneous, as  soon  as  God  looses  the  bonds  of  the  present  order  of 
things ;  but  he  will  also  employ  his  heavenly  servants  in  the 
doing  of  this  for  His  own  honour  and  their  happiness,  as  a 
reward  of  their  faithful  services  to  the  children  of  men,  and  as  a 
final  recompence  of  their  perseverance  in  righteousness.  Then 
it  will  be  seen  that  it  was  no  punishment  or  injury  to  the  wheat 
to  stand  among  the  tares,  but  rather  that  it  has  been  thereby 
ripened  for  the  garner.  Then  will  the  righteous  who,  hitherto, 
have  borne  the  light  of  God  within  them  or  have  been  obscured 
from  without,  shine  forth,  from  this  concealment :  iKXdfi^ovatv 
as  in  Wis.  iii.  7,  dvaXdji'^rovaiv,  and  Dan.  xii.  3,  Cod.  Alex,  also 
iKXd/jLyjrovaLv.  This  is  the  simple  sense  of  the  word,  and  it  con- 
tains no  answer  to  the  foolish  question  of  Origen,  the  father  of 

1  To  go  back  to  the  figure,  as  it  were  the  stones  (of  offence)  and  the 
tares. 


248  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

those  who  hold  a  final  restoration :  "  For  whom  will  they  shine 
but  for  those  who  are  below,  who  are  to  become  partakers  of 
their  light  as  the  sun  gives  them  light  upon  earth  1  For  they 
will  surely  not  shine  for  themselves  !"  They  will  shine  in  and 
for  God's  glory,  just  as  the  sun  now  shines  before  it  appears,  and 
where  it  does  not  appear  to  men.  As  the  sun  :  this  is  an  expla- 
nation of  Daniel's  splendour  of  the  heavens  (virt^n  "tr&)>  which 
means  Christ  the  sun  of  righteousness,  whom  all  his  righteous 
ones  shall  resemble  in  glory,  but  at  the  same  time,  and  first  of 
all,  it  is  to  be  understood  also  physically,  according  to  what  we 
find  more  particularly  stated  in  1  Cor.  xv.  40,  41.  In  their 
Father's  kingdom  :  that  is  the  highest  and  last,  whereas  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  hitherto  upon  earth  is  called  only  His — the  Son 
of  Man's ;  for  it  extends  to  the  time  when  the  Son  shall  give  over 
the  kingdom  to  the  Father.  It  means :  they  shall  be  called 
children  of  God  (chap.  v.  9,  as  the  others  of  the  evil  one)  and  God 
shall  honour  them  as  a  Father  as  highly  as  he  can — "  glory  in 
them  as  a  rich  father  in  his  well-bred  children"  (Val.  Herberger). 
And  at  the  conclusion  of  the  explanation  Christ  adds  for  the  dis- 
ciples, as  before  at  the  first  parables  for  the  people,  the  awaken- 
ing call :  Who  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear ! 


PARABLE  OF  THE  MUSTARD  SEED. 

(Matt.  xiii.  31—33  ;  Mark  iv.  30—32  ;  Luke  xiii.  18—21). 

Grow  till  the  harvest !  The  parable  that  follows  connects 
with  this  conclusion  of  the  foregoing,  and  contains  first  of  all 
the  prophecy  that  the  small  and  imperceptible  seed  would  yet 
grow  to  something  great,  that  from  the  present  sowing  of  the 
husbandman  and  householder  (and  the  people  must  have  in  part 
perceived  who  was  thereby  meant),  which  had  to  encounter  so 
much  opposition  and  hindrance,  there  would  spring  up  in  due 
season  a  heavenly  kingdom  upon  earth,  as  well,  at  least,  as  any 
other  so-called  kingdom.  But  when  it  is  grown — this  is,  in  respect 
of  the  sense,  to  be  understood  in  the  future ;  as  in  Mark  the 
growing  is  still  more  strongly  marked  as  the  principal  point  by 


MATTHEW  XIII.  31 — 33.  249 

the  twofold  expression  avafiaiveiv  and  ttoi&v  «\aSou?  fieyaXovs.1 
But  as  already  in  the  two  foregoing  parables  the  second  con- 
tained the  explanatory  ground  of  the  first,  so  here  the  leaven 
stands  in  the  same  relation  to  the  grain  of  mustard-seed.  The 
reason  why  the  small  seed  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  which  is 
sown  in  the  world  grows  and  spreads  to  such  an  extent  is,  that  it 
has  a  penetrating,  transforming,  inwardly  quickening  power,  a 
power  to  lay  hold  on  everything  around  it.  Such  growth  is 
carried  on,  therefore,  also  outwardly  before  the  eyes  of  men  ;  not 
thus  alone,  however,  but  still  more  by  an  unseen  efficacy.  As 
has  already  been  said  above,  Christ  here  still  views  the  pro- 
gressive development  of  his  kingdom  as  a  whole,  but  he  makes  at 
the  same  time  a  notified  transition  to  the  esoteric  parables,  which 
exhibit  the  real  existence  and  continued  possession  of  that  king- 
dom in  the  souls  of  those  individuals  who,  with  self-denial,  lay 
hold  on  it.  With  the  extension  and  penetration  in  the  mass 
there  is  mingled  not  a  little  of  false  appearance,  which,  only  in 
virtue  of  its  pointing  to  the  genuine  growth  and  leavening  that 
takes  place  in  the  true  children  of  the  kingdom,  still  retains  a 
certain  figurative  truth.  If,  in  the  first  parable,  greater  pro- 
minence was  given  to  the  individual,  and  in  the  second  to  the 
kingdom  as  a  whole,  the  two  following  should  now  be  understood 
as  if  in  addition  to  these  it  were  said :  The  kingdom  of  heaven, 
viewed  as  a  whole  and  in  its  individual  members,  is  likej  <fcc. 

In  Mark,  ver.  30,  the  Rabbinical  formula  tlvl  6fioi(Dcra)/jLev  k. 
t.  X.  stands  before,  which  recurs  also  in  Luke  xiii.  18,  likewise  a 
ground  for  the  conjecture,  that  Luke  there  inserts,  by  way  of 
repetition,  what  had  been  spoken  before — if  we  do  not  find  any 
connection  in  that  place  (which  appears  to  to  me  almost  impos- 
sible) to  warrant  the  supposition  of  an  actual  repetition  by  Christ. 
At  all  events,  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  Christ  really,  as  Mark 
has  it,  spoke  in  the  striking  form  of  we,  wherewith  he,  as  it  were, 
unites  in  counsel  with  Himself,  and  in  the  most  friendly  man- 
ner engages  to  a  favourable  hearing,  if  not  the  people,  at  least  the 
disciples  who  were  around  him.  Such  a  communicative  form  of 
address  (for  it  is  such,  and  John  iii.  11  is  falsely  compared  with 

1  Here  already,  therefore  it  is  not  merely  growth  in  respect  of  size 
or  height,  but  also  of  length  and  breadth — as  Roos  quite  superficially 
would  thus  distinguish  between  the  third  and  fourth  parables. 


250  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

it)  is,  in  the  mouth  of  Christ,  an  infinitely  greater  condescension 
than  when  Paul  in  his  epistles  says :  What  shall  we  then  say  1 

The  change  of  the  figure,  which  was  calculated  as  well  to 
rouse  the  attention  as  to  show  the  thing  itself  in  new  aspects, 
lies  not  merely  in  this,  that  now  again  the  entire  kingdom  itself 
appears  as  a  seed-corn,  but  the  transition  is  now  also  made 
from  the  noblest  and  most  important  product  of  the  earth  for 
man,  the  claims  of  which  have  already  been  acknowledged  by  the 
use  made  of  it  in  the  foregoing  parables,  to  another  species ;  from 
corn  and  wheat  to  garden  products  and  herbs  (Xd^ava)  ;  hence 
while  in  Matthew  the  expression  iv  ra>  aypti  avrov  recurs,  just  as 
at  ver.  24,  and  Mark  has  the  more  indefinite  eirl  t%  77)9,  Luke 
says  definitely  e«  ktjttov  iavrov.  The  mustard-seed  is  the 
smallest  of  all  seeds — by  the  £ttl  t^?  77}$,  which  is  repeated  here 
in  Mark,  might  be  understood :  which  are  sown  in  the  earth  by 
the  hand  of  man.  It  is  still  further  to  be  supplied,  as  there  are 
indeed  smaller  seeds :  in  proportion  to  the  greatness  of  the  herb. 
And  although  even  this  should  not  be  literally  true,  as,  for  example, 
our  acom  as  compared  with  the  oak  might  make  the  superlative 
questionable,  still  the  proverbial  force  of  the  expression  remains 
(and  Christ  was  ever  ready  to  avail  himself  of  such  proverbs), 
which  seems  to  be  hinted  at  here,  especially  by  the  o/jLoicoaoofjuev : 
To  use  a  common  saying  in  this  country.  (Where,  for  example, 
there  were  no  poppies  as  has  been  observed.)  The  Kabbins 
called  the  mustard  Q^^nt  "TO?  only  a  sort  of  seed  (quasi-seed), 

and  ■j'T'irO  as  a  mustard-seed  is  proverbial  with  them  for  any 
very  small  thing,  as, for  example,  Maimonides  (in  More  Nebochim) 
contrasts  the  circle  of  the  heavens  with  the  mustard-seed,  as  the 
smallest  possible  thing,  j-fl^pn  rpS^rQ*  ^n  n^e  manner,  there 
are  to  be  found  in  their  writings  accounts  of  the  sometimes  extra- 
ordinary size  of  the  mustard  plant  in  the  East,  as  of  one  with  three 
branches,  one  of  which  covered  a  potter's  tent,  of  another  on  which 
the  owner  climbed  up  as  on  a  fig  tree.  Accordingly  Christ 
says  truly,  that  this  Xd^avov,  contrary  to  the  general  rule, 
becomes  a  Zevhpov,  as  being,  so  to  speak,  the  miracle  in  nature  of 
great  growth,  so  that  we  are  not  under  the  necessity  of  suppos- 
ing the  more  indefinite  meaning  of  the  Heb.  vy*      Along  with 

the  proverbial,  however,  he  here  also  (as  in  the  darnel  before) 


MATTHEW  XIII.  31 — 33.  251 

glances  at  the  typical  element  in  natural  history,  according  to 
which  a  particular  seasoning,  quickening,  and  leavening  virtue  is 
ascribed  to  the  mustard-seed.  That  he  has  this  before  his  mind 
is  to  be  supposed  from  its  being  placed  side  by  side  with  the 
parable  of  the  leaven,  for  which  it  prepares  the  way :  although 
to  keep  by  this  as  the  principal  point  and  to  carry  it  out,  would 
be  insipid  indeed.  But  this  twofold  reference  to  nature  itself, 
and  to  t^e  form  of  speech  among  men  derived  from  it,  is  not 
enough ;  the  figure  in  the  way  in  which  it  is  carried  out  points 
back  farther  to  the  Holy  Scripture,  as  we  found  was  the  case 
also  in  the  second  parable.  For  precisely  in  connection  with 
those  beginnings  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  in  chap.  xi.  1 
and  iv.  2  (from  which  Christ  had  here  taken  the  citation, 
chap.  vi.  9,  10,  and  many  other  hints),  stands  that  word  in 
Ezek.  xvii.  22 — 24,  where,  literally  as  here,  the  Messiah  and  His 
kingdom  is  compared  to  a  high  tree  grown  from  a  tender  twig, 
so  that  all  birds  dwell  under  the  shadow  of  its  branches.  Great 
tree — this  is  generally  the  prophetic  figure  for  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world,  as  may  be  seen  farther  in  Ezek.  xxxi.  3 — 14,  Dan. 
iv.  7 — 9,  where  there  is  always  the  characteristic  notice  of  the 
birds  dwelling  in  it.  Observe,  therefore,  by  what  a  wise  selec- 
tion, by  what  an  ingenious  allusion,  Christ  here  speaks  thus  and 
no  otherwise  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  if  even  earthly  kingdoms 
grew  from  small  beginnings  to  great  power  and  extent,  much 
more  would  this  kingdom  not  be  wanting  in  similar  growth. 
Observe  further  how,  precisely  by  this  figure,  the  outward  appear- 
ance of  the  Church  in  the  world  is  denoted  also  in  respect  of  its 
might  and  power  to  afford  protection,  as  being  also  a  kingdom  like 
great  kingdoms.1  If  therefore  not  directly  state-churches  (which 
are  only  the  dangerous  and  never  entirely  to  be  averted  conse- 
quence of  the  thing  in  its  imperfection),  yet  certainly  national- 
churches  are  according  to  the  mind  and  will  of  Christ.  What 
then  are  the  birds  but,  in  the  first  place,  the  many  men  and 
nations  who  are  brought  beneath  the  shelter  of  this  protecting 
structure.     (In  Homer  eOvea  7ro\\a  Trereivtiv.)     They  come,  in 

1  Lange  well  observes  in  his  interpretative  manner  :  As  the  mustard- 
seed  even  changes  its  species,  passing  from  a  herb  to  a  sort  of  tree,  so 
does  the  kingdom  of  heaven  pass  into  the  species  and  likeness  of  a  great 
world-state. 


252  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  missionary  time  when  the  Church  is  being  set  up  with  power 
and  honour,  like  doves  to  their  windows  (Isa.  lx.  8).  They 
either  sing  under  the  branches  of  the  tree  which  Christ  has 
planted  for  them,  Ps.  civ.  12,  16,  17  (being  now  true  birds  of 
heaven  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven),  the  praise  of  Him  who  has 
prepared  a  house  and  rest  for  them  in  His  altars  (Ps.  Ixxxiv.  4, 
5) — the  reader  will  pardon  this  play  upon  all  these  sacred  figures 
which  run  into  each  other — or  they  dwell  without  knowing  it 
under  the  shadow  and  shelter  (see  Mark)  which  outward  Chris- 
tendom with  its  manifold  blessings  affords. 

Is  not  this  the  history  of  the  Church  with  its  great  and  mighty 
facts  represented  in  an  interesting  figure,  especially  for  a  certain 
period,  which  was  spoken  of  above  1  One  cannot  cease  from 
comparing  the  little  mustard-seed  in  the  field  or  garden  of  Judea, 
with  this  shadowing  tree  of  the  nations,  and  from  paying  devout 
homage  to  Him  who  has  here  so  simply  foretold  this.  Maximum 
ex  minimoj  in  minimo — this  is  the  principle  that  obtains  in  the 
wonders  of  nature,  but  it  is  still  more  in  history,  and  most  of  all, 
finally,  in  the  internal  history  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the 
heart,  the  sign  and  seal  of  the  divine  operation,  of  divine  power 
in  the  new  creation  of  grace.  As  a  man  knows  indeed  what  a 
small  mustard-seed  he  has  sown  quietly  and  unobserved  on  his 
field,  so  the  counsel  of  God  by  Christ  here  testifies,  and  the 
import  here  is  :  With  these  prophetical  words  as  to  the  will 
and  counsel  of  God  the  fact  agrees,  it  has  been  so,  and  will 
ever  be  so  before  our  eyes.  But  it  could  not  be  otherivise. 
Trust  not  to  anything  great  in  this  world  which  is  not  small 
in  its  beginning,  for  then  it  grows  not  from  the  kernel,  then 
in  all  probability  the  tree  begins  from  the  branches  ere  it  has 
roots.  He  who  would  work  deeply  and  widely  in  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  must  go  with  Christ  into  the  depths,  and  then 
the  result  of  his  labours  as  regards  their  breadth  will  be  seen 
in  due  time. 

Let  us  now,  however,  enquire  more  particularly  what  is  the 
period  in  the  history  of  the  Church  when  first  the  grown-up 
tree  spreads  forth  its  sheltering  branches!  Yes,  the  sign  of 
Jonah  has  become  to  the  world  a  preaching  of  repentance,  the 
cross  a  heavenly  sign  of  victory,  the  Eoman  empire  becomes  a 
Eoman  kingdom  of  heaven,   a  Church  of  Christ,   a  Catholic 


MATTHEW  XIII.  31—33.  253 

Church  for  the  barbarians  of  all  lands.  The  hosts  of  wanderers 
in  the  migrations  of  the  people  turn  into  this  home.  But  is  this 
now  really  the  true  and  genuine  kingdom  of  heaven,  so  that  the 
outward  appearance  corresponds  to  its  internal  nature  ?  By  no 
means !  The  victory  of  Christianity  over  the  world  leads  to  its 
secularization  :  Here  first,  in  right  earnest,  the  pernicious  darnel 
grows  luxuriantly,  the  false  Christians  and  after-Christians  (after- 
wheat)  crowding  round  the  imperial  throne  and  the  bishop's  seat, 
and  a  leaven  of  wickedness  and  knavery  is  at  work.  They  main- 
tain a  controversy  about  Easter  which  does  not  sound  like  a 
pleasant  song  of  praise  among  the  branches ;  the  new  Phari- 
sees and  Sadducees  come,  the  return  to  the  fundamental  errors 
of  Israel  in  the  Old  Testament,  errors  which  the  cross  ought  to 
have  destroyed,  strongly  progresses,  and  many  Samaritans,  if  not 
even  Ammonites,  take  part  unhindered  in  the  building  of  the 
temple.  On  such  a  view,  it  is  more  pardonable  in  some  com- 
mentators than  at  first  sight  we  might  be  willing  to  allow,  when 
they  have  understood  the  leaven  in  the  following  parable  (as 
everywhere  else  in  Scripture  it  denotes  what  is  bad)  to  represent 
the  remaining  corruption  in  the  Church.1  This  certainly  needs 
no  refutation,  for  Christ  does  not  say :  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  three  measures  of  meal  into  which  a  woman  who  is  an  enemy 
mixes  her  leaven  (something  like  the  wickedness  in  the  ephah, 
Zech.  v.  6 — 8) — but  like  a  leaven  which  a  woman  took,  just  as 
a  grain  of  mustard-seed  which  a  man  sowed.  Moreover,  in 
Luke  xiii.  18,  where  these  two  parables  stand  alone,  it  is  not 
possible  to  suppose  that  they  contain  a  prediction  of  the  cor- 
ruptions in  the  Church,  as,  for  example,  the  Berleburgher 
Bible,  which  maintains  this  in  reference  to  Matthew,  must  itself 
acknowledge.  But  if  in  the  figure  of  the  mustard-seed  we  found 
so  manifold  a  reference,  may  not  the  reason  why  Christ  here 
selects  precisely  that  of  the  leaven  be,  that  there  is  in  it  a  side 

!The  writing  "On  the  decree  of  God,"  &c.  (Frankf.  1847),  so 
strongly  tinctured  with  Irvingisra,  goes  so  far  as  to  say,  that  not  only 
the  leaven  is  intended  to  prophesy  the  falling  away,  but  (with  absurd 
cross-interpretation)  the  mustard-seed  also.  For  its  tree  lias  no  fruit, 
while  under  its  foliage  nestle  the  seed-devouring  birds  of  the  evil  one  I 
And  that  is  called  M  the  only  scriptural  interpretation  of  these  two 
parables." 


y 


/ 


254  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

glance  at  the  evil  leaven  which  his  prophetic  eye  must  have  also 
foreseen,  when  he  spoke  of  the  tree  1  Indeed,  the  leavening, 
seasoning  meal  is,  first  of  all,  itself  the  last  form  of  the  fruit  in 
which  it  begins  to  work  anew,  to  nourish,  to  shew  itself  after  the 
manner  of  the  mustard-seed, — and  for  the  rising  of  the  dough  into 
palatable  bread,  the  leaven  is  good.  And  yet  Christ,  as  we 
everywhere  see,  can  never  entirely  forget  the  further  significance 
of  the  figures  of  nature  in  the  types  of  Scripture ;  and  if,  ever 
since  the  passover  and  sacrifices  of  Israel,  this  word  has  the  bad 
sense  which  He  himself  in  other  places  gives  to  it,  could  He  fail 
to  have  this  also  before  His  mind  nowT  ?  He  had  it  in  His  mind, 
and  precisely  on  purpose  placed  in  opposition  to  it  His  good 
leaven,  the  heavenly  leaven.  To  understand  him  thus,  was  so 
natural  on  the  first  surprise  occasioned  by  the  figure  (so  that  the 
hearer  must  have  asked  :  How  ?  the  kingdom  of  heaven  too  a 
leaven  ?),  that  I  at  least  cannot  wonder  enough  at  finding  in  no 
commentator  this  idea,  which  yet  first  opens  up  the  innermost 
meaning  of  the  parable,  and  concedes  to  that  mistaken  interpre- 
tation what  of  truth  belongs  to  it.  Christ  will  say  :  With  this 
expansion  of  the  small  seed  in  the  field  of  the  world,  the  tares  of 
corruption  will  mingle  all  the  more  powerfully  (like  a  leaven}, 
but  the  good  seed  will  notwithstanding  choke  the  thorns,  the  mus- 
tard seed  will  gain  the  victory,  what  is  heavenly  will  also  mino-le 
itself  with  every  mixture,  in  a  word,  will  show  itself  as  a  subduing 
anti-leaven.1  Thus  we  have  the  true,  the  entire  sense  of  this 
ambiguous  expression,  the  application  of  which  is  here  changed 
from  what  is  bad  to  what  is  good. 

The  eytcpvTTTeiv,  which  occurs  only  here  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, derives  its  emphasis  first  of  all  from  this.  The  subduin  em- 
power of  the  little,  which  yet,  as  it  spreads,  must  disunite  and 
become  apparently  ever  less  and  less,  will  operate  with  such 
profound  internal  secrecy  in  the  world  and  in  man.  The  il  little 
bit  word  of  God"  spread  throughout  the  whole  life  of  nations  ! 
They  are  both  the  same  meal,  only  the  one  is  already  leavened 
the  other  is  still  to  be  leavened  with  the  word  of  God,  that  it 

1  This  is  something  quite  different  from  what  Richf.er's  House 
Bible  means:  the  mixed  degeneracy  and  sinfulness  of  the  no  longer 
apostolically  pure  Church  which  now  extends  itself,  is  at  the  same  tune 
meant. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  31 — 33.  255 

may  receive  taste  and  relish,  to  be  used  as  bread.  The  whole 
then  remains  just  as  it  was, — meal  or  man^ — for  God's  renewing 
grace  does  not  do  away  with  what  is  creaturely,  it  does  not  break 
up  and  destroy  the  principle  or  forms  of  life  that  have  existed  in 
nations  and  individuals  from  their  first  creation.1  The  three  Seahs, 
which  together  make  an  ephah,  appear  in  Scripture  as  the  usual 
measure  of  a  complete  batch,  Gen.  xviii.  6  ;  Jud.  vi.  19  ;  1  Sam. 
i.  24.  ^  Christ  has  chiefly  in  mind  the  first  of  these  passages, 
that  well-known  one  concerning  Sarah's  baking  for  the  Lord  in 
Mamre,  as  the  kneading  is  also  particularly  noticed  there.  In 
so  far,  however,  as  he  means  the  whole  world,  all  mankind,  the 
number  three  may  farther  point  to  the  three  quarters  of  the  globe 
then  known,  or  more  correctly  still,  when  viewed  as  a  prophecy, 
stretching  throughout  all  future  time,  it  may  have  reference  to  ^ 
the  three  Sons  of  Noah,  by  whom  every  land  is  possessed,  and 
in  whom  the  prophetical  word  sees  represented  the  whole  seventy  ■?■ 
nations.  This  is  no  trifling,  but  quite  consistent  with  the  every- 
where harmonious  sense  of  Scripture.  Into  this  entire  popular 
life  with  its  state  developments,  its  art,  science,  wisdom,  and 
folly,  war  and  peace,  into  the  entire  history  of  the  world,  the 
good  leaven  enters  with  its  secretly  penetrating  and  subduing 
power,  and  at  last  it  gains  the  upper  hand.  The  new  struggles,  -f^j^j  i*^ 
indeed,  with  the  old  in  fermentation^  and  neither  will  bear  the  pre-  *K  ^^>t4-*^ 
sence  of  the  other,  but  the  kneader  takes  care  that  it  gets  within,  l^Jl+J*.  i 
and  through  the  fermentation  the  batch  is  produced.  (In  Ez. 
iv.  12,  where  an  iy/cpovcfrias  apTos  is  spoken  oi\  iyKpvTrrecv  is  used 
for  ^y.)  Luther  says  on  this  :  "  Just  as  it  is  impossible  that  the 
leaven,  after  it  is  once  mixed  with  the  dough,  can  ever  again  be 
separated  from  it,  because  it  has  changed  the  nature  of  the  dough, 
in  like  manner  is  it  also  impossible  that  Christians  can  be  severed 
from  Christ.  The  dough  is  leavened,  Satan  cannot  separate  it 
from  the  leaven,  let  him  boil  or  fry,  roast  or  burn  it,  the  leaven 
Christ  remains  in  it,  and  will  remain  till  the  last  day,  till  all  are 
thoroughly  leavened  who  are  saved."     We  say  in  addition  to 

1  Braune  :  As  the  dough  is  internally  related  to  the  leaven,  so  is  the 
man  internally  related  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  "When  Zeller  places 
the  entire  parable  in  the  last  time,  on  the  ground  that  then  only  after 
the  judgment  shall  humanity  he  really  prepared  for  the  meal,  we 
cannot  agree  with  him.     What  would  the  leaven  be  then  ? 


256  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

this  :  Even  Feuerbach  and  Bauer's  worst  leaven  is  at  least  pene- 
trated by  the  opposition  to  Christianity,  precisely  thereby  is  it 
brought  into  prominence,  and  therefore  is  it  already  infected  with 
the  principle  which  finally  overcomes. 

Who  now  is  the  woman  who  carries  on  the  important  work  of 
kneading  ?  It  were  superficial  to  say  that  the  yvvrj  here  is  merely 
parallel  to  the  avOpwiros,  ver.  31,  because  women  bake  as  men 
sow,  seeing  that  there  are  everywhere  ryvvaitces  gitottoioI;  for  the 
position  of  the  words  (which  is  never  to  be  regarded  as  indif- 
ferent), is  now  strikingly  changed.  In  the  first  parable  we  have 
merely  the  sower  with  the  story  about  his  seed;  in  the  second 
the  recurring  superscription  begins  :  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  a  man  (coelestium  similitudines  ex  humanis),  which,  in  the 
third  and  fifth,  is  only  somewhat  transposed,1  and  appears  again 
literally  in  the  sixth.  (On  the  other  hand,  in  the  seventh,  where 
the  work  of  separation  by  the  angels  is  the  principal  point  of 
view,  every  avOpwiros  or  avdpcoiroL,  disappears  in  a  passive  and 
general  "one.")  If,  however,  the  av6pco7ros  who  sowed  the 
mustard-seed  was  still  the  heavenly  sower  himself,  the  yvvrj 
appears  already  to  make  the  transition  to  the  fifth  and  sixth 
parables,  where  the  avOpwiroi  are  other  persons,  those,  namely, 
who  now  receive,  find  and  seek  that  which  is  given  from  heaven, 
and  is  within  their  reach,  who  themselves  work  it  out.  Thus  the 
Xafiovcra  now  obtains  a  farther  sense,  and  is  to  be  taken  more 
strictly  than  the  foregoing  Xafiaw.  For  the  mustard-seed  is  as 
yet  the  first  form  of  the  heavenly  seed  which  God  put  into  the 
earth,  but  the  leaven  is  a  thing  already  there  in  relative  perfec- 
tion, a  thing  which  has  been  made  in  a  former  and  first  baking. 
To  take  this  and  to  make  further  use  of  it  requires  human 
co-operation  and  labour.  We  shall  afterwards  find  and  show, 
at  Luke  xv.  4,  8,  that  there  the  woman  is  really  the  Church, 
namely,  the  true  Church  in  which  the  spirit  lives,  through  which 

1  Against  the  interpretation  of  Wachtler  (afterwards  to  be  spoken 
of),  let  it  only  be  mentioned  in  the  meantime  that  the  "kingdom 
of  heaven"  is  a  quite  special  term,  the  thing  compared  in  all  these 
parables,  therefore  the  apparently  strictly  grammatical  position  is  not 
valid,  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  ver.  45,  might  be  likened  to  the 
pearl,  not  to  the  merchant.  When  Plato  speaks  of  his  vo$La  that  is  some- 
thing quite  different.     (Stud,  und  Krit.  1849.) 


MATTHEW  XIII.  31,  43.  -        257 

he  works  (Kev.  xxii.  17)  ;  referring  in  passing  to  this  proof, 
afterwards  to  be  adduced,  we  do  not  stay  to  find  here,  as  there, 
the  work  of  the  Spirit  throughout  the  Church  in  the  wonderful 
Divine-human  thorough  ivorking  of  the  dough  by  the  powerful 
hands  of  this  woman.1  For  this  the  world-Romish,  pseudo- 
catholic  missionary  church,  is  only  the  historical  parable,  and 
thus  in  the  last  of  the  exoteric  parables  a  forcible  reference  is 
made  from  the  external  appearance  to  the  internal  truth. 

Until  the  whole  is  leavened, — or  until  the  meal  is  leavened 
through  and  through  (o\ov  equivalent  to  o\w?)  %  If  this,  in  the 
fullest  and  most  proper  sense,  is  never  true  of  the  entire  dough 
of  mankind — for  what  then  would  be  made  of  the  tares  and  the 
separation  at  the  end  % — it  is  yet  true  individually  and  personally 
of  the  elect.  These  find  the  treasure  which  lies  hid  everywhere 
in  the  field,  they  seek  and  value  the  one  pearl  which,  in  a  mani- 
fold way,  offers  itself  to  every  one  who  knows  it,  so  that  he  may 
entirely  possess  himself  of  it ;  in  them  the  soul  works  through 
the  might  and  impulse  of  the  spirit,  selling  all  and  thus  obtain- 
ing all,  until  the  whole  man  is  leavened.  'And,  in  this  depth  of 
the  microcosm,  Olshausen's  explanation  of  the  three  measures  by 
spirit,  soul,  and  body,  which  he  brings  in  too  soon,  may  find  its 
confirmation  ;  for, — as  those  who  have  looked  deeper  have  long 
since  seen, — Shem,  Japhet,  and  Ham,  in  the  microcosm  of  the 
world's  history,  correspond  to  this  trichotomy  of  human  nature. , 
The  little  mustard  seed  in  the  individual  is  now,  as  Christ  also 
says  elsewhere,  the  first  small  spark  of  living  faith  which  removes 
all  mountains,  and  from  the  small  beginnings  of  the  first  graces 
and  prayers,  the  sanctifying  new  life  at  length  penetrates  as  a 
leaven  the  whole  man,  if  he  on  his  part  does  not  neglect  these 
two  things,  to  continue  in  patient  growth,  and  diligently  to 
co-operate  in  the  iyfcpinrreLv, 

1  To  knead  in — that  is  the  true  work  which  the  hand  of  God  will 
have  done  by  our  hands — not  to  pluck  out !  The  woman  appears  here 
as  strong,  if  we  keep  in  view  the  interpretation — by  no  means  (as 
Braune  thinks)  as  "  a  weak  woman" — as  also  a  child  may  bring  the 
kingdom  of  God  into  a  house ! 


VOL.  U. 


258  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

THE  TREASURE  IN  THE  FIELD.      PEARL  AND  NET. 

(Matth.  xiii.  44—50.) 

As  the  householder  in  the  parable  has,  in  his  answer,  gone 
beyond  the  question  of  the  servants,  and  shown  in  addition  to 
the  whence  ?  also  the  whither?  so  Jesus,  with  the  explanation 
which  the  disciples  asked,  goes  on  to  give  them  the  two  next 
parables  over  and  above,  which  then,  by  the  conclusion  of  the 
third,  vers.  49,  50,  lead  back  to  vers.  41 — 42  ;  consequently  this 
entire  supplement  of  the  treasure,  pearl,  and  net,  are,  as  it  were, 
a  developing  application,  a  deeper  explanation  of  the  foregoing 
separation.  Would  you,  as  righteous,  at  one  time  shine  like  the 
sun — as  those  who  turn  many  to  righteousness  like  the  brightness 
of  heaven?  Now  mark  and  hear  what  I  have  further  to  say: — 
The  kingdom  of  heaven,  is  again  like — becomes,  the  nearer  it 
draws  to  the  separation,  ever  more  perfectly  like  to  a  thing  hid, 
which  indeed  one  may  find  unsought,  but  in  order  to  get  and 
keep  which,  one  must  renounce  everything  else  ;  which,  finally, 
must  even  be  sought  with  the  greatest  earnestness,  must  be  bought 
at  the  cost  of  the  complete  renunciation  of  everything  else. 
Those  who  do  this  are  the  righteous.1 

According  to  Jewish  conceptions,  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah 
was  to  be  the  most  manifest  thing  in  the  world,  and  it  was  the 
will  of  Christ  (chap.  v.  14,  15),  that  the  light  in  his  followers 
should  shine  clearly  before  all  the  world  (ifcXd/jLTretv,  ver  43),  as  a 
city  set  on  an  hill ;  yet  he  says  here  beforehand  that  it  will  unfortu- 
nately not  be  so,  least  of  all  in  the  last  times  of  trial  before  the  judg- 
ment, in  the  times  of  obscuration  caused  by  the  mixture  which 

1  In  the  general  survey  which  we  took  beforehand,  it  was  already 
said  that,  in  the  three  last  parables,  it  is  the  inner  state  and  progress  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the  individual  persons  that  is  spoken  of.  It  is 
therefore,  howevec,  not  merely  meant  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  will  (as 
Lange  thinks)  at  every  period  remain  a  concealed  treasure  "  for  the  indi- 
viduals— even  as  a  world-religion,"  but  the  parables  really  at  the  same 
time  advance  forward  to  a  later  period  when  that  will  be  more  the  case 
than  before. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  44 — 50.  259 

comes  not  merely  from  the  devil,  but  is,  on  the  other  hand,  also  the 
result  of  the  Divine  purpose,  so  as  to  bring  the  leaven  into  con- 
tact with  everything  that  may  be  at  all  susceptible  of  it.  The 
treasure  hid  in  the  field  is,  on  the  one  hand  (in  connection  with 
the  second  parable),  still  the  precious  seed,  but  at  the  same  time 
also  (now  entirely  departing  from  this  figure)  a  treasure,  or  a 
precious  possession  in  general.  The  field  in  which  this  treasure 
lies  hid  is  the  outside  of  the  kingdom  as  existing  in  the  world, 
viz.,  Word  and  Church}  Ah  !  how  many  treasure-seekers  pass 
by,  how  many  treasure-diggers  dig  beside  it,  because  their  eye 
and  heart  are  turned  towards  another  false  treasure !  because 
(to  speak  with  Lange),  they  seek  their  bread  just  as  in  hus- 
bandry, only  in  a  "  decent  conformity  to  the  outward  ordinances 
of  worship,"  without  truly  seeking  the  Gospel  which  lies  hid 
"deep  beneath  the  law"  (the  outward  ordinances,  institution, 
&c),  like  the  merchant  afterwards  mentioned  who  aimed  higher. 
The  real  treasure  is  so  near  them,  they  tread  upon  it  and  might 
lay  hold  on  it  with  the  hand,  if  they  but  knew  the  right  spot. 
Luther  says  again  :  "  Learn  from  this  to  know  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  many  seem  to  possess  it  who  possess  it  not,  and  he  who 
truly  has  it,  seems  as  if  he  had  it  not."  They,  even  diligently 
cultivate  the  field  of  the  Church  so  that  it  may  bear  them — hap- 
piness and  comfort  in  this  life ;  but  they  do  not  see  the  real 
treasure  therein,  nor  bring  it  out.  Why  then  do  they  not  find 
it,  as  well  as  this  one  in  the  parable,  who  is  of  course  the  repre- 
sentative of  all  true  believers  in  common  ?  It  is  not  said  that 
he  sought  or  dug  for  it;  the  hid  treasure  then  must  have 
lain  open  enough  to  every  true  finder.  It  is  to  be  observed  that 
this  finder  is  not,  and  does  not  need  to  be,  such  a  seeker  as  the 
merchant  in  the  next  parable,  but  yet  that  he  has  something  of 
his  spirit  and  character ;  for  he  at  least  discerns  and  lays  hold 
on  what  he  has  found.  These  two  parables  again  represent  two 
things  which  properly  belong  to  each  other,  the  offered  grace  of 

1  And  that  especially  at  a  time,  when  "  the  kingdom  of  God  is  as  it 
were  buried  beneath  the  clods  of  false  Christianity,  of  superstition, 
human  ordinances,  and  ceremonies."  (Roos).  And  we  would  say  fur- 
ther :  also  under  a  good  divinely-established  ecclesiasticism — for  the 
field  must  be  bought. 


260  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

God  and  endeavour  on  the  part  of  man ;   although  these  two 
come  specially  into  prominence  in  different  periods. 

The  fortunate  finder  now  wants  to  have  only  the  treasure,  as 
the  merchant  the  pearl,  yet  for  this  he  buys  the  field.  Is  this, 
perhaps,  merely  a  feature  in  the  parable  without  particular  sig- 
nificance I  Then  it  would  at  least  represent  the  wisdom  to  be 
used  in  acquiring  the  spiritual  substance,  such  as  the  children  of 
this  world  use  in  reference  to  the  earthly :  in  order  that  he  may 
make  sure  of  not  losing  his  discovery  by  any  other  finding  it,  he 
again  covers  it  up  and  buys  the  piece  of  land ;  as  its  purchaser 
the  treasure  would  at  that  time,  according  to  Jewish  and  partly 
also  to  Koman  law,  belong  to  him.  Nor  was  this  any  injustice  to 
the  possessor,  who  was  leaving  his  best  property  to  spoil  in  the 
earth,  and  knew  neither  to  find  nor  to  value  it ;  how,  otherwise, 
should  the  right  man  for  such  a  treasure  get  it  1  With  still  less 
propriety  could  Christ  say:  and  he  stole  it,  carried  it  off! — If 
any  one  is  satisfied  with  such  an  explanation  of  this  part  of  the 
parable  we  leave  it  to  him,  but  it  appears  to  us  that  the  buying 
of  the  field  really  contains  in  it  the  deeper  truth,  namely,  that 
one  cannot  get  the  treasure  without  the  field,  i.e.  that  no  one 
can  have  the  jewel  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the  heart 
without  the  appropriation  of  all  the  outward  institutions  which 
guard  it,  without  the  right  use  of  all  its  means  of  grace  (in 
vain  possessed  by  so  many).  We  have  no  sympathy,  then, 
with  such  an  interpretation  as  this  :  the  good  man  had  only  not 
strength  enough  immediately  to  carry  off  the  treasure  alone ;  for 
the  way  in  which  he  acted  is  manifestly  praised,  as  being  that 
which  led  rightly  to  the  end  he  had  in  view.  Dost  thou  dis- 
cover, by  the  revelation  of  God  graciously  vouchsafed  to  thee,  the 
living  word  of  regeneration,  and  the  true  Church,  remember  that 
neither  of  these  comes  into  thy  heart  in  the  way  of  the  Separatists, 
so  as  that  thou  mayest  abstract  it  from  the  external  word  and  sacra- 
ments in  the  degenerate  Church ;  for  the  treasure  belongs  to  the 
field,  the  buyer  of  the  first  must  also  become  the  true  possessor  of 
the  other.  But  as  this  is  entirely  an  inward  affair  of  the  heart,  it 
must  be  done  secretly,  and  without  the  knowledge  of  those  enviers 
who  might  follow  the  treasure,  although  they  did  not  themselves 
value  it  or  use  it,  or  who,  as  mockers,  might  throw  it  away  as 


MATTHEW  XIII.  44 — 50.  261 

if  it  were  old  rusty  iron.  The  true  finder  hides  what  he  has 
found,  as  in  the  field  from  profane  eyes,  so  in  his  heart,  i.e.  shuts 
it  already  in  his  overjoyed  heart,  ere  he  properly  has  it.  This 
seems  to  be  the  true  meaning  of  the  figure  which  is  not  other- 
wise to  be  pressed.  And  now  he  betakes  himself  in  haste  and  in 
earnest,  in  the  joy  of  his  heart  (a  more  deeply-seated  joy  than 
that  in  ver.  20)  to  selling  and  buying.  For  he  must  give  up 
all  his  property  for  it,  as  is  meant  in  Luke  xiv.  33,  and  more 
particularly  carried  out  by  the  apostle  in  Phil.  iii.  7 — 10 ;  this  is 
the  concluding  point  in  which  the  two  parables  of  the  treasure 
and  the  pearl  coincide. 

When  Wdchtler  recently  persists  in  maintaining,  even  after 
Steffensen  has  adduced  clear  reasons  against  it  (which  we  will 
not  now  repeat)  a  strangely  inverted  explanation  of  the  parable 
of  the  pearl,  let  it  suffice  that  we  mention  it  here ;  it  scarcely 
needs  any  special  refutation  for  the  sake  of  those  who  in  any 
way  agree  with  it,  beyond  our  positive  development  of  the 
general  understanding  of  the  parable.  We  have  already  spoken 
of  the  strikingly  tenacious  adherence  to  the  grammar  as  respects 
the  formula  of  comparison.  "  As  the  merchant  goes  forth  to  seek 
goodly  pearls,  so  does  the  kingdom  of  heaven  also  go  forth  to  seek 
goodly  subjects" — this  is  held  to  be  the  only  possible  meaning, 
yet  this  proposition  already  sounds  so  strangely  as  to  frighten  us 
away  from  it.  To  correct  a  possible  misunderstanding  of  the 
former  parable,  as  if  the  man  can  only  thus  accidentally  find  the 
treasure,  the  design  of  this  parable  is  said  to  be  to  show  how  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  (Christ)  rather  seeks  man.  The  good  pearls 
are — "  the  souls  who  let  themselves  be  saved  and  made  children 
of  God,  the  elect."  And  what  is  the  one  precious  pearl  ?  First 
of  all  it  is  said  to  be :  "  those  that  are  most  disposed  towards 
Christ,  to  whom  he  entirely  yields  himself,"  (as  if  to  sell  all  and 
to  buy  could  mean  to  give,  and  entirely  to  yield  himself !) 
Afterwards,  as  an  improvement  on  this,  it  is  said  to  be  "the 
communion  of  the  saints,  the  invisible  Church,"  out  which, 
indeed,  there  can  be  no  good  pearls.  And  here  may  also  be 
mentioned  the  turn  which  also  Scriver1  has  given  to  the  thing 
(although  more  in  the  way  of  accommodation — "  it  might  be  so 

1  Third  Sermon  of  the  first  part,  in  my  edition  i.  77. 


262  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

explained")  when  he  says,  that  the  pearl  shows  the  great  value 
in  the  eye  of  Christ  of  a  human  soul  which  is  to  be  saved.  But 
we  still  think  that  treasure  and  pearl  are  to  be  taken  together  in  the 
same  sense,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  alone  can  be  the  pearl  found  by 
the  seeker, — this  explanation  alone  corresponds  to  the  en iire  sys- 
tem of  the  seven  parables,  and  confirms  itself  on  every  side.  The 
"  doctrine  of  Scripture  "  which  is  opposed  to  this,  "  that  the  man 
is  not  the  subject  who  effectually  seeks  the  Saviour,  but  the 
object  who  is  effectually  sought  by  the  Saviour,"  has  not  much 
weight  here,  inasmuch  as  the  Scripture,  with  no  less  perfect 
propriety,  speaks  often  of  our  seeking,  our  selling,  yielding  our- 
selves up,  bringing  ourselves  to,  &c. 

As  Solomon,  Prov.  iii.  13—15,  and  Job,  chap,  xxviii. 
15 — 19,  compare  true  wisdom  with  gold  and  silver,  precious 
stones  and  pearls,  or  rather  exalt  it  above  them,  the  parable 
would  be  already  somewhat  intelligible  to  the  disciples  from  this 
allusion  to  the  Scripture.  Still  the  meaning  here  goes  much 
deeper  than  what  was  there  said  of  the  "  fear  of  God ;"  the  pearl, 
as  a  treasure  and  possession,  is  here  still  more  represented  with 
reference  to  the  obtaining  and  appropriating  of  it  than  was  the 
case  with  the  treasure  lying  in  the  field  and  waiting  for  the 
finder.  (Just  as  in  chap.  vii.  6,  that  which  is  holy  and  your 
pearls  ;  also  in  Prov.  iii.  13  and  Job  xxviii.  12,  the  finding,  the 
obtaining,  is  the  principal  idea).  It  is  the  real  "  stone  of  the 
wise,"  whose  true  name  no  one  knows  but  he  who  has  it,  and  who 
bears  the  great  evprj/ca  in  his  heart :  this  last  and  most  internal 
parable  needs  and  admits  in  the  least  degree  of  explanation  by 
many  other  words.  The  avOpwiros  epL-iropos,  seafarer  or  travelling 
merchant  (Kleuker :  who  travels  for  jewels)  possesses  as  a  So/cifio? 
t pan etfrrfij  that  wisdom  which  we  found  also  in  the  buyer  of  the 
field,  even  in  a  higher  degree,  for  he  seeks  really  good,  genuine 
pearls.  But  the  nearer  it  draws  to  the  end  in  the  church,  the 
more  necessary  will  this  testing  wisdom  be,  in  order  to  find  what 
is  sought ;  for  not  merely  is  true  Christianity  hid  by  the  manifest 
falling  away  (which  is  not  so  much  pointed  at  here),  but  amid  the 
motley  mart  of  confessions,  sects,  and  opinions,  the  perplexing  cry 
which  is  to  precede  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  Lo  He  is  here,  lo  He 
is  there,  in  this  chamber  or  in  that  desert,  amid  the  manifold  forms 


MATTHEW  XIII.  44 — 50.  263 

of  Christianity,  each  of  which  praises  its  own  books,  its  own 
agencies,  its  confessions  or  societies,  there  is  need  of  a  good 
understanding  in  the  seeking  heart ;  nor  is  any  society  of  bre- 
thren with  their  Bohemian  stories  the  true  field  which  one  has 
only  to  buy.1  That  the  seeker  first  of  all  seeks  pearls  in  the 
plural  shows,  that  he  has  not  yet  learned  (and  this  is  natural 
enough)  the  experience  which  he  will  obtain  after  he  has  found, 
and  of  which  the  church  loudly  enough  holding  forth  that  experi- 
ence sings  :  "  If  I  get  this  one  thing,  which  compensates  for  all, 
then  shall  I  in  this  one  thing  enjoy  everything" — or  as  it  might 
with  equal  truth  be  said :  then  shall  I  enjoy  this  one  thing  in 
everything.  Therefore  Christ  says  here,  eva  Trokvrifiov  fiapya- 
pvrnv,  while  before,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  He  himself 
speaks  of  pearls  in  the  plural.  The  men  who  offer  them  for  sale 
according  to  their  appearance  know  the  precious  one  themselves 
just  as  little  as  that  owner  of  the  field  knew  of  his  treasure ;  and 
yet  it  is  not  to  be  bought  from  these  ignorant  possessors  as  a 
thing  of  trifling  value,  but  Christ  himself, — who  so  wonderfully 
offers  for  sale  his  holy  jewel,  that  he  on  his  part  may  try  the 
triers,  and  bring  it  to  the  true  man  who  is  worthy  of  it — gives  it 
upon  no  other  terms  than  those  which  Solomon  has  already  men- 
tioned :  for  all  that  he  has.,  (Prov.  iv.  7.)  He  who  will  rather 
continue  seeking,  and  who  goes  back  when  it  comes  to  the  great 
discovery,  he  who  begins  to  cheapen  so  as  that  he  may  still  retain 
something  of  his  own,  cannot  obtain  it.  j  But  he  who  goes  on 
and  offers  violence  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  who  boldly 
counts  out  the  great  price  in  the  face  of  the  mockery  of  the  spec- 
tators and  traders,  he  is  the  true  buyer.  Oh  !  what  a  gracious 
word  about  buying,2  when  yet  the  price  consists  only  in  our 

1  That  (according  to  Roos)  again  at  a  later  period  the  pearl  may  be 
freely  bought  even  without  the  shell  (corresponding  to  the  field  before) 
we  think  quite  wrong,  because  the  seeking  is  precisely  intended  to  denote 
a  distinguishing  from  the  spurious  as  the  result  of  investigation, — its 
costliness  therefore  does  not  lie  open  on  the  surface.  The  two  parables 
are  not  at  all  thus  to  be  combined. 

2  At  which  Wachtler  takes  very  groundless  offence,  since  only  a  pre- 
dominant receptivity  is  conceded  to  us.  Does  he  forget  all  those  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  which  speak  quite  otherwise  also  of  our  doing,  yield- 
ing ourselves,  venturing,  exchanging,  holding  fast  ? 


204  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

entire  poverty,  debt,  and  misery !  But  what  righteousness  and 
truth  in  this,  that  the  pearl  is  yet  so  dear,  and  assuredly  in  no 
other  way  to  be  obtained !  That  which  in  earthly  things  were  a 
foolish  whim  is  here  the  highest  wisdom. 

In  opposition  to  this  second  last  parable — which,  in  the  one 
buyer,  has  shown  us  the  small  number  of  true  possessors  as 
opposed  to  the  foolish  multitude,  and  the  hidden  Church,  as, 
so  to  speak,  itself  the  treasure  in  the  field,  the  pearl  obtained  by 
Christ  for  himself  (for  so  now,  comparing  anew,  may  we  invert 
the  sentiment) — comes  the  last  of  the  series,  which  shows,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  great  mixture  in  the  wide  net,  thus  again  turn- 
ing back,  but  now  it  is  only  to  bring  into  prominence  the  inevi- 
table separation  as  the  chief  and  concluding  idea,  by  the  final  ovrm 
earat.  If,  in  a  former  parable,  the  tares  were  sown  against  the 
will  of  Christ  by  his  enemy,  we  have  here  the  other  and  inner- 
most side  of  the  thing,  namely,  that  it  was  notwithstanding 
according  to  the  counsel  and  will  of  Christ !  He  who  there  says : 
Let  both  grow  together !  had  also  said  before :  Let  the  enemy 
sow  !  and  in  holy  love,  a  love  which  goes  beyond  all  the  malice 
of  Satan,  ja  place  was  given  to  the  tares  in  his  field,  if  haply 
wheat  might  yet  be  made  out  of  them  through  the  miraculous 
power  of  the  opposing  leaven.j  The  bad  fishes,  too,  were  pur- 
posely fished  and  drawn  in  along  with  the  others.  If  any  one 
were  still  in  doubt  as  to  the  meaning  of  that  saying  :  the  world  is 
the  field, — his  doubts  must  be  set  at  rest  when  he  finds  here  the 
x  \*£  ^ad  who  are  to  be  cast  out  distinctly  represented  as  being  in  the 
net,  which  is  certainly  not  the  same  as  the  sea,  but  is  drawn 
through  the  entire  sea.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  some- 
thing specially  set  apart  for  any  outward  Israel,  nation,  or  country, 
but  the  great  sea  of  nations  is  its  sphere,  the  restless  raging  sea 
of  fallen  humanity  (a  figure  pervading  the  whole  of  Scripture, 
for  one  example  of  which  we  would  now  only  refer  to  Ps.  lxv.  8). 
Into  this  sea  it  sinks  as  a  net  hid  beneath  the  waters.  Christ 
will  have  infant  baptism,  conversions,  national  churches,  and  all 
that  belongs  to  such  a  penetration  of  the  leaven  into  the  entire 
dough ;  and  the  Catholic  Church,  although  in  itself  an  untrue 
type,  is  yet  right  in  its  maintenance  of  this  truth  against  the  most 
well-meant,  erring  separatism.   The  wide  aayijvrj,  the  great  draw- 


MATTHEW  XIII.  44 — 50.  265 

net  of  God,  is  irava<ypos,  it  works  and  draws  with  it  whatever  it 
finds,  whatever  comes  in  its  way.1  This  net  has  many  nooses, 
many  small  nets  which  here  and  there  many  a  fisher  of  men  throws 
out,  and  that  not  merely  like  Peter,  "  at  Christ's  word,"  but 
many  only  7rpo<j)aa€i  (Phil.  i.  18)  at  their  own  hand;  nay  more, 
even  against  his  knowledge  and  will  must  Pilate  write  the  super- 
scription of  the  cross,  and  Caiaphas  prophesy  of  the  scattered 
children  of  God  who  find  the  truth  therein.  All  things  in  the 
world's  history  must  work  together  for  good,  for  the  calling  of 
those  whom  the  eternal  purpose  hath  distinguished ;  the  history 
of  the  world  is  itself  the  history  of  the  Church,  and  has  in  it  the 
great  net  which  the  one  great  fisher  of  men,  with  all  the  nets 
and  hands  which  are  helpful  to  him,  draws  by  his  strong  hand  to 
the  shore,  j  As  the  fishes  are  sometimes  taken  in  an  evil  net,  and 
the  sons  of  men  snared  in  an  evil  time  (Eccles.  ix.  12) — so  man 
also  knows  not  his  time,  when  the  good  hand  of  God  which 
draws  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  comes  upon  him  for  the  first 
time.  The  fishes  are  in  the  net  ere  they  know  it,  even  when 
they  think  they  are  still  free  to  swim  in  the  sea,  for  the  net  hides 
itself  from  them.2^  Ye  fishers  who,  as  wise  and  faithful  servants, 
would  follow  out  the  mind  of  Christ,  draw  gently  that  you  may 
not  scare  away  many  a  draught.  The  water  itself  must  move 
about  in  the  net,  the  sin  of  the  world  must  prepare  for  the  univer- 
sally offered  grace  of  God,  the  raging  of  the  nations  and  king- 
doms must  help  on  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  gathering  of 
the  people  of  God ;  many  a  leviathan  is  caught,  and  although 
he  would  fain  get  out  yet  cannot  break  the  strong  net. 

Thus,  indeed,  it  brings  together  eV  iravTos  yevovs,  i.e.  great  and 
small,  high  and  low,  distinguished  and  obscure,  whatever  there 
is  in  the  water  (Ps.  civ.  25).  But  with  all  this  variety,  there  are 
only  two  kinds  of  which  at  last  account  is  taken,  (see  chap.  xxiL 
9,  10).  In  ra  KaXa  and  ra  aairpd  the  fishes  are  purposely  not  at 
all  expressly  mentioned,  nor  are  they  throughout  the  whole 

1  H  Those  missionaries  are  bad  fishers  who  even  at  the  first  would 
separate  the  fishes  (by  baptism).  They  should  take  much  more  pains  to 
catch  them  in  masses,  instead  of  losing  time  in  unapostolical  discrimi- 
nating."    Richter's  Bible. 

2  It  is  not  precisely  right  with  Braune  to  lay  emphasis  on  :  they  are 
caught,  because  the  kingdom  of  God  appears  to  them  at  first  as  a  letter. 


266  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

parable  ;  c^OvEta  is  not  to  be  supplied  (seeing  that  QiftSgM  and 
B'VyjJn  were  a^so  caught),  but  the  neuter  is  to  be  understood  in 
the  same  way  as  kolivcl  kcl\  irakaia  in  ver.  52.  The  sea  of  the 
world  and  the  kingdom's  history  has  a  shore,  as  this  au&if  has  a 
avvTeXeia.  There  it  will  be  seen  what  has  been  caught,  what  must 
be  again  cast  out  of  the  net,  and  just  as  little  of  the  latter  comes  into 
the  dyjeta  as  of  the  tares  from  the  field  into  the  barn.V,  The  fishes 
in  the  parable  are  either  eatable  or  not  fit  for  use  (which  in  ge- 
neral the  word  aairpos  also  signifies),  fishes  which  indeed  might 
have  made  good  food,  but  which  unfortunately  have  died  in  the 
net,  and,  amid  the  swarm,  have  become  corrupt ;  but  the  parable 
says  nothing  of  this,  in  order  to  abide  by  the  principal  point.  To 
this  principal  point  belongs  now  only  the  third  and  last  question 
which  comes  after  the  former  questions,  Whence?  and  Whither? 
namely,  When  will  this  be  done  f  The  answer  was  also  given 
before  :  When  the  plants  are  ripe,  i.e.  here  when  the  net  is  fulLj 
This  means  not  merely  when  the  TrXrjpco/jLa  tgov  eOvwv,  which  in 
its  number  is  known  only  to  God,  has  been  brought  in  (Rom. 
xi.  25),  when  the  foreordained  number  of  the  elect  is  complete, 
although  this  also  lies  in  the  background,  as  it  is  on  account  of 
the  good  that  the  net  is  drawn — but  at  the  same  time  also  :  when 
the  whole  sea  is  fished  out,  when  all  that  were  swimming  in  it 
are  in  the  net  (Matth.  xxiv.  14)^  As  in  the  second  parable  the 
harvest  was  described  only  as  future  (it  is  by  no  means  said : 
and  the  reapers  came) — so  now,  on  the  contrary,  the  final  deci- 
sion appears  as  present,  immediately  follows. 

Vers.  49,  50  contain  again  an  explanation  unasked,  but  they 
only  repeat  the  foregoing  vers.  41,  42,  (might  the  disciples  also 
in  heart  repeat  ver.  43  !),  and  bring  the  three  last  parables  into 
one  frame  with  the  conclusion  of  the  second.  It  is  this :  the 
gathering  is  done  also  by  men,  but  the  separation  only  by  the 
hands  of  the  angels,  with  whom  we  cannot  again  with  Zeller 
join  the  reigning  and  judging  saints.  Already  does  this  literal 
repetition  (for  in  vers.  39  and  41  the  angels  of  heaven  are  cer- 
tainly meant)  refute  the  strange  idea  of  the  excellent  Olshausen, 

1  The  dyyela  (not  the  vessel  in  the  Sing,  as  Luther  has  it)  certainly 
correspond  in  some  measure  to  the  barn  in  a  foregoing  parable,  but 
we  may  infer  from  the  plural  that  this  feature  is  here  to  be  less 
urged. 


MATTHEW  XIII.  51,  52.  267 

that  the  ayyekoi  here  are  the  messengers  or  airoaTokoi,  because 
in  the  parable  the  fishers  themselves  perform  the  work.  This, 
however,  is  still  the  question,  for  in  the  whole  parable,  just  in 
order  to  keep  this  in  the  back-ground,  neither  the  fishers  nor  the 
fishes  are  named,  and  it  is  expressed  in  the  indefinite  form ;  as 
at  ver.  40  cjcnrep  avWeyerai,  so  is  it  now  with  the  whole  story  ot 
the  aa>yr}vrj  ^XrjOetarj,  as  if  it  were  equivalent  to  coarirep  /3aX- 
\ercu,  &c.  The  angels  shall  go  forth  from  the  throne  and  pre- 
sence of  God,  and  of  the  Son  of  Man,  at  his  command  and  com- 
mission ;  they  shall  make  a  clean  and  true  separation  of  the  few 
righteous  from  the  many  wicked.  What  in  the  similitude  was 
an  emphatic  ef©  left  indefinite,  is  in  the  explanation,  again  the 
fearful  furnace  with  its  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth;  still,  in 
order  that  the  friendly  promise  (ver.  43)  for  those  who  have  ears 
to  hear  may  sound  above  this  dreadful  conclusion,  there  is  already, 
in  ver.  48,  a  gathering  together  of  the  good  placed  before  that 
gathering  together  of  the  bad. 

THE  TREASURE  OF  THE  HOUSEHOLDER. 

(Matth.  xiii.  51,  52). 

"  Parables  are  indeed  pretty  and  ingenious  things,  but  one 
must  also  understand  them" — says  the  excellent  Wandsbecker ; 
therefore  Christ  asks  at  the  conclusion,  if  they  have  understood 
him,  as  in  Mark  iv.  13,  he  referred  to  this  at  the  beginning. 
This  question  was  not  for  the  people  but  for  the  disciples,  that 
they  might  be  thorough  fiaOnrevdevres.  And  Christ,  who  could 
not  follow  the  Socratic  method  in  revealing  the  mystery  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  must  first  teach  the  disciples  also,  ere  he  ask 
them  such  a  question.  Forget  not  ye  under-masters  to  do  the 
same,  neither  the  teaching  first  nor  the  asking  afterwards !  Have 
ye  understood  all  this, — the  last  through  the  interpretation  that 
was  given  of  the  first, — what  has  not  been  explained,  and  about 
which  you  do  not  therefore  ask  me  ?  (for  in  Mark  iv.  34, 
iravra  is  not  meant  literally  of  every  single  parable,  but  of  the 
import  of  all,  which  they  might  perceive  from  the  explanation  of 
some).  The  good  disciples,  because  they  had  really  understood 
something,  and  because  now  these  stories  were  not  as  at  first  en- 


268  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

tirely  unintelligible  to  them,  answer  in  their  naive  simplicity : 
Yea,  Lord.  Christ  receives  this  answer  as  true,  for  he  who  under- 
stands something  is  certainly  in  the  right  way.  Luther :  He 
praises  them  just  as  if  they  had  understood,  because  at  some 
future  time  they  would  understand.  He  deals  with  his  disci- 
ples as  with  children,  in  the  simplest  earnestness  and  the  most 
earnest  simplicity,  for  he  thinks  of  what  they  shall  become  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  has  patience  with  their  folly  or  simplicity. 
He  does  not  repel  them  from  him  as  a  proud  master  by  saying  : 
Ah,  how  can  ye  now  already  know  and  understand  what  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is,  as  my  wisdom  has  spoken  of  it  in  these 
parables ! 

For  their  future  office,  in  the  discharge  of  which  their  "  Yea, 
Lord,"  would  come  to  be  ever  more  true,  He  now  says  what  fol- 
lows. And  so  thoroughly  has  He  got  into  the  taste  for  parables, 
after  the  eternal  wisdom  has  opened  its  mouth  in  him  in  this 
way,  that  this  last  word  also  takes  the  form  of  a  parable,  which 
Matth.  ver.  53  therefore  includes  under  the  ereXecrev  t«?  irapa- 
fioXds  ravTas.  Perhaps  meanwhile  the  table  was  covered  in  the 
house,  at  least  the  Oncravpos  of  the  householder  here  is  the  store- 
room of  the  meats  (Ps.  cxliv.  13),  and  the  whole  is  to  be  com- 
pared with  chap.  xxiv.  45.  We  might  at  first  say :  What  con- 
descension on  the  part  of  Christ  thus  to  speak  of  himself  as  of 
every  scribe !  But  this  He  does  not  properly  do,  for  He  himself 
is  no  ypafifzareix;  fiaOnrevOefc,  he  speaks  of  his  disciples'  office  in 
which  they  are  to  follow  his,  the  master's,  example  just  set  before 
them.  But  He  is  certainly  the  householder  who  has  now  given 
out  things  new  and  old  to  the  people,  and  the  disciples  the  guests 
and  the  inmates  of  the  house ;  still  every  one  is  therefore  (Si a 
tovto  after  such  an  example)  to  be  like  this  householder.  When 
Christ  says  "  scribes"  He  gives  it  to  be  understood,  as  we  have 
seen,  that  these  seven  parables  also  were  founded  on  the  holy 
Scripture,  were  foreshadowed  in  it ;  then  also  He  places  such 
true  scribes  whom  he  forms  and  sends  (chap,  xxiii.  34),  empha- 
tically in  opposition  to  the  then  false  ones.  Instructed  or  taught 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven :  This  is  the  grand  distinction,  the  fun- 
damental idea  of  all  true  instruction  and  learning,  upon  which 
all  true  understanding  depends.  Instructed,  namely,  in  a  two- 
fold sense,  for  himself  and  for  others,  that  he  may  gain  it  himself 


MATTHEW  XIII.  51,  52.  269 

and  spread  it  abroad  in  others.  The  importance  of  avrov  which 
is  the  main  point  of  the  sentiment,  is  not  to  be  overlooked ;  out  ot 
his  treasure,  almost  as  at  chap.  xii.  35.  For  the  treasure  and  pro- 
vision of  the  wholesome  doctrine  must  through  experience  have 
become  my  own,  in  the  way  spoken  of  in  the  fifth  and  sixth 
parables,  the  Orjo-avpos  must  be  put  into  a  Orjaavpos  if  I  am 
rightly  and  fruitfully  to  use  it.  Not  from  knowledge  got  by 
learning,  not  from  books,  not  even  from  the  Bible,  that  inex- 
haustible store-room  of  the  chief  householder,  can  one  teach  and 
preach  as  Christ  here  means,  if  the  truth  does  not  first  go  through 
one's  own  heart. 

New  and  old — that  is  in  the  parable  the  produce  of  this  year 
and  of  years  far  back  (Song  of  Sol.  vii.  13),  for  the  nourishment 
and  sustenance  of  the  family,  not  (according  to  Neander,  for  ex- 
ample) jewels  laid  out  to  view,  in  which  old  or  new  does  not 
signify  so  much ;  in  the  interpretation  of  the  parable,  however, 
it  has  indeed  a  manifold  sense.  The  ground-idea  is :  according 
to  the  wants  and  taste  of  the  guests,  as  it  is  good  for  them,  or,  by 
pleasant  variety,  agreeable  to  them.  There  is  not  to  be  a  con- 
stant repetition,  therefore,  of  the  one  old  thing,  that  the  people 
may  not  get  disgusted  :l  therefore  the  new  stands  first.  But 
neither  is  it  to  be  always  the  new,  or  a  new  form  for  the  Athenian 
itching  ears,  but  as  in  the  true  wisdom  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
all  that  is  new  really  rests  on  what  is  old,  the  old  therefore  is  not 
to  be  forgotten,  even  the  first  repentance-sermon  and  the  truths 
of  the  catechism  are  ever  again  to  be  held  forth  !  The  old  is 
ever  to  become  new  by  new  accessions  to  it,  the  new  must  con- 
firm and  recommend  itself  by  leading  back  to  the  old.  Further, 
by  the  new  and  old  is  meant — not  precisely,  as  Luther  every- 
where and  here  also  finds,  gospel  and  law,  for  what  is  here  spoken 
of  is  instruction  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven — but  the  new  word  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the  fulfilment,  in  convincing  harmony 
with  the  old  word  of  prophecy  from  the  Scripture.  By  all  means 
also  the  word  of  Moses  as  the  old,  but  only  in  so  far  as  it  har- 
monises with  the  gospel,  and  essentially  coheres  with  it.  Further, 
because  nature  also,  creation  and  history  is  a  writing  of  God,  nay, 

1  Hence  Neander  speaks  (wrongly)  of  "  agreeable  variety"  in  the 
modern  or  ancient  jewels  that  are  displayed. 


270  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  original,  first  book  of  wisdom,  to  interpret  whose  letters,  and 
to  put  them  into  words,  Christ  opens  his  mouth  in  the  commen- 
tary upon  it,  which  forms  the  other  writing,  one  may  understand 
also  these  old  metaphors,  and  stories  familiar  to  every  one,  of  the 
seed,  the  tares,  leaven,  net — and  that  by  these  the  new  ideas,  the 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  may  be  pleasingly  taught. 
And  whatever  else  he  who  will  only  diligently  gather  into  his 
treasure,  in  order  faithfully  to  bring  forth  from  it,  will  find  therein 
that  which  may  be  called  new  and  old.1  For  the  Master,  at  the 
conclusion  of  his  discourse,  will  say  to  his  disciples  :  Only  use  all 
this  diligently  for  yourselves  and  others,  gather  assiduously  in 
in  order  to  render  back  again,  so  will  you  learn  ever  better  to 
understand  all  this  (ver.  12). 


THE  FEEDING  OF  THE  FIVE  THOUSAND. 

(Matth.  xiv.  16—19  ;  Mark  vi.  31,  37—41 ;  Luke  ix.  13—16  ; 
John  vi.  5,  10—12). 

Although  what  is  further  narrated  in  chap.  xiii.  54 — 58,  is  by 
no  means  the  same  incident  as  that  recorded  in  Luke  iv.  16 — 30, 
but  a  repeated  visit  to  Nazareth  at  a  later  period,  on  the  details 
and  significance  of  which  we  should  have  much  to  say,  if  we  had 
now  to  deal  with  the  narratives,  still  the  words  of  Christ  (ver. 
57)  are  only  to  be  rightly  interpreted  in  their  original  connection 
in  Luke  iv.  24.  We  therefore  refer  the  consideration  of  them 
to  that  passage,  and  will  now  pass  to  what  follows. 

Jesus  hears  from  the  disciples  of  John  who  came  to  him,  and 
whom  the  death  of  their  own  master  now  at  length  leads  to  the 
true  Master,  not  merely  the  (already  known  to  him  ?  John  v. 
35)  lamentable  death  of  the  Baptist,  by  the  cruel  act  of  King 
Herod,  springing  from  his  conceited  weakness,  but  into  which  he 
was  on  this  occasion  driven  against  his  will—  he  also  hears  from 

1  Only  not  (with  Neander)  the  here  mistakenly  allowed,  nay  recom- 
mended, "  formal  accommodation,"  which  makes  use  of  ancient  expres- 
sions, without  taking  them  exactly  in  their  entire  truth,  which  speaks  of 
the  authors  of  books,  according  to  ancient  opinion,  without  confirming 
such  opinion. 


MATTHEW  XIV.  16—19.  271 

them  what  the  same  king  had  said  concerning  Him,  Jesus,  that 
He  was,  as  many  told  him,  John  risen  again  from  the  dead,  and 
that  he  would  like  much  to  see  him  !  (Luke  ix.  9).  This 
wretched  king,  under  whom  the  King  of  Israel  lives  and  works  as 
a  subject,  now  first  noticed  by  him,  this  man,  whose  inner  life 
was  burnt  out,  who  was  made  up  of  contradictions,  speaking  of 
his  kingdom  like  Ahasuerus,  and  yet  the  slave  of  his  Jesabel, 
willingly  hearing  the  prophet,  and  unwillingly  killing  him,  who 
will  be  a  Sadducee,  and  yet  thinks  of  a  resurrection,  who  has  a 
superstitious  fear  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  yet  has  a  curiosity  to  see 
him,  is  anxious  for  this,  and  yet  takes  no  step  towards  it — this 
Herod,  Jesus,  as  by  a  fit  judgment,  avoids.  Yet  we  read 
no  word  from  his  mouth  concerning  the  person  and  conduct 
of  "  his  king."  He  went  over  the  sea  tear  I8iav9  i.e.  here  (comp. 
ver.  23  and  Luke  ix.  18)  without  the  people,  but  with  his 
disciples,  the  apostles  who  had  just  returned  from  their  mission. 
For,  while  the  first  obnoxious  preacher  of  repentance  dies,  twelve 
new  ones  are  risen  up  in  his  place,  besides  the  one  whom  Herod 
now  fears.  Christ  withdraws  himself  at  the  same  time  therefore 
on  account  of  the  information  of  the  disciples,  and  we  read  in 
Mark  vi.  31,  the  words  of  his  mouth :  Come  ye  also  apart  into  a 
desert  place  and  rest  a  little  !  For  the  press  of  the  people  going 
and  coming  was  great,  so  that  they  could  not  get  their  repast 
taken ;  it  was  shortly  before  the  passover,  which  feast  Christ  did 
not  observe  on  this  occasion  after  having  performed  his  work  and 
his  testimony  at  the  feast  of  Purim.  He  speaks  not  of  his  own 
but  of  the  disciples'  rest ;  because  they  were  somewhat  too  full  of 
all  the  things  that  they  had  done  and  that  they  had  taught,  he  kindly 
leads  them  into  the  solitude  where  is  the  true  rest.  They  are 
not  to  create  such  a  sensation  or  make  such  a  noise  among  the 
people  on  their  return  to  them.  Come  ye  also  (tyzefc  avroi)  now 
into  retirement,  as  I  am  wont  to  do  and  even  now  have  need  of 
it  for  myself;  rest  yourselves  from  your  journey,  because  ye  too 
have  laboured !  But  when  Christ  permits  or  commands  rest  he 
yet  significantly  adds :  a  little.  More  is  at  present  not  yet  granted 
them,  unrest  soon  again  sought  out  him  and  them.  The  crowds 
of  people  hasten  on  foot  round  the  sea,  and  Jesus  soon  again  goes 
forth  from  his  solitude  (i%e\8cbv  Matth.  and  Mark :  not  out  of 
the  ship  but  equivalent  to  Be^dfjievo<;  avrovs ;  Luke,  in  order  to 


272  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

receive  them  with  a  salutation),  heals  their  sick,  addresses  to  them 
again  much  instruction  concerning  the  kingdom  of  God.  For 
instead  of  displeasure  at  the  disturbance,  there  is  only  compassion 
in  His  heart  for  the  sheep  without  a  shepherd.  Yes,  He  is  moved 
too  even  by  the  unintelligent  zeal  with  which  they  run  after  him, 
and  forget  their  food  :  they  are  not  to  suffer  on  this  account,  and 
He  determines  in  the  counsels  of  his  wisdom  now  to  give  a  sign 
which  at  the  sametime  lovingly  interprets  to  the  people  that 
word  in  Matth  vi.  33,  and  testifies  of  the  bread  of  life,  but  which 
shadows  forth  something  special  for  the  disciples  after  their  first 
official  work.  The  evangelists  together  give  us  six  words  from 
the  mouth  of  Jesus  on  the  occasion  of  this  miraculous  meal,  the 
true  order  of  which  wTill  clearly  evolve  itself  from  a  right  under- 
standing of  the  whole. 

Evidently  the  first,  in  which  Christ  will  signify  to  Philip  alone 
what  he  has  already  determined  to  do,  is  denoted  in  John  vi.  5 
by  the  evangelist's  words  before  and  after,  as  the  beginning 
which  Jesus  makes.  Whence  shall  we  buy  bread  that  these  may 
eat  t  Here  have  we  (in  such  things  He  is  ever  ready  to  speak 
thus)  all  at  once  again  many  guests ;  we  ourselves  have  indeed 
got  enough,  as  for  this  purpose,  partly,  we  came  hither  ;  but  these 
are  hungry  as  I  suppose,  must  still  have  a  meal  to-day,  and  in 
their  zeal  have  thought  nothing  of  this ;  it  is  fit  therefore  that 
we  entertain  them ;  what  thinkest  thou,  beloved  Philip  ?  That 
this  was  the  disciple  who  took  charge  of  the  food  may  rather  be 
doubted,  for  Judas  carried  the  bag  and  bought  generally  what 
wTas  needed.  (John  xiii.  29).  We  will  more  correctly  under- 
stand John's  words  concerning  the  ireipaQeiv  by  supposing  that 
Philip,  whom  the  faithful  Master  nowT  singles  out  from  the  rest, 
needed  the  trying  question  owing  to  his  own  state  of  heart. 
(Comp.  John  xiv.  8).  He  understands  not,  however,  the  gentle 
reference,  contained  in  this  Whence,  to  the  miraculous  power  of  the 
heavenly  Father,  but  adheres  literally  to  the  buying,  to  which 
belongs  also  the  question,  For  how  much%  Bread  for  these,  said 
Christ,  when  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  on  the  7to\l>9  oy\os ;  and  the 
disciple  begins  naively  to  reckon,  and  finds,  on  a  hasty  calcula- 
tion, that  a  certain  round  sum  (proverbial  among  the  Jews ; 
there  can  hardly  have  been  so  much  in  the  Saviour's  store)  is 
yet  far  too  little  to  satisfy  such  a  multitude,  so  that  every  one  at 


MATTHEW  XIV.  16 — 19.  273 

least  may  have  a  little  !  After  this  conversation  between  the 
two,  the  same  thought  now  occurs  to  the  rest  of  the  disciples,  which 
must  very  naturally  have  suggested  itself,  and  they  come  to  Christ 
reminding  him  that  he  should  now  bring  his  instructions  to  a 
close,  in  order  that  the  people  might  yet  find  something  to  eat. 
They  considerately  give  beforehand  two  reasons  (only  one  of  which 
Luke  places  after  the  request,  while  he  mentions  the  other  him- 
self) :  here  in  the  desert  there  is  nothing  to  be  had,  and  it  is  now 
late.1 

But  Jesus  spake  to  them  all  the  second  and  now  more  open 
word,  in  which  the  we  becomes  a  ye,  and  the  buying  becomes 
forthwith  a  giving:  They  need  not  depart,  give  ye  them  to  eat! 
You  propose  their  going  away  as  necessary,  but  they  are  with 
me,  and  I  say  to  you  now :  Must  everything  go  always  by 
natural  calculation  1  They  are  already  tired  enough,  and  must 
not  give  themselves  more  fatigue.  If  the  disciples  had  at  times 
fed  one  or  two  hungry  guests  from  their  stock  of  provisions — now 
they  are  to  do  the  same  with  the  thousands !  This  he  said  again 
to  try  them,  whether  they  would  not  of  themselves,  especially 
after  the  great  things  which  had  just  been  done  and  told,  hit 
upon  the  thing  which  he  had  determined  to  do.  His  striking 
word  might  have  brought  to  their  recollection  that  similar  one 
of  the  prophet,  2  Kings  iv.  42,  43  ;  it  is  at  least,  on  this  account, 
as  well  as  in  accordance  with  the  constant  humility  of  Christ, 
that  he  speaks  thus,  and  does  not  say  :  I  will  give  to  them  !  But 
they  do  not  in  this  instance  say :  Lord,  at  thy  word  we  will  give 
them  to  eat  !  They  perceive  nothing,  and  answer  as  the 
servants  of  the  Prophet  did  on  that  occasion  ;  they  bring  forward 
(according  to  Mark)  again  the  same  reckoning,  with  the  prover- 
bial sum,  which  Philip  had  just  made.2  They  are  indeed  very 
much  to  be  excused,  for  it  is  truly  human  and  not  without  a 
certain  reason  in  God's  ordinance,  always  to  think  and  speak 
thus  first  of  all ;  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  once  spoke  not  other- 

1  Matthew  :  the  proper  time  is  now  past.  Mark  :  Much  of  the  day 
is  already  past,  reckoning  from  the  beginning  of  the  day,  therefore : 
high  time.  Luke  :  the  day  began  to  decline ;  for  it  was  between  the 
two  evenings,  Matth.  vers.  15  and  23. 

2  We  rather  suppose  this,  than  that  the  gospel  which  was  compiled 
from  the  account  of  Peter  contradicts  that  of  John  even  in  such  a 
circumstance. 

VOL  II.  6 


274  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

wise  before  Jehovah  (Num.  xi.  21,  22).  But  here  we  may  learn, 
at  least,  not  to  be  too  confident  in  our  reckonings,  so  long  as 
they  are  made  for  plus  or  minus,  without  the  host.  How  many 
great  counting  houses  and  mercantile  houses  have  forgotten  in 
their  books  the  column  for  the  blessing  or — the  curse  of  God  ! 

Before  the  answer  of  the  disciples  followed,  Matth.  ver.  17, 
Luke  ver.  13  (Luke  is  at  least  literally  accurate)  we  have,  ac- 
cording to  Mark's  account,1  a  third  word  of  Jesus  to  consider,  viz. 
the  intervening  question  proceeding  from  him,  which  very  natu- 
rally connects  itself  with  the  reckoning  just  laid  before  him,  as  a 
reply  to  it :  How  much  bread  have  ye  f  Go  and  see  !  I  will 
divide  and  multiply  differently  from  you.  "  We  have  not  what 
thou  tellest  us  to  give,  neither  so  much  bread  as  will  do  for  these 
nor  so  much  money  as  will  buy  it  even  should  we  go  away  for 
that  purpose" — so  say  you,  but  I  say  to  you:  Ye  have,  go  away  and 
only  see  how  much  it  is,  then  will  /take  care  that  it  be  enough,  and 
that  every  one  gets  not  merely  a  little.  Thus  does  Christ  point 
to  the  present  gifts  of  God  which  we  have,  in  order  to  bless  these; 
for  the  ordinary  method  must  certainly  be  observed  first,  so  that 
even  miracles  come  only  in  this  way.  Where  there  is  a  door  one 
does  not  break  through  the  window,  where  there  is  still  something 
present,  nothing  new  is  created.  Now  Andrew  speaks  in  the 
name  of  all  the  disciples,  who  agree  with  him  :  Here  is  a  lad  who 
has  five  barley  loaves  (the  smaller  bread,  hence  Judges  vii.  13), 
and  two  dried  fishes, — that  have  we  here  or  may  momentarily 
have,  but  not  more.  Because,  therefore,  they  cannot  answer : 
We  have  nothing — Christ  holds  fast  by  what  they  have,  and 
speaks  fourthly  (observe  in  this  connection  of  the  different 
accounts  the  ever-advancing  gradation)  the  word  of  majesty,  in 
which  the  transition  is  made  to  the  miraculous  power,  and  the 
increase  is  promised  :  Bring  it  hither  to  me  I  the  five  loaves  and 
also  the  two  little  fishes ;  we  will  despise  nothing  that  we  have, — 
but  bring  it  to  me  !  Now,  they  observed  him  what  he  would 
do. 

And  he  told  the  multitude  to  sit  down ;  more  exactly,  accord- 
ing to  Mark,  he  told  the  disciples  to  make  the  people  do  this ; 
Luke  and  John  give  expressly  as  the  fifth  word  of  Christ :  Make 

1  Among  whose  "  intuitive  delineations"  we  cannot  be  so  bold  as  to 
put  the  ipse  fecit. 


MATTHEW  XIV.  16 — 19.  275 

the  people  sit  down  I  Or,  Let  them  sit  down  in  rows  by  fifties. 
Thus  exactly  does  Christ  observe  order  in  what  he  does,  and 
here  beautifully  illustrates  what  is  written  in  1st  Cor.  xiv.  33, 
40,  as  has  been  at  all  times  noticed.  The  small  stock  of  provi- 
sion is  brought  before  him,  concerning  which  Andrew  asked : 
What  is  this  among  so  many  ?  The  multitudes  arrange  them- 
selves in  expectation  of  what  is  to  come,  probably  not  distinctly 
marking  till  the  end  of  the  meal,  that  here  there  was  given  a  sign 
of  miraculous  power.  On  the  rich  green  grass,  which  brings  to 
mind  the  rich  hand  of  God  in  the  sustenance  of  the  cattle,  the 
separate  rows  of  men,  who  are  now  also  to  find  pasture,  look  like 
so  many  garden-beds.1  They  are  not  to  mingle  at  pleasure  with 
each  other  as  at  festivals  of  the  people  in  the  way  of  the  world, 
but  solemnly  to  sit  as  at  the  table  of  God  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Then  Christ  took  the  five  loaves  and  two  fishes,  looked  up  to 
heaven,  pronounced  the  blessing  over  them  (as  Luke  expresses  it, 
blessed  them,  the  loaves  and  fishes),  and  began  now  himself  to  break 
and  to  divide,  that  the  disciples  may  do  this  further.  He  does 
not  first  command  that  the  five  and  the  two  become  five  hundred 
and  two  hundred,  to  be  taken  openly  by  the  multitudes ;  he  con- 
ceals the  miracle  as  much  as  he  can,  and  no  one  sees  rightly  how 
it  multiplies  itself  in  his  and  the  disciples'  hands,  any  more  than 
one  sees  the  grass  growing.  'EvyapiaT^aas  SiiSco/ce — writes 
John  ;  if  what  follows  were  only  a  gloss,  it  is  yet,  according  to  the 
other  evangelists,  true :  he  himself  breaks  and  distributes  ever 
on  without  its  coming  to  an  end,  and  the  disciples,  who  carried 
what  they  received  through  the  ranks,  perceive  this.  They  know 
not  themselves  how  it  is  so,  but  their  faith  grasps  the  whence. 
If,  in  the  first  ranks,  they  may  have  been  still  anxiously  sparing, 
soon  they  gave  to  all  as  much  as  every  one  wished.  For  when 
God  opens  his  rich  hand  he  satisfies,  according  to,  and  with,  His 
good  pleasure,  v^  Ps.  cxlv.  16.  The  more  of  the  life  of  faith 
and  receptivity  for  the  divine  power  of  this  feeding  there  was  in 
the  individual,  so  much  the  more  easily  satisfied  would  he  be 
with  a  little  ;  but  those  too  who  ate  quite  naturally  were  all  filled. 

1  Mark  thus  pourtrays  the  whole  scene  ;  the  numbers  with  him  may 
be  variously  understood :  Every  two  fifties  opposite  each  other  as  a 
hundred,  and  so  fifty  times ;  or  unequally  at  least  fifty,  at  most  a 
hundred  together ;  or  most  simply,  a  hundred  times  fifty. 


276  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Here  is  set  up  the  heavenly  ladder  of  true  "tradition"  where 
"  the  blessing  of  the  first  hand  runs  through  many  hands,  even  to 
the  end."  The  father  gives  the  gift  to  the  son,  the  son  to  his 
servants,  from  whose  intermediate  hands  all  people  receive  it 
(1  Cor.  xi.  23).  Here  is  apparent,  also,  the  purport  and  sig- 
nificance of  the  sign  for  the  apostles  who  had  just  returned,  inas- 
much as,  while,  so  to  speak,  imprinting  a  seal  upon  their  first 
mission  at  its  close,  it  foreshadows  their  future  official  work. 
Give  ye  them  to  eat !  You  need  only  to  have  something  for  such 
giving,  my  blessing  will  multiply  in  your  hands  in  the  giving. 
Nay,  we  might  well  say,  that  Christ  had  done  all  this  in  reality, 
more  for  the  sake  of  the  disciples  than  of  the  people. 

The  words  of  the  prayer  of  thanksgiving  and  blessing1  are  not 
given,  for  it  was  most  probable  that,  with  a  simplicity  sublime  in 
its  humility,  Christ  had  just  said  the  grace  commonly  used  in 
Israel.  But  while  the  three  evangelists  merely  narrate  the  lift- 
ing up  of  what  remained  over,  John  specifies  still  the  sixth  word 
of  Christ :  Gather  up  the  fragments  that  remain,  that  nothing  be 
lost !  Quite  as  simple  as  unostentatiously  natural,  and  yet  as 
profoundly  significant  as  all  the  former  unsearchable  words  of 
His  mouth  from  the  first  to  the  last.2  Also  in  2  Kings  iv.  43, 
44,  what  is  left  over  (as  at  Ruth  ii.  14)  is  a  sure  proof  of  there 
having  been  enough ;  it  was  not  to  be  altogether  consumed,  for 
God's  gift  is  never  exhausted,  there  always  remains  something 
over.  And,  behold!  there  was  more  of  what  remained  over 
than  of  the  original  stock.  But  it  is  not  for  a  memorial  alone 
that  they  are  to  gather  it;  chiefly  rather,  in  order  that  the 
people  may  not  foolishly  take  relics  of  it  with  them.  That  no- 
thing be  lost  of  the  dear,  precious  gift  of  God— this  Christ  gives 
as  the  reason.  Wonderful  union  of  the  divine  riches  with  due 
activity  on  the  part  of  man  !  Beautiful  picture  of  the  working 
power  of  God  in  nature,  which  is  at  once  lavish  and  careful ! 
But  Christ  teaches  and  recommends  to  us  precisely  here,  not 

1  Which  according  to  the  Mischnah  had  only  to  be  said  by  one  even 
for  the  largest  company. 

2  One  might  preach  many  discourses  on  every  point  elucidating  the 
true  meaning,  as  Zinzendorf  (Pensylvan.  Reden)  has  a  rich  and  mas- 
terly sermon  on  the  holy  order  of  God,  which  we  should  imitate  in  all 
things. 


matthew  xiv.  27,  28,  31.  277 

merely  that  "  gathering  carefulness  which  keeps  together  at  the 
right  time,  as  belonging  to  the  art  of  well-doing"  he  gives  us  a 
still  deeper  ground,  inasmuch  as  this  carefulness  belongs  in 
general  to  doing  justly.  That  nothing  be  lost !  This  is  the  single 
decisive  ground  upon  which  rests  our  household  faithfulness  with 
God's  gift,  of  which  we  cannot  create  the  smallest  crumb,  which 
is  to  be  regarded  as  valuable  and  holy — not  fainthearted  anxiety 
about  the  future,  as  if  God's  hand  were  shortened  for  us  or 
others  when  our  hand  has  not  enough. 

That  God's  hand  has  been  rich  and  open  in  the  hands  of  Jesus 
extended  in  miraculous  blessing  over  the  little,  these  men  now 
at  the  end,  when  all  were  satisfied,  have  seen  and  experienced  in 
this  sign  which  Jesus  performed.  But,  alas  !  in  human  fashion 
they  see  nothing  more  in  it  than  the  bread  of  which  they  had  all 
eaten,  and  because  it  seems  to  them  a  very  pleasant  thing  to 
have  their  table  so  easily  covered,  they  will  forcibly  take  to  them- 
selves this  prophet  who  is  indeed  the  Messiah,  and  at  once  pro- 
claim Him  King  with  rejoicing,  a  king  who  would  be  better  to 
them  than  Herod !  The  third  instance  related  by  Matthew  of 
Christ's  being  taken  for  what  he  was  not, — the  other  two  being  at 
chap.  xiii.  55,  where  the  Nazarenes  see  in  Him  the  u  carpenter's 
son," — and  chap.  xiv.  2,  where  by  Herod  He  is  mistaken  for  the 
Baptist  risen  from  the  dead.  Christ,  in  compassionating  love  for 
the  people,  in  faithful  wisdom  for  the  disciples  and  all  future 
believers,  performed  this  sign  at  the  same  time  as  a  proof  of 
what  means  were  at  His  command,  had  He  been  a  demagogue 
seeking  adherents ;  while  He  takes  care  again  that  His  disciples 
be  not  carried  away  by  the  error  of  the  people,  sends  them  for- 
ward to  the  ship,  takes  decided  leave  of  the  people  against  their 
will  (though  they  presume  not  to  contradict  or  resist  Him),  and 
again  goes  to  the  mountain  of  His  former  solitude,  there  to  pray 
from  late  in  the  evening  till  far  into  the  night. 


CHRIST  WALKING  ON  THE  SEA. 

(Matth.  xiv.  27,  29,  31 ;  Mark  vi.  50;  John  vi.  20.) 

Christ  had  commanded  His  disciples  this  time  to  cross  over  the 
sea  before  him,  and  had  promised  therefore  to  come  after  them 


278  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

without  telling  them  how.  Did  He  intend  to  walk  round  the 
lake  during  the  night,  which  scarcely  any  one  did  during  the  day 
if  ships  were  to  be  had,  or  did  he  intend  to  follow  them  in  the 
morning  in  another  ship  (after  having  withdrawn  himself  from 
the  people)  ?  Neither  of  these  suppositions  is  very  conceivable ; 
so  that  for  the  following  miracle  it  only  remains  to  be  supposed  that 
he  knew  well  himself  what  he  would  do.  He  would  once  more 
show  to  his  disciples  in  all  stillness,  even  although  no  storm  had 
arisen,  his  power  over  nature  and  the  creature,  in  virtue  of  which 
there  were  ways  for  him  everywhere.  They,  however,  had,  late 
in  the  evening,  now  come  (according  to  Mark,  ver.  47)  to  or 
beyond  the  middle  of  the  sea,  from  20  to  25  stadia  as  John 
states,  which  was  about  three-fourths  of  the  whole  breadth  (being 
altogether,  according  to  Josephus,  40  stadia  or  a  geographical 
mile),  and  when  now  the  storm  arose,  they  made,  in  spite  of  all 
their  exertions,  very  little  more  way  by  the  fourth  watch  of 
the  night  (three  o'clock  in  the  morning),  the  wind  being  directly 
contrary.  And  Christ  not  with  them — this  was  worse  than 
the  former  time,  although  their  faith  might  instead  have  clung 
to  his  power  and  majesty  so  shortly  before  revealed  to  them. 
Then  he  saw  their  distress  (Mark  ver.  48)  from  the  mountain  of 
his  prayer,  even  through  the  night  and  darkness,  and  came  to 
help  them  ;  yet  it  seemed  to  them,  on  first  seeing  his  figure,  as 
if  he  would  go  past  them,  inasmuch  as  he  went  to  the  prow  of 
the  ship,  or,  which  may  also  be  concealed  in  this,  that  he  acted 
here  as  in  Luke  xxiv.  28. 

God  the  Lord,  who  spreadeth  out  the  heaven,  walks  upon  the 
waves  of  the  sea  in  His  creative  power  (Job  ix.  8) — this  is  now 
truly  represented  in  His  Son,  who  also  thus  gathers  the  winds  in 
His  hands,  and  binds  the  waters  in  a  garment  of  his  majesty 
(Prov.  xxx.  4).  This  is  more  than  was  done  by  Moses  and 
Elias,  for  whom  the  depths  must  first  be  dried  up.  Not,  how- 
ever, in  the  exercise  of  Omnipotence,  but  in  the  higher  nature  of 
the  ideal  man,  in  the  might  of  the  spirit  over  matter,  of  pure 
and  perfect  faith  to  which  everything  must  be  subject,  does 
Christ  come  forth  from  prayer  to  walk  upon  the  waters  {vhara 
which  beneath  His  tread  cease  to  be  fcifiara).  This  inner  life 
corresponding  to  that  of  his  glorified  state  (analogous  to  Phil. 
iii.  11)  breaks  forth,  according  to  his  and  his  Father's  counsel,  in 


matthew  xiv.  27,  29,  31.  279 

this  moment  of  special  elevation,  in  a  way  which  was  not  always 
possible  for  him  who  so  often  crossed  that  sea,  because  he  had  no 
reason  to  will  such  a  manifestation.  The  disciples  all  see  Him 
whom  they  so  anxiously  wished  to  have  beside  them,  nay,  who 
had  promised  to  come  after  them,  approach  so  near  to  the  ship 
that  he  can  directly  speak  with  them  and  Peter  with  Him ;  His 
well-known  form  would,  if  they  could  see  a  man  walking  at  all, 
be  also  distinguishable  at  this  nearness,  only  that  they  are  again 
perplexed  by  His  going  past  them.  What  is  that?  they  ask 
among  themselves  in  terror,  and  the  fear  which  now  first  breaks 
out  in  earnest,  precisely  when  the  helper  comes,  answers  :  It  is  an 
apparition,  sl  ^avracrfia — and  when  the  terrifying  word  is  spoken, 
they  cry  out  for  fear.  Is  it  a  welcome  from  the  Scheol,  to  which 
they  fancy  they  are  now  near  ?  This  it  cannot  be,  for  the  thing 
upon  the  sea  assuredly  looks  like  the  Lord ;  it  is  more  likely, 
therefore,  to  occur  to  them,'  that  their  excited  imagination  now 
morbidly  deceives  them  with  the  figure  of  Him  who  has  been  so 
much  in  their  thoughts — if,  indeed,  they  have  any  definite  idea 
at  all  of  this  ^avraa^a.  The  fourth  mistaking  of  Christ  by  his 
own  dear  disciples, — prelude  of  the  terror  awakened  in  them  by 
the  sight  of  the  risen  Lord, — most  characteristic  contrast  to  his 
own  tranquil  power  over  the  elements!  Man,  in  his  present 
state,  in  the  fear  and  perplexity  of  spirit  which  may  so  easily 
overtake  him,  sees  apparitions,  takes  even  his  Saviour  as  he 
draws  nigh  in  divine  power  at  first  to  be  such ;  this,  however, 
is  always  better  than,  in  the  opposite  folly  of  boldness,  to  take 
a  (papraafjia  of  his  own  thoughts  as  the  Lord  and  Saviour — 
for  where  Jesus  really  is,  He  will  with  his  friendly  it  is  I  dissi- 
pate the  mist  of  fear  in  all  who  do  not,  in  their  pantheistic  illusion 
which  looks  on  the  laws  of  nature  as  the  living  (rather  dead) 
God,  hold  that  no  one  can  walk  upon  the  waves  of  the  world  and 
of  history,  and  that  the  Christ  who  appears  to  any  one  to  do  so, 
is  only  a  phantom  of  his  own  creation  ! 

Be  of  good  cheer,  it  is  I,  be  not  afraid  !  John,  because  his 
thoughts  are  ever  hastening  to  the  iyco  el/nc  of  Christ,  passes  over 
the  Be  of  good  cheer  Oapaelre,  which  in  Matth.  and  Mark  prepare 
the  way  for  this  comfort-bringing  /  We  recognize  this  word  of 
kindness  which  he  is  ever  so  ready  to  address,  which  even  yet 
from  heaven,  He  delights  to  address  to  timid  hearts.    (Acts  xxiii. 


280  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

11).  In  order  that  the  majesty  and  miraculous  nearness  of  the 
it  is  I  may  not  terrify  them,  he  encloses  it  so  to  speak,  on  both 
sides  by  words  of  encouragement.  Fear  not !  This  is  the  word 
used  by  the  graciously  appearing  Lord  already  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment (as  we  have  shown  at  p.  89  of  the  first  volume  on  Luke 
v.  10),  but  now  first  in  the  mouth  of  the  Son  of  Man  has  it  the 
full  power  really  to  take  away  all  fear.  Thus  did  He  come  into 
the  world  with  his  miraculous  manifestation  :  I  am  the  helper. 
Happy  he  indeed  who  in  the  true  faith  of  a  disciple,  although  it 
may  at  first  be  yet  weak,  gets  acquainted  with  the  gracious  Master, 
in  order  to  be  helped,  so  that  then  every  new  it  is  I!  always  more 
effectually  dissipates  anxious  fears,  until  the  gracious  words  are 
heard  for  the  last  time  in  the  last  fear  of  death,  as  in  Rev.  i.  17, 
18.  But  how  often  when  Christ  comes  to  his  disciples  in  extra- 
ordinary ways,  when  he  draws  near  to  them  in  the  cross  and  in 
distress,  and  thus  brings  salvation  and  blessing  to  them  is  there 
a  repetition  of  this  mistaking  of  his  well-known  form  ! 

A  Philip  or  a  Thomas  among  the  disciples  doubts  perhaps  for 
a  moment  or  two  longer,  even  after  such  words,  whether  it  is 
really  He.  They  must  first  have  him  beside  them  in  the  ship  ;  a 
John  has  enough  in  the  inwardly  adoring,  calmly  expecting  as- 
surance, It  is  the  Lord!  But  the  forward  Simon  Peter,  the 
easily  and  strongly  excitable,  will  still  further  and  after  shrieking 
fear,  momentarily  display  great  faith,  in  token  that  he  also  is 
the  Lord's  Peter.  Not  as  if  in  a  yet  hypothetical  "  If  it  be 
thou"  he  takes  doubt  along  with  him  from  the  first,  for  then  the 
first  step  would  not  have  been  taken.  Oh  no,  the  start  is  bold 
enough :  Lord,  if  (i.e.  because,  there,  as  I  see)  it  be  Thou — on 
this  firm  ground  and  bottom,  he  proceeds  in  hasty  boldness  of 
faith  to  tread,  and  like  his  Lord,  upon  the  sea.  But  wherefore 
this  now?  The  other  inference  would  alone  have  been  natural 
and  simple :  Come  then  into  the  ship  to  us,  and  we  shall  all  be 
saved !  But  in  the  questionable  little  word  "  me,"  always 
questionable  when  it  too  hastily  replies  to  Christ's  powerful  i", 
ere  it  has  been  specially  asked  and  called — lurks  the  secret 
flaw  in  the  great  faith,  on  account  of  which  it  must  soon  again 
become  very  little.  Had  Christ  of  himself  called  out :  And  thou 
Peter  come  out  to  me — he  would  certainly  not  have  sunk.  But 
because  he  will  outrun  the  others  in  showing  his  faith,  the  real 


MATTHEW  XIV.  27,  29,  31.  281 

Peter  must  show  himself  just  as  alas !  he  still  is,  and  give  a  warn- 
ing of  the  future  denial  of  his  Lord  ;  falling  back  again  as  sud- 
denly as  he  had  raised  himself.  So  far  does  Peter  know,  feel  and 
acknowledge  what  is  right  that  a  tceXeveiv  on  the  part  of  Christ 
must  precede  his  e\6elv,  but  he  provokes  this  command,  almost 
bidding  himself  do  what  it  should  have  been  left  to  Christ  to 
command. 

What  does  Christ  do?  With  a  wisdom  at  every  moment 
which  we  cannot  enough  consider,  which  always  does  what  is 
right  everywhere,  and  in  every  occurrence  reflects  at  once  the 
holy  prudence  of  his  whole  conduct,  he  replies  by  a  single  little 
word  to  the  almost  prolix  address  of  the  disciple.  He  does  not 
refuse  the  truly  needless  request,  and  with  that  false  mastership 
into  which  we  under-masters  are  so  apt  to  fall,  repel  the 
bold  disciple:  Wherefore  this  now?  I  come  to  you,  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  thee  in  particular,  I  do  not  need  thee  here  on 
the  waters.  Peter  needs  him  and  receives,  in  the  granting  of  his 
request,  the  better  lesson  by  experience.  He  grants  him  his  will. 
But  he  does  not  assent  to  all  the  terms  of  the  request  as  formally 
spoken  by  the  too  courageous  disciple ;  He  does  not  add,  upon  the 
water — not  even  to  me, — as  little  does  he  say  /ceXevcD — for  in  all 
this  there  would  have  lain  the  certain  promise  of  a  successful 
issue,  which  He  neither  can  nor  will  give.  He  says  merely,  at 
the  same  time  literally  granting  the  desire  of  the  disciple  : 
Come  !  namely,  as  well  and  as  far  as  thou  canst,  it  will  be  seen 
whether  upon  the  water,  and  to  me.  This  is  the  divine  manner 
of  acting  and  of  leading  in  such  cases.  Joab  at  length,  with 
angry  compliance  and  without  love,  gives  to  Ahimaaz  who 
persists  in  asking,  "  Let  me,  I  pray  thee,  run,"  the  answer, 
Run!  (2  Sam.  xviii.  10 — 23).  But  Christ  gives  His  word  of 
permission  in  true  love,  which  will  not  let  the  disciple  sink,  but  will 
merely  teach  him  by  experience  that  to  the  best  meant  beginning 
of  faith,  if  it  has  any  self-conceit  in  it,  the  vTrofiovrj  will  be  want- 
ing. He  had  not  (as  Roos  here  thinks)  a  pleasure  in  this,  that 
Peter  should  inconsiderately  beg  so  strange  a  command — but 
he  willingly  embraces  the  opportunity  of  giving  this  Peter  a 
powerful  lesson  by  actual  experience — in  this,  indeed,  Christ,  as 
the  truly  good  Master  has  always  pleasure. 

The  bold  disciple,  having  now  gone  from  the  ship  upon  the 


2S2  THE  G0SPJK1,  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

water,  walks  one  or  two  steps  (not  more,  for  Jesus  was  near), 
confidently  towards   Jesus — then   he  sees,  looking  away  from 
Jesus  (wherefore  this  ?)  the  strong  wind  which  a  few  moments 
before  he  did  not  see,  and  yet  which  had  been  always  there ;  as 
out  of  fear  into  faith,  so  now  again  he  quickly  goes  out  of  faith  into 
his  former  fear.     And  because,  of  course,  only  the  faith  of  the 
entire  will  can  bear  him  upon  the  water,  he  begins  to  sink,  his 
doubt  now  beginning  to  break  out  {KaTairoviiC^GQai,  as  at  chap, 
^viii.  6,  expresses  more  than  a  mere  sinking  down  of  the  feet), 
he  must,  as  a  punishment  before  all  the  other  disciples,  who  are 
now  at  rest,  once  more  cry  out  for  fear,  and  instead  of  his  former 
exclamation,  must  call  out  the  true  word  befitting  our  weakness, 
which  he  had  forgotten,  and  which  none  of  us  can  so  soon  get 
beyond,  least  of  all  in  the  false  steps  of  Peter  :  Lord  help  me  ! 
All  the  fisher's  natural  skill  in  swimming  (John  xxi.  7),  is  at  this 
moment  gone,  for  when  one  has  once  committed  himself  to  the 
miraculous  sphere  of  faith,  the  power,   art,  and  prudence,  of 
nature  vanishes,  one  can  make  no  combination  of  the  two.j   He 
who  comes  to  a  stand-still  in  half-wrought  miracles,  has  also,  in 
the  hapless  miscarriage,  forgotten  and  lost  what  he  could  other- 
wise do  naturally.^   What  occasion  might  there  have  been  now 
again  for  Christ  to  address  to  the  disciple  a  more  sharply  rebuking 
word  of  instruction  :  See !  thou  forward  and  presuming  one,  thus 
it  fares  with  thee.     I  knew  well  that  it  would  be  so — or  words  to 
this  effect !     But  when  the  thing  itself  speaks  so  powerfully, 
there  is  no  need  for  Him  to  say  anything  more ;  His  heart,  too, 
has  no  delight  in  making  the  disciple's  confusion  more  con- 
spicuous by  any  words  of  His.     No,  He  helps  whenever  the  cry 
is  addressed  to  Him,  "  Help  me" — this  is  the  one  principal  thing 
in  His  heart,  in  His  words  and  conduct.     Nor  does  He  call  out 
merely  a  second  KeXeietv,  so  as  to  make  His  power  appear  great 
in  contrast  with  the  disciple's  weakness  :  Walk  again  !  Sink  not ! 
Hold  !  but  He  at  once  stretches  forth  His  lovingly-inclined  hand 
to  the  disciple  near  Him,  sinking  beside  Him  who  stands,  lays 
hold  on  him,  so  that  thereby  the  faith  returns  and  the  sinking 
ceases,  says  nothing  else,  not  more  and  not  less  than  :   0  thou  of 
little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  f     Such  words  of  Christ 
are  unsearchable  beyond  all  human  thoughts.      With  all  the 
defects  in  Peter's  first  faith,  it  was  yet  truly  a  great  faith,  the 


MATTHEW  XV.  3 — 20.  283 

faith  that  He  who  walks  on  the  water  can  bid  others  also  do  the 
same.  Nor  can  we  properly  at  any  time  have  too  great  faith  in 
the  presence  of  Christ — if,  of  course,  it  be  unmixed  with  self- 
confidence  and  self-will.  But  the  greater  the  faith  gives  itself  out 
to  be,  so  much  the  more  foolish  is  then  even  the  smallest  doubt, 
which,  therefore,  Christ  here  calls  as  at  chap.  viii.  26,  the  being 
afraid.  He  might,  indeed,  have  said  here  also  to  the  sinking  disciple: 
Wherefore  didst  thou  fear  ?  This  would  have  been  more  humbling 
in  opposition  to  the  former  courage  of  the  disciple.  But  with 
this  altogether  kindly  word,  He  will  not  shame  him  into  convic- 
tion but  encourage  him  ;  He  discloses  the  innermost  ground  of 
returning  fear  as  lying  on  the  boundary  of  perfect  faith.  Not 
even  until  after  He  has  laid  hold  of  him  and  raised  him  up  to 
himself,  until  he  has  purified,  strengthened,  and  perfected  the 
wavering  faith  of  the  disciple  in  his  own  faith, — the  faith  of  the 
Master, — does  He  address  to  him  the  word  which  denotes  the  whole 
thing  as  now  past :  Wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  f  Wherefore, 
indeed  ?  Thou  wouldst  and  couldst  walk  in  thy  will,  didst  even 
walk !  Has,  then,  he  who  comes  on  the  sea  to  me,  to  regard 
and  to  be  afraid  of  the  wind  ?  Thus  in  the  greatest  kindness 
does  he  overlook  all  of  evil  or  of  sin  that  had  mixed  itself  with 
the  faith  of  the  disciple,  and  most  graciously  repeats  his  rebuking 
word,  0  thou  of  little  faith  ?  O  Lord,  thy  faith  is  perfect,  thy  love 
is  perfect — we  all  add  with  shame,  and  presume  not  ever  on  our 
own  authority  to  rebuke  a  Peter  with  this  word,  which  the  Master 
alone  may  and  does  say  to  all. 


THE  COMMANDMENT  OF  GOB  AND  THE  STATUTES  OF  MEN. 
WHAT  DEFILETH  A  MAN. 

(Matth.  xv.  3—20;  Mark  vii.  6—23). 

Christ  speaks  freely  and  emphatically  of  the  commandment  of 
God  and  the  ordinances  of  men,  placing  them  in  direct  and  sharp 
opposition.  First  of  all,  he  speaks  to  the  blind  leaders  of  the 
blind,  because  they  themselves  by  their  forward  questioning 
occasioned  his  doing  so,  and  the  people  standing  around  may  also 


284  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

have  heard :  but  he  speaks  also  to  the  people  to  whom  he  calls 
in  the  ever-growing  zeal  of  love  and  truth.  He  rebukes,  or  rather 
recompenses,  the  naively  bold  question,  by  immediately  meeting 
it  with  another  strongly  accusing  question  in  return  (ver.  3),  in 
which  already  the  whole  answer  lies.  God's  commandment  and 
doctrine  goes  first,  it  alone  is  valid  !  Human  statute  must  be 
broken,  when,  and  because,  it  breaks  the  word  of  God.  This 
heavy  charge  He  proves  forthwith,  illustrating  it  by  a  capital 
example  taken  from  the  midst  of  the  existing  system  of  lies  (ver. 
4 — 6),  and  then,  faithful  to  his  wonted  manner,  he  seals  his  words 
and  doctrine  by  a  prophetical  word  of  Scripture  (vers.  7 — 9), 
which  brings  to  bear  on  the  particular  example  the  most  general 
rebuke,  penetrating  to  the  root  of  hypocrisy.  First,  there  is 
the  adduced  proof,  then  the  rebuke,  and  this  is  given  humbly,  not 
upon  his  own  highest  authority,  but  upon  that  of  the  word  of 
God  written  before.  He  forthwith,  however,  again,  as  becomes 
him,  carries  forward  the  word  of  God  in  his  own  doctrine,  and 
enunciates  before  all  the  people  a  general  principle  (ver.  11)  pene- 
trating still  deeper  into  the  thing,  a  principle  which  goes  even 
further,  already  prophesying  the  abolition  of  the  outward  ordi- 
nances of  the  Old  Testament,  inasmuch  as  he  rightly  explains 
their  true  meaning.  The  disciples,  too,  still  prejudiced  in  the 
same  misunderstanding  of  the  Old  Testament  statutes,  out  of 
which  the  Pharisaism  that  clung  to  them  took  its  rise,  understand 
neither  this  simple  and  clear  principle  which  appears  to  them  a 
"  parable,"  nor  the  reckless  zeal,  as  it  seems  to  them,  with  which 
Christ  has  just  spoken  to  the  people  against  their  leaders  ;  they 
induce  Him  therefore  to  give  further  explanations  by  two 
questions.  To  the  first :  Whether  he  intends  not  at  all  to  spare 
the  Pharisees,  but  purposely  to  provoke  them  ?  he  lets  them 
know  that  human  statute  is  to  be  extirpated,  because  it  is  false  and 
pernicious !  (ver.  13,  14).  To  the  other  question  which  follows 
this  explanation  :  How,  then,  is  the  principle  expressed  at  ver.  11 
to  be  properly  understood?  it  is  meet  that  before  giving  the 
answer,  He  should  rebuke  their  want  of  understanding  (ver.  16). 
After  the  rebuke  follows  the  doctrine  (ver.  17 — 20),  which,  at 
the  conclusion  returns  to  the  first  occasion  and  beginning  of  the 
whole.      Thus  has  Matthew,  who  in  chap.  xv. — xxi.  represents 


MATTHEW  XV.  3—20.  285 

lt  the  ever-growing  conflict  of  Jesus  with  the  authorities  at  Jeru- 
salem," here  again,  as  we  have  found  to  be  his  wont,  concisely 
and  with  an  eye  to  the  main  substance,  given  the  import  and 
progressive  sequence  of  the  connected  words  of  Christ  on  this 
occasion ;  Mark,  on  the  other  hand,  is  more  full  in  his  account^ 
inasmuch  as  he  not  only  retains  many  sentences  which  Christ 
may  also  have  spoken,  along  with  what  Matthew  gives,  but  (as 
is  especially  evident  at  ver.  15)  enlarges  by  way  of  explanation 
for  his  readers,  precisely  as  at  the  beginning  he  gives  detailed 
information  respecting  the  Jewish  ordinances.  He  is  more- 
over not  exact  when,  inverting  the  order,  he  gives  in  the  outset 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  and  then  the  convincing  example,  thereby 
also  quite  losing  the  counter-question  put  by  Christ  at  the 
beginning,  which  contained  the  immediate  answer  to  the  one 
addressed  to  him.  Had  we  only  Mark's  account  of  our  Lord's 
words  on  this  occasion  we  should  lose  nothing  indeed  essentially 
belonging  to  the  import, — this  would  rather  be  all  the  more  clearly 
brought  out ;  only  the  significantly  measured  form  and  sequence 
of  His  words  would  be  lost.  Provision  has  been  made,  however, 
by  the  mutually  supplementary  gospels  that  we  lose  nothing : 
Matthew  preserves  also  the  frame  into  which  Mark's  explanatory 
statements  admirably  dispose  themselves.  Thus  does  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Scripture  as  a  whole  confirm  itself,  while,  in  the  par- 
ticular writings  of  which  it  consists,  scope  is  sometimes  left  for 
what  is  human ;  a  principle  which,  in  the  four  gospels,  finds  its 
highest  confirmation. 

If  in  Matthew  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  supply  i\96vTe<; 
at  ol  curb  'IepoaoXvfiuv  (he  purposely  omits  this,  in  accordance 
with  his  general  delineation  which  now  begins,  and  in  which  the 
masters  of  Jerusalem  are  placed  in  opposition  to  Christ,  as  has  been 
said  above,  thereby,  as  it  were,  giving  a  superscription  to  what 
follows) — yet  it  stands  beside  it  in  Mark.  Were  they  then 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  who  wrere  returning  from  the  Passover 
(John  vi.  4),  and  had  perhaps  been  specially  irritated  against 
Jesus  by  what  had  taken  place  at  the  feast  of  Purim,  according 
to  John  v., — who  lived  elsewhere,  and  now,  meeting  him  on  their 
journey,  make  up  to  him  1  But  then  the  designation  ol  airo  in 
Matthew  would  not  properly  be  correct;  yet  we  might  suppose 
that  they  were  really  persons  from   the  metropolis,  the  high 


286  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

school  of  hypocrisy,1  who  appear  here  with  special  authority,2 
and  who  had  perhaps  purposely  come  after  Christ  to  watch  him 
and  to  call  him  to  account  (Which  latter  Mark  seems  to  indicate 
by  avvdyovTcu  71730?  avrov.)  They  boast  proudly  of  their  Trapd- 
oWt?  rwv  irpea^vrepwy  or  ap^alcov,  of  the  so-called  oral  law 
handed  down  from  Moses  (nr)  ^JOtP  rmn)>  which  they  have 
invented,  and  which  they  hold  so  stedfastly  against  the  Saddu- 
cees  who  reject  it,  that  the  mere  text  of  the  Bible  is  declared  to 
have  no  validity  at  all  without  it ;  farther,  of  all  that  the  it  pea- 
fivrepoi  by  a  like  authority  have  added  to  it,  so  that  no  one  on 
any  account  dare  transgress  it.  "  To  study  only  the  text  is  a 
waste  of  time — the  written  word  is  water,  but  the  interpretation 
and  that  which  is  added  to  it  is  the  wine — if  the  Scribes  say  the 
right  is  the  left  and  the  left  the  right,  hear  them  " — these  and 
such  like  sayings  we  read  at  present  in  the  Jewish  writings. 
Christ  had  already,  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  openly 
opposed  his  eya>  Be  \eyoo  to  the  ippeOrj  to?9  ap^aiot^  but  the 
opposite  of  this  is  now  again  boldly  laid  down  by  his  irritated 
opponents.  Especially  were  the  frequent  and  various  washings 
(Mark  vii.  3,  4)  a  principal  part  of  their  hypocritical  ceremonial. 
R.  Jose  says  in  the  Talmud :  He  who  eats  bread  with  unwashen 
hands — pj^f  nt£?N  7N  fc$2  IT^frO  1S  as  had  as  ^  he  were  to  lie 
with  a  whore,  and  gives  this  as  an  interpretation  of  Prov. 
vi.  26.  R.  Akiba,  who,  when  in  prison,  had  once  so  little 
water  given  to  him  that  there  was  not  enough  also  for  drink- 
ing, chose  rather  to  die  of  thirst  than  to  eat  anything  with 
unwashen  hands!  This  later  obstinacy  shows,  at  least,  how 
bad  it  must  already  have  been  in  the  time  of  Christ,  and  what 
strong  grounds  He,  who  was  not  wont  readily  to  give  offence, 
must  have  had  for  acting  as  he  did,  when  he  purposely  did  not 
wash  his  hands  before  the  Pharisees.  (Luke  xi.  37,  38).  The 
disciples,  of  course,  followed  the  example  of  their  Master,  and  the 
question  with  all  its  boldness  only  presumes  to  accuse  these, 
although  it  is  certainly  meant  to  hit  the  Master  of  such  disciples, 

1  Rabbi  Nathan  :  If  the  hypocrites  were  to  be  divided  into  ten  parts, 
nine  would  be  found  in  Jerusalem  and  one  in  the  rest  of  the  world ! 

2  Only  not  certainly  as  a  deputed  commission,  as  Lange  thinks. 
In  that  case  Christ  would  have  answered  the  authorities  with  more 
respect. 


MATTHEW  XV.  3.  287 

who  of  course  learn  what  they  do  from  Him.1  Observe  also  how 
the  Horrendum :  they  wash  not  their  hands !  only  follows  as  a  proof 
of  the  general  assertion  before  laid  down  in  a  general  form,  they 
transgress  the  tradition  of  the  elders.  An  inference  from  one  thing 
to  all,  and  on  this  occasion  not  without  justice,  for  these  people 
know  well  what  Christ  in  general  thought  of  their  irapaZoa^. 

Ver.  3.  Christ  had  spoken  as  yet  very  gently  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  even  further  on,  in 
the  growing  warmth  of  his  public  rebukes,  only  sparingly  and  mo- 
derately, as  appears  when  we  take  a  near  view  of  the  web  of  con- 
scious hypocrisy  and  actual  folly,  avarice  and  ambition,  veiled 
under  the  covering  of  what  was  holy,  with  which  they,  by  their 
customs  and  ordinances,  ensnared  the  poor  people  of  Christ.  He 
may  certainly  have  oftener  refuted  their  doctrine  in  particular 
instances  than  the  evangelists  were  directed  to  record  for  the 
benefit  of  posterity :  still  we  have  reason  for  supposing  that  his 
special  polemic  against  it,  at  all  events  on  an  average,  bore  the 
same  relation  to  his  teaching  as  a  whole,  as  it  is  now  represented 
in  the  gospels.  The  true  reformer  preaches,  first  of  all,  the  truth 
positively,  certainly  at  the  same  time  from  the  first  not  shrink- 
ing from  the  open  general  antithesis : — Not  as  the  Pharisees  !  in 
order  that  the  truth  may  not  suffer  from  a  seemingly  pusillani- 
mous silence,  or  even  from  the  artifices  of  a  false  accommodation. 
He  wisely  observes  further,  in  his  conduct,  the  limit  between  a 
yielding  conformity  to  the  more  innocent  customs,  and  a  decided 
protest  against  such  principal  parts  as  are  of  essential  significance 
for  the  system  of  lies  which  is  to  be  combatted  (although  these, 
single  and  in  themselves,  might  seem  quite  as  harmless  as  the 
washing  of  hands  in  the  present  instance), — jnst  as  we  find  in  the 
conduct  of  Christ.  But  then  he  waits  for  the  attack,  and  when 
called  out,  he  comes  forth  to  victory  in  an  attitude  of  severity. 
So  it  is  with  Christ  here,  in  opposition  to  the  Pharisees.  They 
have  attacked  Him,  through  His  disciples,  with  a  side  glance  of 
cowardly  malice  ;  He  himself  opens  out  directly  against  them  : 
Wherefore  then  do  ye  transgress  f    They  have  with  much  seeming 

i  In  the  highest  degree  ironical,  only  still  more  severely  denoting 
their  presumption  we  might  (with  v.  Gerlach)  supplement  the  ques- 
tion thus  :  "  If  thou  as  a  prophet,  perhaps,  art  excepted, — wherefore 
dost  thou  teach  others  such  transgression." 


288  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

reverence  pushed  forward  the  tradition  of  the  ancients,  to  which 
they  were  not  at  liberty  to  refuse  obedience ;  He  charges  upon 
them  also  the  keeping  of  even  this  as  a  continued  Trapahihovat, ; 
for  the  sakeof  your  tradition  !  They  have  spoken  by  a  seemingly 
holy  expression  of  transgressing ;  He  shows  them  to  whom  this 
word,  in  its  severest  sense,  properly  applies.  They  have  brought 
forward  the  tradition  of  the  ancients  as  an  inviolable  whole,  no 
part  of  which  one  may  touch  or  break  (as  James  ii.  10  says  of 
the  law) ;  He  puts  over  against  this  as  a  sufficient  answer  to  it,  rrjv 
ivroXrjp  tov  6eov,  the  alone  true,  in  all  its  particular  command- 
ments, one,  and  entire,  commandment  of  God  !  This  is  the  ori- 
ginal command,  before  which  no  ordinance  of  the  ancients  has 
any  force.  The  commandment  of  God,  not  Moses :  thus,  says 
Christ,  with  the  strongest  emphasis,  beforehand,  and  again  in 
what  follows :  God  has  commanded !  (With  which  Mark,  in  his 
more  enlarged  account  agrees,  giving  it  thrice  instead  of  twice 
(ver.  8,  9,  13),  although  in  the  particular  example,  ver.,  10  he 
has  it :  Moses  has  said,  in  order  thus  to  show  how  both  are  the 
same).  We  have  here  again  another  strong  confirmation  of 
the  Old  Testament  from  the  mouth  of  Christ ;  a  fundamental 
testimony  to  the  great  authoritative  principle  of  all  human  teach- 
ing in  relation  to  God's  revelation,  upon  which  alone  every,  not 
mere  emptily  protesting,  reformation  stands  with  positive  right. 
The  ordinance  of  man  in  general,  and  as  such,  already  trans- 
gresses the  commandment  of  God  even  when  it  would  support 
and  further  it,  for  it  is  written  :  Ye  shall  add  nothing  to  it  and 
take  nothing  from  it !  Num.  iv.  2,  12,  32.  There  is  need  for  no 
fence  around  the  law,  as  that  must  soon  become  only  an  obstruct- 
ing barrier ;  only  too  soon  and  too  easily,  as  all  history  shows,  is 
the  opposition  between  the  divine  and  the  human  forgotten,  and 
the  sole  authority  of  the  former  destroyed  by  placing  it  on  a  level 
with  the  latter,  so  that  the  adding  to  it  is  already  itself  actually 
a  taking  away  from  it.  From  these  beginnings  a  farther  advance 
is  made  to  transgression  and  abrogation.  Here,  too,  lie  the 
principles  of  all  true  doctrine  respecting  the  relation  of  tradition 
to  the  canon  ;  here  must  a  check  be  laid  on  the  first  root  of  the 
abuse,  by  an  unconditional  maintainance  pure  and  free  of  the 
words,  with  which  no  word  of  man  is  to  be  confounded :  God 
has  commanded,  God  has  said ! 


MATTHEW  XV.  4 — &  289 

Ver.  4 — 6.  The  fifth  commandment  is  (as  at  chap.  xix.  19), 
particularly  instanced  as  being  most  directly  obvious  to  the  con- 
science, and  in  so  far  a  specially  holy  fundamental  command- 
ment (the  first,  in  respect  to  the  human  life,  Eph.  vi.  2),  which 
forms  the  connecting  link  between  the  first  and  second  table, 
and  in  which  are  involved  the  germs  of  all  fear  of  God  and  love 
of  our  neighbour,  of  all  piety  and  morality  in  Church  and  State. 
Pie  who  touches  it  has  assuredly  committed  an  offence  against 
the  order  and  plan  of  God  in  its  very  kernel.  It  is,  at  the  same 
time,  a  universal  word  which  God  speaks  everywhere  among  the 
heathen  more  plainly  than  the  rest  of  the  ten  words  given  from 
Sinai :  Thou  shalt  honour  father  and  mother !  The  other  word 
which  stands  beside  it,  and  which,  by  the  punishment  of  death 
even  for  an  offence  against  this  commandment  in  words,  very 
strongly  confirms  it,1  is  to  be  found  not  merely  in  Ex.  xxi.  17 
(with  ver.  15),  immediately  after  the  giving  of  the  law  from 
Sinai,  but  is  repeated  in  Lev.  xx.  9,  again  sounds  its  Amen  for 
all  the  people  among  Ebal's  curses,  Deut.  xxvii.  16,  and  Solo- 
mon, too,  gives  special  emphasis  to  it,  Prov.  xx.  20,  xxx.  17.  In 
opposition  to  this,  now  comes  vjxeh  Be  Xiyere :  but  you  are  bold 
enough  to  teach, — properly,  only  to  say,  inasmuch  as  this  Xe^ere 
designedly  follows  the  strong  word  iveTetXaro.  Care  has  been 
taken  in  the  Jewish  writings  that  we  should  well  understand 
what  is  here  meant,  although  Mark  also  gives  no  farther  expla- 
nation. Awpovy  as  Matth.  renders  Jjnj>s  signifies  in  the  first 
place  a  gift  offered  to  God,  then  any  gift,  present,  or  dedica- 
tion for  the  sanctuary  or  its  servants ;  hence  in  Matth.  xxvii. 
6,  the  Temple-treasure  also  bears  this  name.     Now  the  selfish- 

1  Thi3  citation  by  Christ  is  besides  important  in  opposition  to  those 
who  regard  capital  punishment  as  a  measure  disapproved  of  by  the 
"  mild"  Jesus.  "  Precisely  in  it  does  Christ  find  the  fitting  expression 
of  the  holiness  of  God,  and  the  entire  severity  of  his  will  against  the 
lax  and  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  hypocrites."  (Evang.  Kirchenztg 
1848).  Reasoning  against  capital  punishments  from  the  Scripture  is 
in  general  a  nonentity. 

2  Mark  :  Kopfiav  8  eort  85>pov — just  as  Josephus  (Arch.  IV.,  4,  4) : 
dcopov  Se  tovto  arjualvci  Kara  'EWtjvow  ykSaTrav.  But  whether  in  this 
simple  ficopoi/  be  expressed  at  the  same  time  the  oldest  and  most  general 
ground-idea  of  all  offering  before  God  properly  speaking  (only  gift,  not 
atonement  or  substitution),  we  are  inclined  strongly  to  doubt  in  opposi- 
tion to  Rudelb.  and  Guer.,  Zeitschr.  1850,  iii.  504. 

VOL.  II.  T 


290  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ness  of  the  Pharisees  made  out  of  this  doctrine  their  statute, 
that  this  Corban  must  take  precedence  of  every  thing  as  being 
of  the  highest  sacredness.  There  existed  already  a  so-called 
yy\#  "Wj  votum  interdicti,  by  which  any  one  might  bind  himself 
in  reference  to  another  not  to  accept  this  or  that  from  -him,  and 
to  give  him  nothing  in  return,  and  it  was  the  usual  and  most 
emphatic  form  of  such  a  pledge  to  say  it  shall  rather  be  Corban, 
and  thus  to  escape  from  every  other  obligation.  It  was  a  for- 
mula of  swearing  and  cursing  literally  as  it  stands  here  :  p-p 
ik  rOi"ti  "^Ntt?>  **  *s  om3re^>  whereby  I  might  profit  or  serve 
thee !  Comp.  Matth.  xxiii.  1 6,  19.  Chiefly  of  children  towards 
their  parents  do  we  find  it  frequently  expressed  in  the  Kabbins  : 
Let  what  I  shall  gain  be  consecrated,  so  that  my  father  may  eat 
nothing  of  it,  and  the  like.  In  the  statute  :  By  Corban  is  the 
man  bound, — it  was  not  merely  implied  that  he  was  at  liberty  to 
do  nothing  contrary  to  it,  even  although  it  were  the  command  of 
God ;  but  even  when  what  was  refused  and  denied  by  this  word 
was  not  actually  offered  as  Corban,  if  the  word  had  only  been 
spoken  hastily  in  the  heat  of  the  moment,  it  must  yet  stand  in- 
violable.1 How  often  may  this  Corban  have  been  said,  in  anger 
and  malice,  or  through  the  shameful  selfishness  of  children,  seeing 
that,  even  in  Christendom,  and  to  the  present  day,  the  sin  of  shun- 
ning the  maintenance  of  parents  still  so  often  cries  to  heaven !  It 
will  from  this  be  understood  why  Christ  gives  prominence  to  and 
connects  with  the  foregoing  /cafcokoyelv,  this  case  in  which  by 
one  little  word  this  wilfully  daring  statute  overturns  the  holiest 
obligations  of  reverence  and  love  among  men.  A&pov — without 
€<7Tft)  or  iarl — denotes  the  curse-formula  as  such ;  by  its  being 
directly  spoken  to  the  father  or  to  the  mother  the  worst  example  of 
it  is  represented,  when  the  parents  ask  and  the  children  refuse, 
although  substantially  it  retains  its  truth  even  when  not  done 
precisely  in  this  form.  To  honour  father  and  mother  is  a  com- 
manded worship  of  God  superior  to  all  self-chosen  forms  of  wor- 
ship ;2  this  honouring  comprehends  under  it,  of  course,  taking  care 

i  So  much  is  true,  hut  it  is  going  too  far  to  affirm  that,  according  to 
the  doctrine  and  practice,  it  was  enough  to  say :  Thou  shalt  have  as 
little  of  it  as  if  I  were  to  offer  it ! 

2  There  is  a  Chinese  saying:  If  a  man  show  reverence  for  his 
father  and  mother  in  his  house,  why  go  farther  to  burn  spices  ? 


MATTHEW  XV.  4 — 6.  291 

of  and  supporting,  as  a  grateful  requital  (Sir.  vii.  28),  so  that  it 
is  very  unnecessary  to  show,  as  some  have  done,  that  Tifiav 
has  also  this  signification  (Sir.  xxxviii.  1 ;  1  Tim.  v.  3,  17). 
What  the  children  have  belongs  to  the  parents — so  writes  Philo 
on  the  Decalogue,  Whoso  withdraws  anything  from  his  father 
or  his  mother,  and  saith  it  is  no  sin,  the  same  is  a  companion  of 
the  destroyer — thus  has  Solomon  already  almost  prophesied  for 
the  future  (Prov.  xxviii.  24).  Such  Corban  was  an  unjust  pos- 
session, and  an  abomination  (Sir.  xxxiv.  18).  If,  according  to 
Num.  xxx.  4 — 6,  the  father  could  control  the  daughter  of  his 
house  in  every  vow  and  bond,  so  that  it  should  not  be  valid  if  he 
disallowed  it,  how  much  less  ought  so  shameful  a  vow  as  this 
to  have  force.1  But  ye  teach — thus  must  Christ  rebuke  them — 
that  whoever  has  said  Corban,  the  same  needs  not  also  to  honour 
his  father  and  his  mother !  The  greater  number,  indeed,  read 
as  if  there  were  a  break  in  ver.  5,  after  which  Christ  himself 
speaks  ;  this,  however,  sounds  to  us  too  harsh,  although  we 
might  retain  the  /cal  as  genuine.  In  this  koi  ov  /jut)  Ttyiwja-^, 
which  is  evidently  the  apodosis  wrongly  supposed  by  some  to 
be  wanting :  he  needs  not  also  (not  even)  to  honour  father  and 
mother — the  daring  counter-command  of  men  is  brought  forward 
in  a  sharply  convictive  form,  so  that  by  this  is  directly  confirmed 
the  stronger  repetition  of  what  is  said  at  ver.  3:  And  thus  ye  have 
not  only  transgressed,  but  entirely  weakened  and  abolished  the 
command  of  God  by  your  tradition.  Mark,  who  has  entirely  omit- 
ted the  self-evident  apodosis  iav  etTrf),  brings  out  the  inference 
thereby  in  a  still  stronger  form :  ov/circ  a^tere  avrov  ovBev 
woifjacu,  you  allow  him  no  longer  to  do  anything.  He  has 
already,  at  ver.  8,  expressed  the  same  antithesis  by  euchres  and 
fcparelre  :  You  leave,  dispense  with,  the  command  of  God  as  a  sub- 
ordinate, less  binding  thing,  in  order  to  maintain  only  the  irapa- 
Boais  of  men ;  in  like  manner,  at  ver.  9  again  with  the  repeated 
ironical  icaXm  (which  is  at  the  sametime  still  to  be  understood  as 
at  ver.  6)  aOeTelre  ha  rnprfanre.  He  specifies,  moreover,  at  ver. 
8  that  Christ  also  expressly  mentioned  before,  the  /3aTTTLor/j,ov<; 

i  In  general  then  the  text  here  stands  in  opposition  to  all  unjustifi- 
able vows,  inasmuch  as  we  are  only  entitled  to  vow  what  it  is  in  our 
power  and  right  to  perform.  Luther  used  it  in  particular  against  even 
cloister-vows  taken  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  parents. 


292  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

%eo-T(ov  kcli  nroTqpiwvy  and  represents  him  as  adding  twice  at  ver. 
8  and  13  :  and  many  other  such  like  things  do  ye.  Christ  may 
indeed  have  expressed  himself  thus,  inasmuch  as  he  brought  for- 
ward the  Corban  tC  as  an  example  f  still  Mark  seems  here,  at  the 
same  time,  to  fall  into  an  amplifying  fulness  of  words,  in  order 
rightly  to  denote  in  his  own  manner  the  same  contrast  which  Matth. 
with  his  conciseness  represents  still  more  sharply  and  truly. 

Ver.  7 — 9.  Ye  hypocrites  !  who  cover  the  grossest  transgres- 
sion of  the  law,  with  miserable,  trifling,  outward  observances,  with 
empty  phrases,  and  yet  must  know  what  you  persuade  yourselves 
and  others  that  you  do  not  know !  (Luke  xi.  40.)  Every  ordi- 
nance of  man  which  is  contrary  to  the  existing  word  of  God  is  in 
its  innermost  origin  and  development  truly  hypocrisy,  and  can 
only  consist  with  a  general  relation  to  God  such  as  Christ  now 
imputes  to  these  hypocrites  from  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  thus 
sealing  His  own  plain  words  of  rebuke  and  reprimand  with  a 
prophetical  testimony.  KaXcos  7rpoe<f>r)Tevo-6  irepi  vjagov — this 
may  certainly  also  mean  :  His  words  are  quite  applicable  to  you, 
are  true  (really  and  truly,  is  it  not  so?  which  icakm  may  also 
mean,  Mark  ver.  9)  when  spoken  of  you.  Such  accommodation 
is  certainly  also  allowed  and  occurs  here  and  there.  But  we 
must  here  contradict  those  who  remark  that  Christ  applies  pro- 
phetical words  merely  to  his  own  time,  and  hastily  affirm  that  a 
prophet  speaks  only  to  his  contemporaries.  It  may  be  thoroughly 
demonstrated  that,  even  in  by  far  the  most  of  instances  in  which 
it  appears  to  be  so,  there  yet  remains  a  irpo^nreveiv  as  regards 
the  future  for  which  the  whole  Scripture  has  been  written  afore- 
time ;  chiefly  in  the  case  before  us  did  the  Spirit  in  Isaiah  mean 
more  than  the  then  existing  people.  But  to  demonstrate  this 
fully  would  require  a  profound  investigation  into  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  Isaiah  the  prophet,  to  whose  prophecies  (truly  ill-used  in 
the  recent  exegesis)  the  present  writer  has  given  the  most  careful 
study.  It  may  be  permitted,  at  least,  to  note  the  following.1 
In  the  entire  section,  Isa.  xxiv. — xxxv.  (under  Hezekiah,  when 
Israel  goes  down  and  Juda  remains)  a  threatening  and  promise 
are  three  times  set  over  against  each  other,  and  the  prospect  as 
regards  the  future  opened  up  for  the  people :  either  as  false- 

1  With  which  at  least  the  Introduction,  p.  70  to  72,  in  my  interpre- 
tation of  the  not-pseudo-Isaiah  may  be  compared. 


MATTHEW  XV.  7 — 9.  293 

Israel  to  be  rejected  and  to  fall  in  the  judgment  of  Babylon,  or 
as  the  true  Israel  of  God  to  attain  to  the  salvation  of  Zion.  (As 
both  were  already  at  chap.  xiii. — xiv.  opposed  to  each  other.)  Of 
these  three  "  layers"  (as  we  are  fond  of  designating  the  uni- 
formly commencing  sections  of  the  prophetical  discourse)  the 
middle  one  embraces  chap,  xxviii — xxxii.,  in  which  this  general 
view  is  specially  amplified  into  a  doctrine,  and  stronger  promi- 
nence is  given  to  that  which  forms  the  innermost  ground-intui- 
tion of  all  the  prophets,  namely,  that  by  purifying  judgments 
the  true  Israel  is  to  be  separated  from  the  false,  is  to  be  won  and 
prepared  (chap,  xxvii.  6 — 13).  Thus  now  does  chap,  xxviii. 
connect  with  the  state  of  Israel  and  Judah  under  Hezekiah,  but 
forthwith  (for  the  prophetical  address  pulsates  in  such  contrasts 
and  combinations)  chap.  xxix.  stretches  far  beyond,  speaks  of 
more  than  one  future  siege  and  dispersion  (comp.  ver.  3  with 
Luke  xix.  43),  comprehends  (ver.  14)  the  wondrous  dealings  of 
God  with  this  people  on  even  to  the  still  future  removal  of  their 
blindness  (ver.  18,  19),  speaks  therefore  (ver.  9 — 14)  by  no 
means  merely  of  the  then  existing  state  but  of  the  entire  inter- 
mediate period  which  now  lies  open  to  view  in  the  present  rabbi- 
nical Judaism  (to  which  alone  the  whole  delineation  in  its  most 
literal  sense  applies),  and  which  in  the  time  of  Christ  must 
already  in  its  first  groundwork  have  manifested  itself  to  him  in 
the  same  character.  Then  follows  chap.  xxx. — xxxii.,  which, 
again  returning  to  the  contemporaries  and  connecting  with  their 
conduct,  and  yet  reaching  forward  to  all  times,  is  an  exhortation 
on  this  prophetical  text :  c  Yield  yourselves  to  the  guidance  of 
God  and  go  not  in  the  ways  of  men  \  I  the  Lord  am  He  who 
alone  leadeth  you  to  salvation  !'  Oh  that  we  learned  to  read  the 
prophets  with  such  a  profound  and  comprehensive  glance  as 
Christ  read,  understood,  and  explained  them  ! 

What  Christ  here  adduces,  is  properly  in  the  original  text 
(although  the  Sept.  only  gives  the  jjA  after,  not  the  ^  j^)  a 
protasis,  whose  apodosis  thereby  brought  to  mind  contains  the 
threatening  :  "  Therefore  will  I  also  proceed  to  do  a  marvellous 
work  among  this  people,  even  a  wonderful  work,  for  the  wisdom 
of  their  wise  man  shall  perish  and  the  understanding  of  their 
prudent  men  shall  be  hid  !"  I  will  give  them  up  to  their  blind- 
ness, so  that  out  of  Pharisaism  shall  at  length  grow  the  madness 


294  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

of  the  Talmud.  With  all  their  other  differences  Matthew  and 
Mark  are  entirely  at  one  in  the  citation,  with  the  exception  of 
the  immaterial  transposition  of  the  ovtos,  and  the  completeness 
of  the  first  clause  which  is  probably  genuine  in  Matthew,  and 
has  fallen  aside  in  Mark.  (For  we  can  neither  dispense  with 
the  iyyi&i  as  the  necessary  antithesis  to  iroppm  airkyei,  nor  with 
the  (TTOfMan  as  the  point  of  connection  for  ver.  11  afterwards). 
Mouth  and  heart  are  divided,  as  Ez.  xxxiii.  31,  and  "on 
the  lips'"  is  still  more  emphatic  than  "in  the  mouth."  In  the 
main  substance  (only  that  tols  %e<f\e<r/  /xe  ti/jlo,  is  transposed 
for  eV  Tot?  'Xje'tXeaiv  avrwv  rtfjuooal  fie,  as  also  $L$aafca\la<s)  the 
citation  follows  the  text  of  the  Sept.,  where  ^nfT]  '1S  reac*  ror 
^pft.  The  sense  remains  the  same.  What  the  Hebrew  says  is 
properly:  And  their  fear  before  Me,  their  whole  religion  and  piety 
is  a  learned,  outwardly  imparted,  commandment  of  men — the 
Greek  gives  prominence  by  the  fjLdrrjv  to  the  nothingness,  the 
emptiness  of  such  worship,  and  thus  admirably  corresponds  to 
the  ivrdX/MaTa  avdpco7rcov,  comp.  the  same  expression,  Col.  ii. 
22.  They  are,  as  it  were,  not  even  worthy  the  name  of  cvto- 
Xaty  at  all  events  they  are  the  commandments  of  men*,  for  the 
Evfijyrp  also,  with  all  that  they  say  and  lay  down,  are  nothing 
more.  Human  commandment  and  human  doctrine  never  go 
farther  indeed  than  the  hand  and  foot,  while  God  desires  the 
heart  of  his  people.  If  this  be  far  from  him,  then  must  he  also 
put  his  people  from  Him,  so  that  rejecting  them,  He  says :  This 
people — no  longer  my  people.  (As  Is.  xxviii.  11,  vi.  9, 10,  viii. 
6, 12,  and  so  in  many  places). 

Vers.  10,  11.  Christ  now,  seeing  that  he  has  spoken  of  the 
corruption  as  proceeding  from  these  incorrigible  hypocrites,  leaves 
the  blind  leaders  (ver.  14),  and  calls  the  people  openly  to  him,  in 
order  to  give  them  a  faithful  earnest  warning  against  such 
doctrine  of  men  :  Hear  and  understand}  In  Mark,  still  more 
emphatically,  all  the  people — hear  me  all  of  you  and  understand. 
In  like  manner  afterwards  once  more :  If  any  one  has  ears  to 
hear,  let  him  hear  !  In  a  strikingly  compact  antithesis  and  plain 
apophthegm,  he  embodies  his  important  doctrine,  which,  with 

1  Euthymius  :  eneivovs  fiev  erna-rofiicras  kcu  Karaio-x^vas  dcprJKev  ws  dvidrovs. 
rpeVet  Se  toi/ Xo'yop  npbs  top  o^\oj/  a>s  d^idkoyarepov. 


MATTHEW  XV.  10,  11.  295 

deep-searching  wisdom,  is  opposed  to  the  lying  and  hypocritical 
work  of  outward  ordinances,  in  order  thus  "  to  stamp  it  as  the 
people's  coin."  What  defiles  the  man,  and  what  does  not — 
namely,  the  man  properly  so-called,  the  inner  man  upon  whom 
God  looks — by  this  is  already  indicated  what  the  explanation 
afterwards  (ver.  18 — 20)  brings  into  full  light.  When,  however, 
Mark  omits  precisely  the  antithesis  between  going  into  and  com- 
ing out  of  the  mouth,  although  in  this  the  point  of  the  saying  as 
a  "  parable"  lies,  and  puts  instead  of  this  his  efjcodev  rod  avOpco- 
ttovj  as  also  the  more  forcible  ov  Bvvarai,  avrbv  Koiv&aai — it  is 
quite  evident  that  this  is  an  anticipation  of  the  subsequent  ex- 
planation, and  hardly  corresponds  to  the  original  form  of  the 
saying.  Even  in  the  explanation  afterwards  he  does  not  men- 
tion the  mouth,  so  that  one  might  include  under  what  he  says, 
also  the  actions  proceeding  from  the  man,  while  yet  Christ  in  the 
first  place  means  only  the  word  as  the  most  immediate  out-going 
of  the  heart.  We  see  that  Mark  has  less  the  gift  of  seizing  and 
representing  discourses,  than  of  delineating  narratives  ;  still  we 
see,  at  the  same  time,  that  notwithstanding,  he  was  allowed  to 
fall  into  no  substantial  error.  What  Christ  means  is  also  clear 
enough  in  his  account.  All  that  comes  from  without  to  the  man, 
such  as  eating  and  drinking  (and  then,  farther,  eating  with 
washen  or  unwashen  hands,  koX  aXka  irapofioia  roiavra  iroXkdy 
comp.  Rom.  xiv.  17  ;  Heb.  xiii.  9) — is  in  itself  an  ahia<f>opov,  can 
neither  defile  nor  cleanse  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  Even  in 
the  sacrament,  eating  and  drinking  is  in  itself  nothing,  with 
reference  to  which  Origen  found  reason  to  apply  the  saying 
anew  to  the  Christians.  It  is  evident,  moreover,  that  it  is  by 
no  means  therefore  a  matter  of  indifference  what  one  eats  and 
drinks,  in  so  far  as  this,  on  the  other  hand,  comes  out  of  the  heart 
and  works  in  the  heart ;  for  even  the  first  prohibition  of  God  was  a 
prohibition  of  meat,  and  in  Luke  xxi.  34  Christ  warns  his  dis- 
ciples against  burdening  the  heart  with  surfeiting  and  drunken- 
ness, and  the  apostle  must  needs  earnestly  point  out  to  the 
Romans  and  Corinthians  what  it  is  to  eat  from  faith  and  in  love. 
When,  in  opposition  to  temperance  societies,  some  have  sought 
recently  to  justify  the  use  of  brandy  as  being  something  that 
only  goes  into  the  mouth,  the  argument  has  been  well  answered: 
See  how  impurely  it  soon  again  goes  out  by  the  mouth !    All 


296  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW, 

this  will  afterwards  appear  more  precisely  in  the  explanation 
given  by  Christ. 

Ver.  13,  14.  When  Christ  came  to  the  house  (see  Mark)  the 
disciples  ask  him  to  give  more  particular  account  of  what  he 
had  been  saying.  Their  first  scruple  respecting  the  regardless 
manner  in  which  Christ  shamed  and  offended  the  Pharisees,  as 
well  as  the  answer  which  Christ  made  to  it,  is  found  only  in 
Mattheiv,  who  is  the  more  intelligible  notwithstanding  the  greater 
conciseness  of  his  account.  It  is  very  natural  that,  of  the  two 
questions  which  they  have  at  heart,  this  is  the  first  that  breaks 
forth ;  for  although  (ver.  11)  they  had  not  quite  understood  what 
they  had  heard,  yet  its  manifest  contrariety  to  the  Pharisaic  doc- 
trine was  to  them  evident  enough.  How,  now,  if  the  people 
should  appeal  to  this  word  of  Christ  against  their  masters  f  The 
thing  appeared  to  them  all  the  more  perplexing  the  less  that  they 
had  been  accustomed  hitherto  to  such  warmth  on  the  part  of 
their  Master ;  with  an  amiable  boldness  (for  His  humility  had 
accustomed  them  so  to  speak  with  him)  they  ask  Him  whether 
He  who,  at  other  times,  knows  and  well  considers  everything, 
has  this  time  also  known  and  considered  what  great  offence 
His  words  must  give  to  the  Pharisees.  Why  didst  Thou  speak 
the  word  so  publicly  and  openly  at  them  ?  Answer :  As  by  My 
acts,  I  protest  against  their  ordinances,  and  ye  with  me,  so  did  I 
also  speak  this  now  in  order  to  root  out  the  ordinances  of  men  !  Be 
not  concerned  in  doing  this,  about  giving  offence  to  the  seducers, 
there  is  a  present  necessit}r  and  duty — for  such  ordinances  are 
destructive.  Never  more  sharply  than  here  has  Christ  expressed 
himself  in  favour  of  a  regardless  resoluteness  as  opposed  to  all 
compromise)  which  yields  up  anything  of  the  salutary  truth. 
Those,  however,  altogether  mistake  the  meaning  of  His  words 
who,  in  ver.  13,  already  understand  the  EKpityvcrOai  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  persons,  referring  to  the  parable  of  the  field, 
as  the  rooting  up  which  is  here  commanded  must  evidently  be 
something  different  from  that  which  is  there  forbidden.  Ben- 
gel's  remark  is  quite  correct,  that  (pvrov  is  what  has  grown  natu- 
rally, (pvTela  what  is  planted  and  fostered  by  man.  Consequently 
the  plants  not  planted  by  the  heavenly  Father  (in  His  vineyard, 
His  people)  are  here,  it  is  evident,  precisely  the  evrakfiara 
dvdpcoTTwvy  ordinances,   doctrines,    regulations,  which   must  be 


MATTHEW  XV.  16.  297 

cleared  away  again.  (See,  on  the  other  hand,  chap,  xxiii.  2,  3, 
by  way  of  supplement  to  what  is  here  said).  Not  till  ver.  14  is 
anything  said  of  the  destruction  of  men,  and  first :  that  this  is 
the  sad  result  of  those  ordinances,  then  consequently :  that  pre- 
cisely for  this  reason  the  error  is  to  be  rooted  up,  so  that  the 
poor  men  may  not  fall  by  it  into  perdition.  The  seduced  perishes 
with  the  seducer  (Luke  vi.  39) — unless  the  saving  truth  of  God 
interpose.  This,  however,  is  done,  and  shall  be  done,  irrespective 
of  its  being  an  offence  to  the  seducers ;  it  is  a  salutary  offence 
when  a  halt  is  called  to  the  blind  on  their  way  to  the  pit.  There- 
fore let  them  go,  do  not  mind  them,  be  not  concerned  about  their 
being  offended.  The  reforming  protest  against  human  com- 
mandments has  divine  right,  it  is  a  holy  duty  ;  at  the  same  time, 
there  lies  in  iKpi^coOr/aerai  the  promise  indicated,  that  a  time  will 
at  length  come  when  there  will  be  an  end  to  the  reforming  which 
at  present  ever  continues  to  be  necessary.  Meanwhile,  in  patient 
hope  and  earnest  zeal,  every  after-growth  of  human  ordinance  is 
to  be  resisted  and  abolished  by  the  pure  word,  as  much  as  it  is 
possible  to  do  so,  although  the  men  themselves,  out  of  whose  evil 
heart  they  proceed,  are  to  be  borne  with,  and  may  not  be  rooted 
out  of  the  world,  which  is  God's  field.  Blind  leaders  of  the 
blind  :  thus  has  Christ  already  spoken  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  again  he  speaks  similarly  at  Matth.  xxiii.  16,  24; 
here,  however,  he  at  the  same  time  alludes  still  to  the  prophecy 
of  Isaiah,  chap.  xxix.  10 — 12,  18  ;  ix.  16  ;  iii.  12. 

Ver.  16.  Hereupon,  Peter,  in  name  of  the  rest  of  the  disciples, 
brings  forward  the  other  question  as  to  how  this  offensive  dis- 
course is  properly  to  be  understood,  with  respect  to  which  they 
had  only  perceived  that  there  lay  beneath  it  much  that  was  im- 
portant, new,  and  as  yet  unheard  of  in  Israel.  The  explanations 
of  the  parables  in  chap.  xiii.  have  made  it  a  pleasure  to  them  to 
ask  such  questions,  and  therefore  as  affording,  so  to  speak,  a  just 
ground  for  their  request,  they  call  the  simple  word  in  ver.  11 
(for  this  is  evidently  meant,  as  the  answer  shows)  also  a  parable. 
It  was,  properly  speaking,  scarcely  so  to  be  designated  as  the 
slightly  interpretative  form  in  which  Mark  gives  it,  and  in  which 
it  at  once  becomes  a  most  plain  and  direct  address,  shows  ;  besides, 
the  going  into  the  mouth  and  coming  out  of  the  mouth  was  no 
figure  if  they  had  only  recollected  chap.  xii.  34.  Still,  as  the  going 


298  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

into  the  mouth  plainly  enough  was  to  be  understood  of  eating,  the 
coming  out  of  the  mouth,  which  is  directly  opposed  to  it,  may  with 
their  weakness  of  comprehension  have  led  them  astray;  probably  in 
addition  to  this  the  surprising  contradiction  to  the  divine  laws  re- 
specting meats  (as  still  later,  Acts  x.  14 ),  may  have  awakened  great 
doubt,  so  that  they  could  not  reconcile  themselves  to  the  discourse 
as  a  whole.  Christ,  however,  who  on  this  occasion,  with  justice, 
ver.  10,  had  expected  even  from  the  people  an  understanding  of 
the  main  truth,  which  was  so  simple,  first  of  all  chides  his  disci- 
ples for  their  want  of  understanding,  ere  he  gives  the  answer : 
Are  ye  also  yet  so  very  deficient  in  understanding1?  'Ak/jltju  for 
/car  aKfirjv  scil.  yjpovov,  till  this  moment,  as  the  directly  following 
owcd  corresponds.  Are  ye  not  yet  able  as  my  disciples  at  once  to 
perceive  what  belongs  to  the  man  properly  so  called,  the  internal 
man  I  Are  ye  also  yet  so  taken  up  with  what  is  outward,  so 
prejudiced  in  Pharisaic  notions  and  offences,  that  you  mistake 
for  a  parable  this  otherwise  literally  clear  discourse,  and  rather 
seek  something  else  beneath  it  than  the  truth  lying  openly  on  its 
surface  ? 

Ver.  17,  18.  Train  of  thought  in  the  discourse  on  to  the  con- 
clusion :  Meat  is  morally  indifferent,  ver.  17,  words,  on  the  con- 
trary, are  important  as  coming  out  of  the  heart,  ver.  18,  conse- 
quently by  nature  evil  and  impure,  ver.  19 — upon  which  then, 
ver.  20,  winding  up  the  whole,  returns  to  the  first  theme  of  the 
entire  discourse.  There  is  a  decided  difference  between  jcotXla 
and  KapSia,  for  the  belly  with  its  meat  belongs  to  what  passes 
away  of  the  present  outward  man  (1  Cor.  vi.  13),  while  the  heart 
is  the  dqaavpos  of  the  man,  properly  speaking,  and  his  disposi- 
tion of  mind.1  Compare  also  Col.  ii.  16,  17,  22,  in  order  to  see 
that  Christ  here,  while  he  rejects  the  commandments  of  men  re- 
lating to  the  sphere  of  t}ie  outward  and  indifferent,  at  the  same- 
time  undeniably  makes  already  in  this  general  statement  a  pro- 
phetical allusion  to  the  impending  abrogation  of  the  Levitical  laws 
regarding  meats,  Acts  x.  14,  15 ;  1  Tim.  iv.  4.     For  it  was  in- 

1  Compare  the  passage  in  Philo  : — crrd/itm,  81  ov  ylverai  Qvtjtuv  pev,  as 
e(f)r)  likcLToov,  e'laobos,  e£o8os  8e  dcfiOdpraV'  'E7rei(re'p^erat  psv  yap  avrS 
(Tina  Kctl  7rora,  (fiOaprov  aoyparos  (fiOaprai  rpocfiai-  Xoyoi  8e  kt-iaaLV,  ddavd- 
rov  ^vx^s  dOdvaroi  vonoi^  81  hv  6  \oyiKos  /3/os  Kv(3epvaTai.       De  opif.  mund. 

1,29. 


MATTHEW  XV.  17,  18.  299 

deed  necessary  that  such  hints  should  already  come  from  his 
lips,  in  order  that  what  was  afterwards  so  fitted  to  create  surprise 
might  rest  upon  his  authority.  And  precisely  because  he  will  in- 
clude this  in  his  far-stretching  glance  does  he  adhere  (which 
Mark  has  overlooked)  throughout  the  whole  discourse  so  specially 
to  the  mouth,  the  eating,  not  the  hands  and  their  washing.  He 
will  certainly,  at  the  same  time,  say :  The  reason  of  the  divine 
commandments  hitherto,  which  relate  to  the  mouth,  lies  not  in 
the  meats  themselves ;  they  in  no  wise  mean  the  eating  or  not 
eating  in  itself,  as  the  Pharisees  take  them,  and  in  their  own 
fashion  multiply  them,  hut  obedience.  Every  thing  clean  and 
unclean, — where  God  has  hitherto  declared  any  thing  to  be  un- 
clean (or  likewise  ordained  washings) — belongs  to  the  heart,  so 
that  in  those  cases  the  eating  or  not  eating  already  previously 
comes  out  of  the  heart,  just  as  was  the  case  in  the  forbidden  fruit 
of  Paradise.  In  saying  this  Christ  speaks  without  false  affecta- 
tion, and  with  holy  dignity,  of  every  thing  human,  even  of  the 
d<f>eSpcop — partly  on  account  of  the  obtuseness  of  his  disciples  on 
this  occasion  (as  if  He  said  to  them,  thus  must  I  speak  out  to 
you  in  a  downright  way,  in  order  that  you  may  understand), 
partly,  in  the  exalted  point  of  view  according  to  which,  even  in 
this  Old  Testament,  laws  were  given  for  the  impurities  of  men, 
in  their  present  state  unfortunately  burdened  with  such.  (Deut 
xxiii.  12 — 14).  Profoundly  significant  is  the  certainly  genuine 
additional  clauses  of  Mark,  who  here  also  supplements  what  is 
said  by  Matt. :  icaQapi'Cpv  irdvra  ra  fipdbfiaTa.  The  participle  at 
which  o  ion  is  to  be  supplied,  applies  to  the  whole  clause: 
which  process,  which  business  of  separation  at  the  end  (not  the 
previous  washing)  purges  all  meats,  i.e.,  removes  from  the  meat 
properly  so-called,  that  which,  in  a  certain  sense  certainly,  is 
impure  in  it,  and  thus  renders  satisfaction  to  the  thing.  As, 
first  of  all  in  a  physical,  so  then  in '  a  higher  sense,  compensation 
is  made  by  evacuation  for  what,  speaking  generally,  is  impure 
for  the  man  in  the  whole  business  of  meats.  That  of  which  Christ 
here  so  significantly  speaks  was  for  him,  therefore,  even  a  humble 
work  of  purification  for  the  fipcbfjuara,  in  the  enjoyment  of  which 
and  their  passage  through  the  flesh  he  was  made  like  to  us.1 

1  A  later  Jewish  statute  prescribes  that  a  man  should  go  to  stool,  and 
if  possible  empty  himself  out  ere  he  sit  down  to  meat,  in  order  that  he 


300  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

All,  therefore,  that  enters  into  the  mouth  goes  in  the  natural 
way  to  be  purged,  and  does  not  really  defile  the  man  with 
abiding  impurity.  But  does  all,  too,  that  comes  out  of  the  mouth 
and  heart  defile  him  ?  It  is  true  that  (in  Matt,  and  Mark),  irav 
is  not  repeated  here,  yet  the  ra  he  i/ciropevo/jLeva,  to  e/aropevo- 
fievov,  are  put  quite  as  generally.  Nor  does  Christ  say,  by  way 
of  limiting  these  expressions  :  But  whatsoever  evil,  impure,  thing 
comes  out.  He  means,  therefore,  truly  all  that  the  naturally 
corrupt  heart  of  man  brings  forth,  He  takes  the  natural  man  as 
he  is,  as  entirely  impure,  and  from  himself,  ever  defiling  himself 
anew ;  it  is  precisely  this  that  with  great  severity  He  opposes  to 
Pharisaism  !  The  rbv  avOpwirov  which  occurs  twice  in  ver.  11, 
and  now  recurs  in  the  explanation  (Mark  has  it  emphatically 
still  oftener),  is  the  culminating  point  of  the  whole  discourse, 
which  rises  from  the  belly  to  the  heart,  and  thus  to  the  man, 
properly  speaking.  That  which  goes  on  in  the  belly  belongs 
not  to  the  man  in  the  sense  in  which  Christ  here  uses  the  word. 
Therefore  Mark  more  fully:  That  which  from  without  comes 
into  the  man  (i.e.  in  the  common  use  of  the  term  and  to  appear- 
ance) cannot  defile  him ;  for  it  goes  not  into  his  heart  (properly 
his  inner  part)  but  into  the  belly,  and  continues,  therefore,  also 
in  the  elaiTopeveaOai,  to  be  yet  properly  e%a)6ev.  To  which 
6%co06v  an  eacoOev  is  then  twice  sharply  opposed.  That  which 
the  tongue  from  natural,  unrestrained  impulse  speaks  is  only  evil 
and  poison  from  the  hell  of  the  heart ;  that  which  the  man  lets 
it  out  is  partly  a  manifestation  of  the  impurity  of  his  innermost 
being  which  is  already  there,  partly  a  fault,  inasmuch  as  he,  eveiy 
time  reacting  upon  himself,  further  stains  nimself  with  his  own 
filth.  (Jam,  iii.  6,  8).  From  this  we  will  understand  the  sharp 
concluding  words  in  their  striking  generality. 

Yer.  19,  20.  A  dictum  prolans  for  original  sin,  as  strong  as 

may  eat  with  clean  stomach  and  belly ;  which  the  very  wise  Rabbins 
find  in  the  "  putting  away  of  the  old  before  the  new."  Lev.  xxvi.  10. 
If  this,  perhaps,  were  said  even  at  that  time,  we  might  find  in  it  an 
occasion  for  Christ's  discourse,  which  accounts  for  his  going  so  far  into 
the  matter.  For  the  rest  we  have  here  at  the  same  time  a  testimony 
against  that  Gnostic  doctrine  for  ex.  of  Valentinus  which  Clemens  of 

Alexandria    thus  mentions  :     rjaOie  not  eniev  Idiots,  ovk  anobidovs  tcl  (Bpa- 

fiara.  So  great  was  the  power  of  the  eyKpdreia  of  Christ :  ©ore  nai  pi) 
cjidaprjvat,  ttjp  rpoQrjv  ev  atra.     (Cited  by  Dorner  i,  457). 


MATTHEW  XV.  19,  20.  301 

we  conld  wish  it  to  be.  'E/c  rrjs  teahplas—  this  means  certainly 
the  man  here  spoken  of  as  he  is  in  himself  and  everywhere ; 
Mark  has  besides  rwv  dvdpcowcov.  Ye  are  totally  and  entirely 
unclean  in  your  sins,  Christ  will  say ;  here  eating  or  washing 
from  without  will  afford  no  help,  but  there  is  needed  an  entirely 
different  cleansing  of  the  altogether  perverted  and  corrupted 
heart.  (Jer.  xvii.  9.)  This  the  wilfully  blind  Pharisee  over- 
looks, and  goes  on  defiling  himself,  while  he  foolishly  holds  with 
so  much  zeal  his  manifold  distinctions  of  clean  and  unclean, 
Chap,  xxiii.  24,  27.  (Luke  xi.  39,  to  Se  eacoOev  vjjlcov,  your 
own  inward  part,  ye  merely  outwardly  washed  vessels  !)  Christ 
will  certainly  not  thereby  say  that  out  of  every  man's  heart  and 
mouth  only  evil  proceeds  ;  but  where  good  proceeds,  there  it  has 
been  previously  implanted  by  grace,  and  comes  therefore  not 
properly  from  the  man  himself.  He  might  also  have  said  :  Out 
of  the  heart  proceed  hypocritical  words,  when  the  people  draw 
near  to  God  with  the  mouth,  ver.  8 — but  he  has  said  this  already, 
and  He  now  rather  discovers  to  the  hypocrites  what  other  sins 
in  general,  if  not  in  works  yet  in  equivalent  words,  are  always 
flowing  out  of  their  heart,  (Chap.  xii.  34,  37).  As  a  compre- 
hensive generic  idea  stands  first  of  all  the  broad  and  deep-reach- 
ing BiaXoyLa/jLol  Trovrjpoi.  These  are  the  innermost,  first,  heart- 
discourse  and  heart-thoughts,  which  in  every  word  and  work, 
were  already  there  as  properly  the  sin  ere  they  represented  them- 
selves outwardly ;  in  them  precisely  the  e^ep^eaOai  of  all  sins 
from  the  heart  is  made  convincingly  manifest.1  These  are  lu^ts 
and  passions,  doubts  and  contradictions,  these  are  in  particular, 
for  example,  such  questions  also  as  were  before  addressed  to  him 
ver.  2,  and,  on  the  whole,  such  elaborate  systems  of  lies  as  do 
away  with  God's  commandment;  we  cannot  take  the  expression 
too  generally  in  order  to  comprehend  under  it  the  catalogue  of 
sins  which  follows.  This,  however,  is  in  Matth.  specialized 
only  according  to  the  decalogue,  from  which  the  concluding 

1  "  The  8id\oyi(Tfioi  TrovTjpot,  in  relation  to  the  following  (j>6voi,  ^ot^eta*, 
&c.,  are  certainly  not  to  be  understood  as  a  distinct  species  of  sin  beside 
the  others,  but  as  the  first  step  in  the  development  of  sin,  with  which 
the  others  are  then  connected  as  the  realisation  of  these  in  act."  Jul. 
Muller,  on  Sin,  vol.  1,  p.  337.     (For.  Theol.  Library). 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  transition-command  of  the  first  table  was  adduced  before  ; 
therefore  the  catalogue  goes  on  from  this  point,  and  all  the  sins 
against  the  commandments  of  the  second  table  are  named  in 
correct  order.  BXaa^pulai  are  accordingly  calumnies  and 
insults  against  one's  neighbour;  the  last  commandment  had 
already  been  included  in  the  SiaXoyia/jLovs.  This  simple  arrange- 
ment might  occur  to  Matthew,  who  here  abridges  more  and  ex- 
tracts the  kernel,  while  in  Mark  we  find  a  greater  variety  of 
species.  And  though  he  may  have  heaped  together  some  expres- 
sions, yet  the  conclusion  again  speaks  to  us  as  genuine  and  origi- 
nal, and  invented  by  no  reporter.  First  of  all,  Mark  also  follows 
the  order  of  the  Sinaitic  commandments  (with  the  exception  of 
that  remarkable  transposition  of  the  seventh  and  the  sixth  which 
sometimes  occurs)  :  fjuov^elaiy  iropv&ai — (povot — «Xo7rat'and7r\eo- 
v€% lau  are  evidently  to  be  taken  together — now  (instead  of  the 
literal  yjrevSo/jLapTvpiai,  of  Matth.)  he  has  four  other  expressions 
which,  however,  by  the  following  fiXaacprj/jLLa  shew  that  they  yet 
collectively  belong  to  the  ninth  (Lutheran  eighth)  command- 
ment. For  by  irovrjpiai,  side  by  side  with  BoXos  are  evidently 
meant  wickednesses,  malicious  acts,  injuring  one's  neighbour 
through  falsehood  (comp.  Eom.  i.  29)— daeXyeia,  in  like  manner, 
beside  6cj>0aXfi6<;  irovrjpos  cannot  fall  back  again  into  /zoi^etat, 
Tropveiai,  but  in  its  fundamental  signification  means  petulantia, 
self-will,  wantonness.  As  theft  and  covetousness,  doing  injury 
and  guile,  belong  to  each  other  as  the  more  open  and  more  con- 
cealed form  of  the  same  sin,  so  also  does  petulance  bear  the  same 
relation  to  the  y^  •pty  of  envy.  All  these  are  still  included  in  a 
certain  measure  under  the  one  commandment ;  Thou  shalt  not 
speak  or  be  false  against  thy  neighbour ;  they  however  penetrate 
so  deeply  into  it  as  to  reach  beyond  it  to  the  last  commandment, 
which  is  wanting  in  Matth.  Finally,  in  the  concluding  words 
after  /SXaacfnyfita,  which  are  peculiar  to  Mark  (the  connecting 
link  lying  in  the  twofold  sense  of  that  expression,  blasphemy 
against  God  and  against  our  neighbour),  a  return  is  made  in  a 
most  direct  and  profound  manner  to  the  general  ground  of  all 
sin,  as  the  first  table  discovers  it  in  the  first  commandment : 
pride  against  the  Highest  is,  as  inward  idolatry,  the  evil  ground 
of  all  sin  (Sir.  x.  12,  13,  in  the  Greek),  while  from  this  pride 


mattiiew  xv.  24,  26, 28.  303 

flows  all  a(f>poavv7j,  that  is  connected  with  sin.  Thus  does  the 
conclusion  here  lead  completely  back  to  the  beginning,  and  there 
is  here  attested  by  Christ,  we  think,  a  truth  which  cannot  be 
too  thoughtfully  considered,  namely,  that  all  want  of  understand- 
ing in  the  blind,  all  unreason  and  folly  on  the  part  of  those  who 
are  led  captive  by  human  madness  in  opposition  to  God's  word,, 
is  a  fault  and  a  sin  proceeding  out  of  the  evil  ground  of  the  proud 
heart-  Which  will  be  made  manifest  in  the  Sadducees  and 
Hegelians  of  our  own  day  before  Christ's  judgment,  as  it  was 
then  in  the  Pharisees. 


THE  CANAANITISH  WOMAN. 

(Matth.  xv.  24,  26,  28.    Mark  vii.  27,  29.) 

That  Christ  departed  (Matth.  avex&p'nvev,  Mark  dmjkOev) 
refers  evidently  to  the  stir  that  had  just  been  made  and  the 
offence  that  had  been  given,  from  which,  according  to  his  usual 
practice,  he  again  withdraws  himself.  He  does  not,  indeed 
betake  himself  beyond  the  boundary  of  Judea  actually  into  the 
country  of  the  heathen,  for  this,  on  account  of  what  is  said  ver. 
24  is  not  to  be  supposed,1  but  near  to  it,  towards  the  confines, 
of  the  country  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.2  From  this  time  onwards  we 
observe  in  the  Gospels  that  he  also  more  and  more  avoids  pub- 
licity in  Galilee,  see  especially  Mark  ix.  30  irapeiropevovTO, 
which  Grotius  rightly  interprets  irapa  rrjv  6B6v  hropevovro  they 
went  by  by-ways.  The  inhabitants  of  the  sea-coast  around 
Tyre  and  Sidon  were  called  in  the  special  sense  Canaanites 
(Jud.  i.  31,  32  ;  Numb.  xiii.  30  ;  and,  with  a  play  upon  the 
name,  Is.  xxiii.  8),  or  Qoivl/ee:  (Ex.  vi.  15  ;  Jos.  v.  1,LXX.),  in 
which  case  the  %vpo$>oiviice<;  and  the  AifivfyoiviKe?  were  distin- 
guished, and  when  Mark  at  the  same  time  designates  the  woman 

1  The  visit  to  Phoenicia  here  mistakenly  inserted,  is  therefore  only  a 
chimera  of  Sepp's,  which  we  have  already  put  aside. 

2  Matth.  els  to.  fieprj  here  equivalent  to  versus  regiones  as  the  Syriac 
expresses  it,  for  Mark  says  els  ra  pedopia  in  confinia,  border,  neighbour- 
hood. Matth.  says  of  the  woman  :  dnb  ra>u  oplav  eKelvoav  e^eKdovaa, 
Christ  had,  therefore,  not  come  into  her  country. 


304  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

in  respect  of  her  yeVo?  by  'EWtjvl^  he  only  means  by  this  in 
general,  a  heatheness,  so  that  we  cannot  find  with  Niemeyer 
in  her  striking  reply  (ver.  27)  a  "fine  Grecian  wit"  The 
beginning  of  the  account,  in  Mark,  makes  it  appear  as  if  she 
had  sought  out  Christ  in  His  house,  but  the  crying  after  Him 
.(Matth.  ver.  23)  plainly  shows,  that  she  had  already  called 
to  Him  on  the  way.  According  to  Mark  iii.  8  ;  Luke  vi.  17, 
the  fame  of  Christ's  deeds  was  spread  abroad  also  in  this  district ; 
as  soon  therefore  as  this  woman  of  great  faith,  who  had  a  daugh- 
ter possessed  of  a  devil,  had  heard  of  the  coming  of  the  Great 
Helper,  which  could  not  be  hid,  she  sought  Him  out  (Mark  ver. 
25).  She  addresses  Him  not  merely  by  the  general  title  of 
honour  Kvpie,  but,  in  order  that  she  may  make  no  oversight,  she 
adds  also  the  Israelitish  appellation,  "  Son  of  David."1  She  begs 
for  pity,  but  He  pities  her  not !  The  fountain  of  mercy,  usually 
open  to  every  hand  that  only  touches  the  hem  of  His  garment, 
flows  not,  the  much  lauded  physician  and  helper  will  not  heal 
and  help,  the  friendly  mouth,  which  is  ever  so  ready  to  give  com- 
fort, is  silent.  He  answered  her  not  a  word — not  a  word  either, 
however,  of  refusal :  I  will  not,  dare  not,  help  you,  be  gone 
and  leave  me  or  the  like— to  say  this  is  to  Him  impossible,  for  it 
becomes  hard  enough  for  Him  to  be  silent.  The  disciples  can- 
not understand  their  Master ;  it  has  been  so  much  His  practice 
to  dismiss  all  suppliants  by  hearing  and  helping  them,  that  this 
has  become  the  understood  rule  of  his  conduct.  'Airokvaov  avrrjv, 
i.e.,  not  certainly  :  Put  her  away  at  least,  if  thou  wilt  not  help 
her,  but  includes  the  helping  as  presupposed.  Still,  their  request 
on  her  behalf  springs  not  purely  from  sympathising  love,  but 
here  is  a  seeming  against  a  seeming  :  the  compassionate  master 
seems  harsh,  while  the  disciples  seem  more  compassionate  than 
He,  when  they  are  thinking  at  least  quite  as  much  of  themselves 
as  of  the  suppliant  and  her  distress.  For  although  the  reason 
they  give  for  their  request  is  intended  at  the  same  time  to  mean 
as  regards  Christ :  The  people  hear  it,  and  now  there  will  arise 
a  real  stir  which  yet  thou  art  anxious  to  avoid— still  the  most 

1  Which  use  of  the  Jewish  designation  presents  no  difficulty  what- 
ever, so  that  we  are  not  under  the  necessity  to  suppose  with  Lange 
(after  Sepp),  that  the  daughter  who  was  possessed  had  revealed  to 
her  the  name  Jesus  and  the  title  Son  of  David. 


matthew  xv.  24,  26,  28.  305 

important  reason  to  them  betrays  itself  in  the  very  bold  "  us :" 
the  Canaanitess  is  disagreeable  to  us,  and  troublesome  with  her 
crying.  Hence  they  do  not  express  themselves  in  the  manner 
most  natural  to  the  awakened  feeling  of  love  :  Help  her,  hear 
her  (do  take  pity  on  her !  would  certainly  not  have  been  proper) 
— but,  Send  her  away  I  Pray,  make  haste,  and  rid  us  of  her 
and  her  crying!  A  truly  injurious  supposition  on  their  part 
that  such  a  reason  should  move  Christ  to  help  her,  as  it  did 
them. 

The  remarkable  answer  of  Christ  opens  up  to  them  an  entirely 
different  point  of  view,  in  which  He  kindly  passes  over  everything 
in  the  way  of  rebuke,  actually  defends  Himself  humbly  against 
what  they  had  stumbled  at  in  His  conduct,  and  adduces  a 
weighty  reason  for  His  surprising  silence.  The  most  of  practical 
commentators  and  preachers  fall  here  into  the  error  which  has 
become  traditional,  namely,  that  Christ,  thoroughly  knowing 
the  woman's  heart,  had  from  the  first  determined  to  help  her, 
but  first  of  all,  to  draw  out  her  great  exemplary  faith  by  a 
feigned  refusal  in  the  way  of  trial.1  Thus  is  the  pre-determined 
counsel  of  God  improperly  confounded  with  the  human  acting 
and  consciousness  of  Jesus,  which  by  no  means  is  at  all  times, 
and  entirely  to  be  merged  in  the  former ;  thus,  beyond  the 
regard  to  that  which  happens  to  the  woman  certainly  as  an  ex- 
ample for  us,  the  innermost  significance  of  history  for  Christ's 
own  person,  the  wonderful  conterminous  meeting  of  the  divine 
and  the  human  in  him,  upon  which,  in  the  passage  before 
us,  much  light  is  thrown,  is  not  at  all  understood ;  thus  there 
is  entirely  overlooked  a  circumstance  that  lies  quite  on  the  sur- 
face, namely,  that  Christ,  when  he  first  breaks  silence,  says 
what  we  read  (Matt.  ver.  24)  actually  to  the  disciples,  as  ne- 
cessary information  for  them,  and  by  no  means  merely  that  the 
woman  may  thereby  hear  it  obliquely.  This  is,  consequently,  the 
the  real  key-word  to  the  enigma  of  His  seemingly  harsh  silence 
(which  Mark  surprisingly  enough  p  sses  over,  while  it  belongs 
essentially  to  the  gospel  of  Matthew),  this  is  indeed  a  truth 

Even  Bengel  incomprehensibly  thinks,  that  Jesus,  in  the  exercise 
of  his  foreknowledge,  made  this  entire  journey  to  the  borders  on  this 
woman's  account. 

VOL.  II.  U 


306  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

which  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  explain  away  as  if  the  words  were 
not  spoken  in  earnest. 

I  am  " sent" — in  this  expression  (as  he  elsewhere  says  also,  I 
am  come,  and  that  sixteen  times,  but  on  the  other  hand  he  speaks 
only  four  times  in  the  three  first  gospels,  and  forty  times  in  the 
fourth,  of  his  sending  and  "  Him  who  hath  sent  him,"  comp. 
John  vii.  28  and  the  context) — in  this  expression  he  represents 
his  whole  earthly  life  and  labours  as  subject  to  the  Father's  com- 
mission and  appointment.     In  this  commission  is  exactly  pre- 
scribed what  he  is  to  do  (Luke  iv.  43),  and  besides  obedience  to  this 
he  does  nothing.     Now,  as  the  sent  prophet,  miracle-worker,  and 
Messiah,  he  was,  on  account  of  the  promises,  actually  a  servant 
of  the  circumcision  (Rom.  xv.  8) ;  not  until  his  exaltation  was 
the  salvation  to  be  extended  also  to  the  Gentiles.      John  xii. 
32.     He  was,  therefore,  bound  by  his  instructions,  as  He  here 
not  less  clearly  than  humbly  says  to  His  disciples.     He  actually 
thought,  in  his  silence   toward    the    first    and   only  suppliant 
from  the  heathen  world,  properly  speaking,  (for  such  is  this 
woman  in  the  gospels)  :   I  dare  not  help  her !    Else  he  had  been 
quite  as  prepared  to  answer  her  prayer  as  he  was  that  of  the 
centurion  of  Capernaum,  the  friend  of  the  Jews.   He  will  not,  by 
passing  over  to  a  foreign  sphere,  draw  to  himself  many  needy 
Gentiles  by  giving  help  to  one,  and  thus  opening  up  a  new  theatre 
of  action  which  is  yet  closed  to  him,  give  offence  to  the  Jews  as 
if  he  were  not  their  "  Son  of  David."     It  was  not  merely  fit  (as 
Bengel,  on  the  other  side,  observes  half  correctly),  that  he  should 
lay  down,  by  way  of  testimony  (before  giving  the  help  which  he 
had  determined  to  give),  such  a  protestation  against  further  conse- 
quences, but  the  protestation  is  meant  in  literal  and  entire  earnest 
just  as  it  stands.     "The  keen-scenting,  timorous,  light-hating 
sagacity  of  the  watchmen  on  Zion,  the  close  suffocating  air "  (to 
speak  with  the  poet  Lange),  has  driven  him,  if  not  over,  at  least 
on  to  the  boundary  of  the  Holy  Land ;  yet  He  speaks  of  that 
wicked  Israel,  whom  he  has  to  rebuke  and  from  whom  he  has  to 
withdraw  himself,  here  as  always,  outwardly  with  the  honour 
and  dignity  becoming  Him  on  account  of  His  calling  (for  ex. 
John  iv.  22).   For  it  is,  and  continues  to  be,  the  house  of  Israel  to 
the  lost  sheep  of  which  alone  He  is  sent,  in  the  first  place,  during 
His  life  upon  earth.     He  has  not  now  left  them  in  order  to  givtj 


matthew  xv.  24,  26,  28.  307 

them  up,  and  turn  without  distinction  to  the  Gentiles  before  the 
time ;  He  himself,  in  faithful  obedience  to  the  Father's  commis- 
sion as  a  whole,  does  not  now  at  once  perceive  that  the  Father 
has  yet  brought  to  him  here  an  exception  to  the  rule — until  he 
comes  to  see  it  in  the  victorious  faith  of  the  woman,  as  he  often 
times  learned  his  Father's  will,  as  regards  the  particular  case,  by 
what  happened  to  him.  Only  thus  we  believe  is  the  full  justice 
of  an  unprejudiced  interpretation,  (without  bringing  it  into  what  is 
not  there)  granted  to  this  earnest  and  most  significant  word  of 
Christ's  mouth,  and  to  the  entire  narrative  in  which  it  stands. 
It  is  a  heatheness  who  now,  contrary  to  time  and  order,  desires  help 
of  the  Messiah — this  the  disciples  had  forgotten,  but  He  knew 
what  significance  belongs  to  this,  and  maintains  the  great  dis- 
tinction, when  it  is  proper  to  do  so,  as  firmly  against  the  inconsi- 
derateness  of  men,  as,  on  the  other  hand,  he  can  humble  Jewish 
pride,  and  prophesy  of  the  future  salvation  of  the  Gentiles  who 
accept  its  offered  blessings. 

She  has  heard  this, — the  poor  heathen  mother  who  feels  the 
plague  of  her  little  daughter  as  her  own,  and  asks  compassion 
and  help  for  herself  in  the  healing  of  her  child  ;  but  she  does  not 
let  herself  be  led  astray,  she  reasons  not  thus  : — It  is  then  not 
true  what  I  have  heard  of  his  readiness  to  help  all,  He  is  indeed 
the  Messiah  of  the  Jews  who  has  no  compassion  for  us  heathen  ! 
Either  Christ  now  at  least  stood  still,  when  he  spake  to  his  dis- 
ciples, or  she  forces  her  way  through  to  Him,  falling  at  his  feet 
and  ceasing  not  to  cry  :  Lord,  help  me  ?  No  longer,  "  Son  of 
David" — for  this  as  she  has  perceived  belongs  only  to  the  house 
of  Israel,  but  she  still  repeats  :  Lord,  mighty,  universal  Lord,  I 
leave  thee  not,  help  me  !  The  most  condensed  possible  form  of 
expression  wrung  from  the  anguish  of  her  heart ;  nor  does  she 
any  longer  say,  Have  merer/  on  me  !  but  what  at  bottom  is  still 
stronger  than  this.  Will  Christ  now  help?  Not  yet!  She 
first  receives  directly  the  same  information  as  the  disciples,  and 
that  expressed  still  more  strongly,  in  which  Christ  rises  from 
mere  silence  to  the  worst  appearance  of  excessive  harshness — 
and  yet  there  is  no  express  refusal.  It  avails  not  that  thou 
callest  me  Son  of  David,  thou  art  a  heatheness.  Christ  here 
adopts  the  language  of  the  Jews,  who  called  the  Gentiles  dogs. 
Those  who  before  were  the  lost  sheep,  to  whom  the  shepherd  be- 


308  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

longs,  are  now  the  children — namely,  of  the  house  of  Israel,  the 
family  of  God,  and  what  He  now  is,  or  can  give,  is  the  children's 
bread.  Already,  however  (alluding  to  further  perseverance), 
there  lies  beneath  the  seeming  harshness  the  utmost  kindness : 
these  unbelieving  Jews,  who  have  even  now  almost  driven  me 
from  their  country,  are  yet  the  children  !  Ovk  eari  koXov,  it  is  not 
right,  not  proper,  cannot  be  desired,  that  one  take  the  children's 
bread  arbitrarily,  contrary  to  the  order  of  the  house,  and  cast  it 
to  dogs !  The  Berlenburger  Bible  extends  not  amiss :  I  dare 
not — "  else  might  the  Jews  say"  It  is  not  right.  In  their  right 
and  name,  indeed,  Christ  here  speaks  ;  yet  His  kindness,  which 
cannot  deny  itself,  softening  still  further  the  severity  of  his  words, 
says,  little  dogs — in  which  diminutive  the  idea  of  impurity  (chap, 
vii.  6),  gives  place  to  that  of  dependence,  of  clinging  to  (as  now 
the  women  does),  of  belonging  to  men  and  the  family.1  The 
words  "  sound  like,  No  !  they  do  not  however  say  No,  but 
waver  and  hang  in  suspense"  (Heinr.  Miiller) — only  must  every 
claim  preferred  in  the  impetuosity  of  the  prayer  be  broken,  and 
every  right,  even  were  it  only  that  of  the  Jews  to  the  fulfilment 
of  the  promise,  be  taken  away  from  this  heathen  woman.  In  this 
ovk  eart  /ca\6v  and  Kvvapiots,  the  compassionate  heart  of  Christ 
already  moves  towards  the  'presentiment,  that  it  is  the  Father's 
will  to  make  here  an  exception,  anticipatory  of  his  mercy  (Rom. 
xv.  9).  According  to  Mark,  He  said  before  this :  Let  the  children 
first  be  filled — in  which  irpwrov  there  lies  the  idea  :  It  is  not  yet 
time  for  the  Gentiles.  This  gives  another  spark  of  hope  to  the 
suppliant ;  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  prophecy  of  the  Spirit  from 
the  mouth  of  Christ,  which  might  suggest  to  us  the  thought : — 
Ah  !  they  are  unhappily  too  full,  seeing  they  have  put  the  bread 
of  God  away  from  them,  and  driven  it  out  to  the  dogs  ! 

The  same  spirit  which  bids  Christ  speak  thus  and  not  other- 
wise, now  teaches  the  heathen  woman  to  advance  farther,  and 
to  seize  hold  of  the  handle  which  has  been  held  out  to  her  in  this 
harsh  word.  Well  might  she  afterwards  her  whole  life  long  be 
astonished  almost,  at  the  bold,  ingenious,  pressing  answer  which 
the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplication  instantly  suggested  to  her ; 


1  In  which  feeling  Luther  also  has  put  "  little  dog  "  for  the  expres- 
sion, in  Tob.  vi.  1. 


MATTHEW  XV.  24,  26,  28.  309 

for  this  spirit  works  everywhere  in  such  moments  of  anguish, 
when  a  human  soul  struggling  for  the  help  of  God  (and  that  this 
was  the  case  here  is  evident  in  the  Kvpie)  becomes  wise  and 
ingenious  to  lay  hold  on  the  smallest  catch  of  the  finger.  There 
is  in  the  word  of  the  woman,  along  with  the  dv0pco7nvov  also  a 
Oelov,  in  virtue  of  which  it  was  worthy  of  occupying  a  place  in 
the  Holy  Scripture  of  the  New  Testament,  as  a  pattern  of 
wrestling  prayer,  the  most  perfect  unity  of  humility,  which  bears 
all  denial  or  chiding,  and  trust,  which  is  yet  never  given  up.  She 
cleaves  to  the  friendly  word.  "  little  dogs,"  in  which  Christ  has 
betrayed  his  heart  to  her — "  she  catches  him  in  his  own  words" 
(Luther) — "  takes  the  sword  out  of  his  hand  and  slays  him  with 
it"  (Heinr.  Miiller) — "drives  back  the  arrow  into  his  heart" 
♦(Bieger).  Yes,  Lord  !  thus  speaks  humility ;  pride  would  say  : 
No,  I  am  not  a  dog,  I  will  not  be  cast  out  among  them !  No  ! 
pride  says  in  many  even  till  this  day;  but  "No,  Lord?"  too, 
wThen  the  Lord  accuses,  rejects  all  claim,  shuts  thee  out  as  un- 
clean from  the  family  rights  of  the  heavenly  Father's  dear  chil- 
dren ?  Oh,  that  then  at  least,  all  might  surrender  themselves 
with  the  all-conceding  acknowledgment :  Yes,  Lord  !  Oh,  that 
we  might  learn  from  this  woman  at  all  times  to  connect  with  this, 
as  closely  the  powerful  importunate  "  yet."  In  the  connecting 
together  of  these  two  words  is  involved  the  whole  order  of  salva- 
tion and  prayer.  Such  faith  finds  the  promise  in  the  very 
refusal,  makes  the  unworthiness,  precisely  as  neediness,  the  plea 
for  favour.  The  dogs — hast  thou  said?  Well,  then,2  the  dogs  are 
and  remain  beneath  the  table  when  they  are  hungry,  and  do  not 
let  this  little  place  in  the  house  be  taken  from  them.  When 
the  children  break  their  bread  (Mark  has  now  irathia  for  refcva) 
when  from  their  master's  table  tyixia  fall  (double  diminutive  :  little 

1  For  Nai  is  here  certainly  not  a  continuation  of  the  prayer,  as  many 
are  for  rendering  it,  thus  destroying  the  most  profound  psychological 
truth. 

2  Thou  sayest  quite  truly — but  I  interpret  it  differently  precisely  for 
me.  That  is  properly  kol\  yap  in  the  original  text,  which  is  too  fine  to 
be  translated.  We  are  not  at  liberty  (with  v.  Gerlach)  merely  to 
understand :  Yes,  Lord,  it  is  lawful,  for  even  the  dogs,  &c.  Such  a 
yes  would  be  almost  a  bold  contradiction  of  what  Christ  had  said,  in- 
stead of  the  humility  which  necessarily  belongs  to  it.  Luther  has  with 
delicate  tact  brought  out  the  true  sense  here. 


310  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

crumbs),  there  is  then  no  need,  properly  speaking,  for  \aj3eiv 
Kal  ftaX&v,  which  I  am  not  asking,  for  the  dogs  are  contented 
even  with  the  smallest  share,  if  only  they  do  not  starve  with 
hunger  !  I  am  even  now,  O  Lord,  not  far  from  the  table  ;  even 
now  there  falls  for  us  Gentiles  a  crumb  of  bread  from  Israel's 
table,  seeing  that  thou  art  on  our  boundary.  The  dogs  eat ;  well, 
I  too  may  eat,— it  is  done  and  there  is  no  preventing  it.  Thus 
does  the  word  of  the  woman  outbid  all  refusal  on  the  part  of 
Christ,  and  to  understand  and  feel  this  aright  belongs  to  the 
right  understanding  of  His  reply,  in  which  he  acknowledges 
himself  all  at  once  overcome. 

Mark  expresses  this  reply  more  according  to  the  sense :  For 
this  saying  go  thy  way,  the  devil  is  gone  out  of  thy  daughter ! 
Thus  has  he  also  correctly  rendered  more  in  human  style,  as* 
another  would  have  spoken,  the  acknowledgment  and  granting 
of  her  request,  the  original  expression  for  which  was  not  present 
to  his  recollection ;  Matt.,  however,  here  also  literally  preserves 
the  sacredly  classical  usage  of  Christ.  Hitherto  Christ  had  not 
accosted  the  woman,  but  in  this  address  all  is  at  once  granted  : 
0  woman  !  Now,  after  the  chiding  she  receives  a  commendation 
in  requital :  Thy  faith  is  great !  He  does  not  find  fault  with 
her  for  holding  on,  for  being  so  urgent,  for  crying  after  Him ; 
He  rather  praises  this,  inasmuch  as  it  proceeds  from  faith.  The 
cry  of  the  disciples  for  help,  chap.  viii.  25,  proceeded  from  the 
weak  faith  of  natural  fear,  the  "  help  me"  of  this  woman  from 
great  faith.  He  commends  and  rewards  not  the  natural  love 
which  made  the  child's  distress  her  own  (have  mercy  on  me,  help 
me),  for  in  this  there  was  yet  also  the  impulse  of  nature,  not  as  in 
the  case  of  the,  centurion's  zeal  on  behalf  of  his  servant.  He 
specifies  not  the  humility  but  the  faith,  for  precisely  in  humility, 
in  the  full  consciousness  and  acknowledgment  of  unworthiness 
and  the  absence  of  all  right,  is  faith  great ;  only  where  one  desires 
and  hopes  for  grace,  is  faith.  This  woman  has  wrestled  more 
victoriously  than  Jacob,  who  stood  upon  the  ground  of  a  pro- 
mise ;  her  praying  has  become  a  willing,  before  which  Christ's 
first  humanly-formed  will  disappears,  in  order  that  what  has  now 
plainly  become  the  will  of  the  Father  in  her  may  be  done.  As 
Mark  has  begun  his  whole  narrative  with  a  icilling  on  the  part 
of  Christ,  while  yet  he  could  not  (ver.  24),  so  what  the  woman 


MATTHEW  XV.  32 — 34.  311 

wills  is  now  done,  by  a  holy  wonderful  yielding,  in  the  proper 
sense,  on  the  part  of  Christ.1  Now  then,  as  thou  wilt,  not  as  I 
will,  or  would.  Such  faith  has  a  claim  and  right  which  the  son 
of  the  Father,  even  as  David's  son,  may  not  resist.  Let  not 
this  be  explained  away,  let  nothing  Docetic  be  brought  into 
Christ's  first  or  last  word,  so  that  the  kernel  of  the  whole  incident 
may  remain  untouched,  the  testimony  given  in  the  human  life 
of  the  Son,  to  the  unsearchably  mysterious  truth  between  God 
and  man,  that  faith  conquers,  and  everything  yields  to  its  will ! 
This  Christ  says — and  that  he  can  and  must  say  it,  was  probably 
to  Himself  here  one  of  the  most  important  and  blessed  experi- 
ences. 


THE  FEEDING  OF  THE  FOUR  THOUSAND, 

(Matth.  xv.  32,  34.     Mark  viii.  2,  3,  5.) 

And  they  praised  the  God  of  Israel?  Thus  writes  Matth. 
ver.  31,  not  precisely  because  the  people  then  also  certainly  so 
expressed  themselves,  but  by  way  of  contrast  to  the  preceding 
incident.  Jesus  betakes  Himself  again  to  those  to  whom  He  is 
sent,  He  goes  up  to  a  hill  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  His  wonted 
resort,  and  there  almost  inviting  and  waiting  for  the  people,  sits 
down.  Already  (according  to  Mark)  He  had  healed  the  deaf 
and  dumb  person  on  the  way ;  now,  in  conformity  with  the  duties 
of  His  office,  he  heals  without  further  ado  all  whom  any  one  may 
but  boldly  and  reverently  cast  at  his  feet.  To  what  a  pitch  was 
it  now  come  in  something  more  than  a  year's  time  since  his  first 
signs,  John  ii.  11,  23,  with  the  crowding,  pressing,  and  forward 
claims  of  this  people,  as  opposed  to  the  enmity  of  their  wicked 

1  Therefore,  truly  an  (l  inconsistency" — as  Hase  heads  the  para- 
graph— but  not  "  a  beautiful  weakness,  the  only  one  in  his  life." 

2  Which  formal  expression  occurs  from  Ex.  xxxii.  27  ;  xxxiv.  23. 
(Jos.  vii.  20  ;  xiii.  14 ;  1  Kings  i.  30),  onwards  through  Psalms  and 
prophets  to  Mai.  ii.  16 — which  Sepp  ought  certainly  to  have  known 
instead  of  inconsiderately  observing  on  this  passage  in  Matth. :  There 
were  therefore  many  Gentiles  among  those  that  were  cured. 


312  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

leaders.  Scarcely  a  couple  of  years  more  of  this  (the  enemies  of 
the  good  Shepherd  having  tolerated  Him  thus  long) — and  they 
were  again  accustomed  to  the  works  of  their  God,  as  formerly 
they  were  in  the  wilderness,1  they  desired  them  as  their  right, 
and  as  the  ordinary  course  of  things  (see  shortly  Mark  ix.  22), 
and  yet  were  as  little  saved  from  death  by  them,  as  their  fathers 
were  by  the  bread  from  heaven.  This  precisely  is  the  folly  of 
these  sheep  wandering  in  their  sin  :  they  know  not  their  true 
malady,  and  seek  not  the  true  medicine  and  meat  for  eternal 
life.  He  had  seriously  told  them  this  at  the  feeding  of  the  mul- 
titudes on  a  former  occasion  ;  yet  He  begins  now  to  perform  his 
signs  with  patient  testimony,  to  help  and  to  feed  at  least  their 
bodies,  to  show  good  to  them  as  much  as  they  desire  and  can  re- 
ceive it.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  as  some  have  said,  these 
present  crowds  of  people  who  had  continued  with  him  three  days 
were  better,  and  were  inclined  more  to  the  words  of  His  mouth, 
than  the  works  of  His  hand  ?  There  is  otherwise  no  ground  for 
such  a  supposition,  and  that  they  do  not  say  in  so  many  words : 
Spread  again  for  us  a  table  in  the  wilderness !  (Ps.  lxxviii.  18, 
19)  cannot  be  reckoned  as  a  great  commendation. 

But  the  good  Shepherd's  heart  cannot  deny  itself  and  cannot 
refrain ;  his  emotion  again  breaks  forth  in  the  words :  %7r\ay- 
yyitpiiai  eVt  iov  oy\ov.  As  in  Matth.  xiv.  14  ;  xx.  34  ;  Mark 
i.  41  ;  Luke  vii.  13 ;  this  is  always  an  expression  and  outgoing 
of  that  deep  compassion,  Matth.  ix.  36,  with  which  Christ,  (as  in 
former  times  the  God  of  Israel,  Jud.  ii.  18  ;  x.  16),  stoops  even 
to  the  bodily  wants  of  the  wretched,  whether  on  a  great  or  a 
small  scale,  because  their  great  distress — that  which  is  truly 
so — moves  his  heart.  These  words  "  I  have  compassion  on  the 
people"  in  the  mouth  and  heart  of  Christ  have  called  into  exis- 
tence all  the  institutions  of  philanthropy,  unknown  to  heathen- 
ism, for  all  sorts  of  indigence  and  distress.  They  are  hungry — 
this  now  with  Christ  takes  precedence  of  every  other  purpose  to 
withdraw  himself  more  and  more  from  this  time  forward,  of  all 
hesitation  about  raising  again  a  stir  such  as  he  wished  to  avoid. 

1  These  words  of  the  people  whether  occurring  here  or  elsewhere  can 
for  the  present  only  signify  :  Our  old  God  still  lives,  and  turns  again  to 
his  people  ;  Comp.  Luke  vii.  16  ;  i.  68  ;  Matth,  ix.  33. 


MATTHEW  XV.  32,  34.  313 

That  they  have  continued  three  days  with  Him  (although  in  a 
very  different  sense  from  that  continuing  with  Him  of  which  we 
read  in  Luke  xxii.  28),  He  kindly  reckons  to  their  praise,  for 
there  was  indeed  a  spark  of  faith  in  this,  in  which  He  rejoiced. 
Only  once  to  forget  bread  in  their  nearness  to  Him, — how  much 
better  than  the  character  of  so  many  at  this  day,  who  so  often 
forget  and  forsake  him  in  their  anxiety  about  bread  !  The  time 
comes  for  dismissing  them  to  their  homes,  but  he  bethinks  him- 
self with  accompanying  love  of  the  vijareL<;  on  the  way,  how  they 
might  faint — he  cannot  reconcile  himself  to  this,  and  therefore 
he  must  say  :  ov  diXco,  According  to  Mark  he  added  (entering 
into  particulars)  the  words  :  For  several  of  them  are  come  from 
far !  (Certainly  rjKovcn  is  not,  as  Luther  understands  it,  a  remark 
of  the  evangelists,  but  a  continuation  of  the  direct  words  of 
Christ ;  rJKco  is  the  pres.  with  perf.  signification,  are  from  far.) 
"  Here  tell  me  whether,  if  the  people  had  sent  a  message  to 
Christ  to  tell  him  of  their  necessity,  they  could  have  presented  a 
stronger  case  for  themselves  than  occurs  to  the  mind  of  Christ 
himself?  Ah,  good  Lord,  have  compassion  on  the  poor  people, 
only  think  that  they  have  continued  now  three  days  with  thee ; 
that  they  have  nothing  to  eat,  for  they  are  in  the  desert ;  if  thou 
lettest  them  go  away  without  having  eaten,  they  must  faint  by 
the  way ;  remember  that  several  of  them  have  come  from  far ! 
See !  he  himself  considers  all  this  before  any  one  tells  it  to  him, 
and  has  already  himself  made  just  such  a  prayer  as  they  might 
advance  in  their  hearts,  so  as  that  no  one  could  carry  it  so  well 
in  his  heart.  1  already  have  compassion,  he  says,  and  have  al- 
ready considered  everything."1  He,  however,  takes  the  disci- 
ples into  counsel  with  him  as  he  often  does  in  his  kindness,  and 
his  whole  address  to  them  implies  without  its  being  expressed  : 
What  think  ye,  shall  we  not  feed  them  again.  The  frequent  re- 
mark that  this  time  Christ  begins,  while,  on  the  former  occasion, 
the  disciples  had  directed  the  attention  of  Christ  to  the  thing,  is 
founded  on  an  oversight  of  what  we  read  in  John  vi.  5,  G ;  so 
much  only  is  true  in  this,  that  on  this  occasion  he  at  once  calls 
all  his  disciples  together,  and  will  thereby  certainly  bring  to  their 

1  Luther,  Sermon  for  the  7  Trin.  in  the  collection  by  Niethammer, 
where  also  he  avoids  and  even  corrects  the  error  of  his  translation  in 
Mark. 


314  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

mind  the  thought  of  the  five  loaves  among  the  five  thousand. 
Matth.  xvi.  9. 

And  now  the  same  Matthew,  whose  profound  clearness  in  ren- 
dering the  discourses  of  Jesus  we  so  much  admire,  informs  us, 
not  less  faithfully  than  strikingly,  of  his  own  and  his  fellow-dis- 
ciples' perplexity  on  this  occasion,  from  which  it  at  first  appears 
as  if  they  had  actually  forgotten  entirely  the  former  miracle  of 
feeding  the  multitudes.  Yet  we  would  not  express  ourselves  on 
this  point  quite  so  strongly  as  Wizenmann :  "  it  is,  moreover,  if 
Matthew  was  fabricating  the  story,  the  most  awkward  thing  con- 
ceivable that  he  should  have  let  the  disciples  give  this  answer." 
Looking  at  this  answer  psychologically,  it  is  rather  so  to  be  un- 
derstood, as  expressing  neither  an  entire  forgetting  nor  an 
entire  believing,  but  just  their  natural  wavering  state  of  mind 
and  position.  So  much  they  indeed  take  for  granted,  that  tliey 
are  to  have  something  to  do  in  the  feeding  of  the  people,  because 
he  has  called  them  to  him,  and  iroOev  t)/mlv  sounds  almost  like  a 
delicate  allusion  to  the  former  occasion — a  shy  question  which 
they  only  reverently  conceal :  Is  it  to  be  in  the  same  way  again  ? 
(Mark,  indeed,  has  instead  BwrjaeTaL  rt?,  which  sounds  somewhat 
more  indefinite.)  It  is  certainly  inconceivable  that  they  should 
not  at  all  have  remembered  the  former  miracle ;  but  Christ  had, 
on  this  occasion,  allowed  the  third  day  to  arrive  before  doing 
anything,  and  many  a  want  he  did  not  supply  in  this  miraculous 
way ;  they  venture,  therefore,  to  think  neither  one  thing  nor 
another  regarding  his  present  intention,  in  their  embarrassment 
they  do  not  at  the  moment  well  know  what  they  shall  say, 
and  in  reality  they  just  say  what  is  most  direct  and  straightfor- 
ward. Perfectly  honesty  they  will  neither  boldly  advance  with 
their  half  faith  to  a  repetition  of  the  miracle,  nor  will  they  oppose 
their  half  doubt  to  what  Christ  has  said  as  a  direct  contradiction  ; 
they  therefore  recur  rather  to  what  they  said  on  the  former  oc- 
casion :  Whence  should  we  have  so  much  bread  in  the  wilderness 
as  to  fill  so  great  a  multitude  t  (On  this  occasion  the  stronger 
expression  yp?7^70-1  *s  use(^  to  correspond  with  the  j/?Jjt€w). 
Christ  at  once  receives  this  kindly,  because  there  was  in  it  at  the 
same  time  something  which  recalled  the  procedure  on  the  former 
occasion,  and  He  therefore  repeats  now  His  former  answer :  How 
much  bread  have  ye  ?  (Mark  vi.  38,  viii.  5).     This  signified  :  By 


MATTHEW  XVI.  2 — 4.  315 

all  means  in  the  same  way  again  I  Whether  the  power  of  God 
really  will  not  or  cannot1  create  anything  new  since  the  creation, 
without  "materiam  praejacentem " — into  such  subtle  questions 
we  do  not  enter.  If  aught  stands  written  to  this  effect,  then 
must  we  read  it,  and  if  it  be  at  this  day  done  before  our  eyes 
(who  knows  all  that  is  done  ?) — then  our  wisdom  would  have  an 
end,  just  as  the  present  physiology  of  animal  life  in  the  presence  of 
the  toad  living  for  centuries  in  the  stone.  Now  it  is  here  said  that 
the  disciples  had  a  little  bread  and  a  few  fishes  ;  that  Christ  first  of 
all  asked  after  these,  and  took  them,  is  natural.  Let  him  who 
has  any  wish  to  enquire  farther  suppose  the  case  :  We  have  no- 
thing at  all !  and  whether  Christ  would  then  have  said,  Then 
must  the  poor  people  indeed  faint  ?  Or  whether  He  might  still 
have  filled  them  with,  or  without  meat,  and  done  to  them  accord- 
ing to  His  compassion  ?  Suffice  to  say,  He  took  also  the  fishes, 
which  the  disciples  before  had  called  little  fishes,  and,  according 
to  Matthew,  at  least  had  not  counted  them,  while  according  to 
Mark  they  had  not  even  named  them, — He  gives  thanks  for  every 
present  gift  of  God,  but  His  thanksgiving  becomes  a  power- 
fully increasing  blessing,  when  the  people  need  and  His  heart 
wills  it. 


REPEKENCE  TO  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

(Matth.  xvi.  2—4 ;  Mar.  viii.  12.) 

Nothing  more  natural  than  that  the  demand  for  signs  should 
be  repeated  ;  it  may  quite  possibly  have  occurred  several  times 
besides  those  mentioned  at  chap.  viii.  12,  here,  and  at  John  vi. 
30.  Though  not  so  often  as  certain  standing  objections  and 
phrases  are  brought  forward  to  preachers,  missionaries,  and 
Christians  in  general,  according  to  the  country  and  people  ;  for 
the  power  of  Christ  to  dismiss  and  deter  from  these  was  greater 

1  It  is  a  question,  whether  among'  the  kvXKoLs  (ver.  30)  there  were 
maimed  persons  to  whom  Christ  supplied  the  members  that  were  want- 
ing? Of  which  for  the  rest  Grotius  says  differently  from  Olshausen, 
Non  video  quid  obstet. 


316  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

than  ours.  Equally  natural  is  it  that  he  should  repeat  the  same 
answer  to  the  same  challenge,  especially  as  it  was  certainly  only 
other  persons  who  repeated  the  challenge,  or  rather  brought  it 
forward  anew  from  the  same  disposition  of  mind.  If  this,  then, 
was  repeated  once  or  twice,  the  striking  answer  of  Christ  would 
become  commonly  known  in  its  general  purport,  and  it  would  be 
said  among  His  opponents :  One  must  not  come  to  Him  with 
this  demand,  else  one  gets  for  answer,  The  wicked  and  adulter- 
ous generation,  and  the  sign  of  Jonah. 

As,  after  the  first  feeding  of  the  multitudes,  the  obstinate 
people  desire  bread  from  heaven,  so  probably  the  demand  of  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  here  stands  in  some  connexion  with  the 
foregoing  second  feeding.  They  have  heard  of  it,  and  (similarly 
as  at  chap,  xii.)  want  to  counteract  the  impression  upon  the 
people :  "  Who  knows  how  this  came  to  pass  f  Can  He  yet 
further,  yet  more  conspicuously  and  surely,  attest  His  power  I 
We  have  asked  this  of  Him  in  vain !"  For,  that  He  will  at  all 
events  not  do  what  they  desire,  so  much  do  these  hypocrites 
certainly  know  beforehand,  although  with  no  clear  insight  into 
the  true  reason,  of  this.  They  say  it  indeed,  TreipaCpvres 
avrov,  as  Mark  adds.  Still,  there  is  mingled  with  this  presenti- 
ment of  the  truth,  and  this  malice  which  suppresses  it,  the  actual 
folly  of  the  Jewish  opinion,  according  to  which  heavenly  and 
earthly  signs  were  at  that  time  distinguished,  and  it  was  sup- 
posed that  the  latter  might  be  wrought  also  by  evil  spirits  (by 
Beelzebub).  On  the  former  occasion,  therefore,  when  a  sign 
was  asked,  it  was  a  sign  from  heaven  that  was  meant,  as  Luke 
says  (chap.  xi.  16).  Matthew,  however,  here,  for  the  first  time, 
expressly  specifies  this.  The  idols  of  the  heathen  or  the  devils 
can  shew  no  sign  in  the  heavens — we  read  in  the  book  of  Baruch 
chap.  vi.  6Q  (comp.  iv.  7  ;  1  Cor.  x.  20),  and  the  later  corrupt 
taste  has  invented  enough  of  apocyryphal  manifestations  from 
heaven.  (2  Mace.  ii.  22.)  It  is  uncertain  whether  those  who 
now  make  the  demand  are  thinking  of  signs  such  as  these,  or  of 
those  that  are  canonical,  of  bread  from  heaven  such  as  Moses 
gave,  causing  the  sun  to  stand  still  as  Joshua  did,  calling  forth 
thunder  and  rain  (Jer.  xiv.  22)  as  Samuel  and  Elias,  or  some- 
thing else ;  only  they  can  hardly  have  had  in  their  thoughts  the 


MATTHEW  XVI.  2 — 4.  317 

Messianic  signs  in  the  heaven  (Joel  iii.  3,  which  many  commen- 
tators mention  here.)1  He  has  given  them  enough  of  Messiah- 
signs,  and  yet  they  will  not  receive  him  as  the  Messiah  !  Had 
he  even  done  as  many  signs  in  the  heaven  as  he  did  on  earth, 
they  would  assuredly  have  impudently  come  forward  still  more 
with  the  objection  :  "What  good  is  done  to  us  by  all  these 
appearances  and  spectacles,  which  dazzle  the  mob,  and  which 
aerial  spirits  may  produce  for  him  by  magic  1  Let  him,  instead 
of  this,  heal  our  sick,  the  lame,  and  the  blind,  as  it  is  written  in 
the  prophets,  that  we  may  know  that  it  is  he  !"2 

According  to  Matth.  ver.  4,  Christ  gave  these  knaves  literally 
the  same  answer  as  at  chap.  xii.  39,  where  we  have  already 
explained  it  in  its  profound  import.  Mark  ver.  12  only  indicates 
the  same  by  a  general  expression  (el  Sodr/aerai,  formula  of  swear- 
ting  Heb.  q^),  but  adds,  after  his  manner,  which  oftener  repre- 
sents the  thing  by  such  delineations  of  feeling  or  gestures,  that 
Christ  heaved  a  sigh  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart  r<p  -rrvevfxaTi 
aiirovj  which  sigh  finds  also  its  expression  in  the  words,  either 
literally  spoken,  or  to  this  effect : — Why  does  this  generation  seek 
after  a  sign  !  Whence  and  wherefore  but  from  unbelief  and 
hypocrisy,  which  repels  from  itself  the  evident  miracles  and 
clear  proofs  already  afforded  ! 

Matthew  who,  in  giving  the  discourses  of  Christ,  is  always 
the  most  exact  of  the  three  first  evangelists,  as  far  as  regards  the 
inviolable  kernel,  informs  us,  however,  that  Christ  here,  as  is 
always  to  be  supposed  in  similar  cases,  by  no  means  merely 
repeated  the  former  answer,  but  put  before  it  something  new, 
which  is  again  repeated  in  Luke  xii.  54 — 57.3 

You  are  generally  wise  enough  to  observe  and  discern  in  the 
sky  what  sort  of  weather  is  already  present  over  the  earth;  if  you 
would  thus  attentively  look  at  the  signs  now  present  on  the 

1  With  least  probability  of  all,  the  star  of  the  Messiah  according  to 
Balaam's  prophecy ! 

2  Pfenuinger's  Jiidische  Briefe  v.  159. 

3  And  that  not  without  a  difference :  here  to  Pharisees  and  Saddu- 
cees,  there  to  the  entire  people  ;  here  only  of  the  aspect  of  the  heavens 
for  good  or  bad  weather  in  general,  there  specially  of  particular 
weather-signs ;  there  more  closely  pressing,  it  is  of  this  time  and  the 
application  to  itself. 


318  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

earth,  they  would  be  to  you  signs  also  from  heaven.  However 
general  the  manner  in  which  Christ  here  speaks  of  the  signs  of 
the  weather,  what  he  says  is  yet  strikingly  and  picturesquely 
carried  out ;  for  when  Christ  touches  anything  in  nature  he  hits 
it  exactly,  when  he  says  anything  to  men  he  takes  close  and 
pressing  hold  of  them.  The  sky  is  red  in  the  evening  as  also  in 
the  morning,  and  yet  the  evening  and  morning  redness  is  not 
the  same ;  moreover,  it  is  not  the  clear  evening,  and  the  cloudy 
morning  redness.  The  one  prognosticates  a  pure  atmosphere  even 
for  the  following  day,  the  other  shews  already  the  present  %et/xa)i/, 
the  violently  overflowing  or  tempestuous  rain,  although  it  is  as 
yet  dry  and  calm.  (Ev&la  and  xeipdov  the  most  general  anti- 
thesis of  the  daily  weather.)  The  verbs  ending  in  dfyiv, 
the  immediately  repeated  irvppd&i,  and  the  adding  of  arvy- 
vdtpv  the  second  time— are,  in  the  Greek,  strongly  and  vividly 
picturesque.  Such  rednesses,  otherwise  similar,  you  know 
how  to  distinguish,  and  to  observe  the  difference  of  that  which 
has  the  a-rvyvd^eov  along  with  it;1  you  speak  as  sure  wea- 
ther prophets,  when  you  see  these  different  prognostics  with  a 
wise,  Then,—  saying  concisely  with  great  certainty :  A  fine  day  ! 
(is  indicated  for  the  morrow  by  this  evening)  to-day,  rainy 
weather  !  Not  even  an  carat  as  in  our  own  language.  Jfai)*fPfa 
or  arvyavos  does  not  (as  we  find  maintained  by  some  on  this 
passage)  originally  mean  dark,  but,  in  reality,  sad,  although 
already  with  reference  to  the  outward  appearance  (hence  arvyvbv 
ofMfjia,  hence  (Mark  x.  22)  arvyvdaa?  as  an  indication  of  the 
inward  XvTrov/jLevos,  see,  however,  also  Ez.  xxxii.  10,  LXX.) — i 
the  expression  corresponds  with  the  utmost  propriety  to  the  fol- 
lowing TtpoacoTTov  rod  ovpavov,  which  is  not  after  the  Hebr.  q^Q 
to  be  taken  for  aspect  in  general,  but :  the  sky  looks  sad  or 
joyful,  presents  to  us  a  gloomy  or  cheerful  face.  In  this  lively 
way  does  Christ,  with  the  true  human  feeling  to  which  he  will 
here  appeal,  apprehend  nature,  so  as  in  the  jLvcoa/ceTe  oiatc- 
piveiv  to  point  to  the  eye  so  receptive  and  open  for  natural  things. 
But  now  he  puts  in  opposition  to  these  signs  of  the  weather, 

i  Quod  si  et  nigrae  (nubes)  rubentibus  intervenerint,  et  pluvias. 
Plin.  Hist.  nat.  xviii.  35.  Christ  is  no  stranger  also  to  meteorology, 
and  when  he  will  speak  of  this  he  has  well  considered  what  is  right  in 
the  ordinary  sayings  of  men  on  this  subject. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  2 — 4.  S19 

which  the  sky  presents  to  us  when  we  look  at  it,  the  arjfieia 
rwv  icaip&v  which  by  right  should  stand  side  by  side  with  them. 
Already  the  Syriac  is  wrong,  when  it  renders  this  expression  as 
if  it  meant  the  signs  of  this  time  (\%yr\  bOlTl) — as  at  kuke  xii. 
56  Christ  certainly  said,  rov  Kaiphv  tovtov.  This  application, 
which  is  indeed  meant,  is  for  the  present,  in  a  more  general  idea, 
left  to  be  made  by  themselves,  while  in  the  first  place  the  before- 
mentioned  distinction  of  clear  and  gloomy  days  is  compared  to 
different  times,  and  their  conjunctures.  There  is  no  ground  for 
supposing  that  naipoi  stands  here  specially  for  the  Messianic  time, 
compare  elsewhere  Mark  i.  15 ;  Luke  xix.  44.  Christ  rather 
means  to  say,  that  there  are  in  general  signs  of  tlie  times,  every 
time  has  its  own,  all  XP°V0L  (sPaces  o£  time,  periods)  have  as 
fcaipoi  an  import,  consisting  of  the  events  that  happen  and  coin- 
cide, to  which  one  can  and  ought  to  give  heed,  in  order  to  under- 
stand wThat  time  precisely  now  it  is.  These  signs  of  the  times  to 
the  single  eye,  the  upright  heart,  should  at  least  be  quite  as  evi- 
dent as  the  signs  of  the  weather  in  the  sky  (which,  according  to 
Gen.  i.  14,  are  also  connected  with  still  other  signs  of  the  times). 
Nay,  these  signs,  in  the  things  that  happen  to  nations  and  to 
man,  are  indeed,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  most  proper  sense  of 
the  word  signs  from  heaven,  of  the  divine  government  and  its 
counsel,  for  all  who  rightly  consider  what  indications  belong  to 
earth,  especially  in  the  light  of  prophecy.  Not  as  if  Christ  will 
here  merely  (although  this  also  has  its  truth)  put  the  unhappily 
so  often  lightly-esteemed  and  neglected  observing  of  the  time 
with  natural  wisdom,  in  opposition  to  the  observing  of  the  signs 
from  heaven ;  rather  are  we  admonished  here  to  consider  the 
time  with  the  true,  divinely-opened  eye.  Israel  especially  had, 
in  addition  to  this,  the  word  of  prophecy  given  from  heaven,  in 
the  light  of  which  to  prove  and  learn  what  God,  from  time  to 
time,  had  caused  to  happen  them  ;  not  otherwise  did  the  prophets 
in  earlier  times  come  to  know  their  times'  from  the  former  word, 
and  thus  find  and  receive  new  disclosures  for  the  present,  and  the 
remoter  future.  If  this  holds  good  in  general,  it  must  do  so  in 
the  highest  degree  in  regard  to  the  time  of  times,  the  period  of 
fulfilment  and  visitation  in  the  most  proper  sense,  in  which  every- 
thing now  cried  aloud :  Who  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him  hear!  Who 
hath  eyes  to  see  let  him  see !  To  the  Sadducees  also,  even  without 


320  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

prophecy,  were  manifest  the  signs  of  the  time  of  the  Messiah, 
which  were  now  present  in  abundance.  Let  chap.  xi.  4 — 15  be 
recalled  ;  what  was  there  said  Christ  means  here,  and  still  more, 
even  in  the  widest  sense.  Not  merely  his  miracles,  his  works,  or 
his  whole  labours,  after  Elias  cried  in  the  wilderness, — but  also 
that  the  sceptre  had  departed  from  Juda,  that  Daniel's  year  of 
weeks  had  come  to  an  end,  and  what  else  such  as  were  attentive 
might  observe ;  even  the  wicked  generation  might  be  a  sign  to 
itself,  were  it  only  to  judge  rightly  of  itself. 

Butitwill  not  do  so,  and,  therefore,  Christ  rebukes  it  when  it  asks 
and  requires  signs;  therefore,  he  asks,  on  the  other  hand:  Ye  hypo- 
crites who  know  so  well  to  discern  the  redness  of  the  sky,  can  ye 
really  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times,  not  perceive  the  great 
significance  of  the  present  time  which  is  full  of  signs,  in  contra- 
distinction to  all  that  have  been  before  it  !  If  ye  only  would  ! 
Here  is  a  text  for  a  sermon  to  the  conscience,  the  truth  of  which 
continually  more  or  less  strongly  renews  itself,  although  it  was  only 
then  true  in  the  strongest  sense.  Thus  are  men  hypocrites,  in  that 
though  wise  in  natural  things  they  show  themselves  and  make 
themselves  blind  in  spiritual,  and  like  many  even  at  this  day  "rather 
look  to  the  weather  and  the  barometer  than  into  the  Bible  and 
their  own  heart."  What  is  said  of  the  weather  is  itself,  at  the 
same  time,  figurative,  and  to  be  further  extended :  in  the  political 
horizon  they  discern  peace  or  war  elBia  or  ^ecfMcov  with  cunning 
pragmatism  as  prophets  of  news,  but  as  prophets  of  the  kingdom 
to  perceive  God's  work  on  the  earth  they  are  wilfully  stupid,  and 
yet,  at  the  same  time,  act  as  if  they  really  desired  for  themselves 
signsfrom  heaven  !  Such  a  generation  is  still  always,  as  it  wasthen 
referred  to  the  sign  of  Jonah  which  is  now  set  up  in  all  the  world, 
to  the  sermon  concerning  the  risen  crucified  one  and  its  effect  on 
the  earth  ;  this  is  the  true  sign  from  heaven.  He  who  believes 
not  this,  how  is  he  to  be  helped  against  his  will  ? — and  he  left 
them  and  departed  I 

1  For  the  ancient  interpretation  of  these  prophecies  remains  sure 
against  all  new  ones. 


MATTHEW  XVT.  6,  8,  11.  321 

BEWABE  OF  THE  LEAVEN  ! 

Matth.  xvi.  6,  8,  11.    Mark  viii.  15, 17—21. 

The  warning1  against  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  andSadducees, 
which  He  now  gives  to  His  disciples  on  the  way  in  the  ship, 
stands  in  exact  connexion,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  with  the  inci- 
dent just  narrated.  Leaven  is  also  among  the  heathen  a  metaphor 
for  what  is  corrupt,  bad,  in  so  far  as  rermentation  is  taken  as 
allied  to  putrefaction.  In  this  signification  the  Israelites  were  for- 
bidden to  use  it  as  a  meat-offering  (Lev.  ii.  11 ;  Amos  iv.  5),  as 
also  its  removal  during  the  seven  days  of  the  passover  (Ex.  xii.  15, 
19 ;  xiii.  7)  is,  even  in  the  New  Testament  applied  as  a  figure  by 
the  Apostle,  1  Cor.  v.  2.  The  Eabbins  call  the  y^pi  ^^,  or  the 
natural  sinful  imaginations  and  aims  of  the  heart  HD^S.^  TlNfc? 
— the  leaven  in  the  dough,  "  because  as  a  little  leaven  it  leavens 
and  corrupts  the  whole  dough."2    Accordingly  in  this  warning 

1  Mark  uses  here  the  expression  diecrreWero,  This  word  elsewhere  in 
Greek  signifies  originally  to  distinguish,  then  to  say  or  appoint  anything 
definitely  and  plainly,  hence  at  Matth.  xvi.  20,  Hesych.  explains  by 
tiic<Ta<i)r)(ra.To.  The  LXX  put  it  for  -^JTfj-j  to  impart  light  and  instruc- 
tion upon  anything,  then  also  specially  to  warn ;  hence  in  the  New 
Testament  dtaorcXXew  is  chiefly  to  forbid,  (see  Matth.  xvi.  20 ;  Mark 
v.  43  ;  vii.  36  ;  ix.  9).  Elsewhere  also,  Heb.  xii.  20  to  diao-TeWofievov, 
in  general,  that  which  was  spoken  to  them — as  Acts  xv.  24,  ov  &eo-r«Aa- 
peOa,  we  have  said  expressly  or  laid  down  nothing  concerning  this, — as 
distinguished  from,  commanded,  properly  speaking.  Here,  therefore,  in 
Mark  it  means,  to  say  openly  to  them,  pointedly  and  earnestly  warning 
them ;  with  which  the  anxiously  careful  misunderstanding  of  the  disciples 
is  intended  to  stand  in  contrast.  **  What  does  he  mean  by  this  so 
pointed  word?" 

2  This  general  reference  is  sufficient  as  a  motive  for  the  warning. 
Lange  again  certainly  interprets  too  subtly  when  he  thinks,  that 
"with  the  feeling  of  one  who  was  driven  out" — as  if  he  now  "made 
his  removal  from  the  Jews  who  had  become  heathens,"  Christ  with  a 
typical  retrospect  warned  them  against  taking  along  with  them  the 
leaven  of  the  Egyptians.  Although  in  other  respects  the  idea  appears 
quite  ingenious  :  "  that  in  the  removal  from  an  impure  theoretical  com- 
munity they  must  have  a  higher  care  than  the  fear  of  being,  in  the 
first  place,  without  bread,  namely,  the  care  lest  they  should  take  along 
with  them,  into  the  new  order  of  things,  any  of  the  leaven  of  the  same 
corrupt  tendency  of  life  deep  into  the  secret  recess  of  the  heart." 

VOL.  II.  X 


322  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Christ  has  certainly  in  his  mind  nothing  merely  outward,  hut,  pre- 
cisely as  the  Apostle  in  addressing  the  Corinthians,  a  disposition, 
a  state  of  mind,  which,  deep-sinking  and  all-penetrating,  either 
steals  into  the  heart,  or  is  already  there ;  the  Stoa^  of  Matthew 
therefore  (ver.  12)  either  expresses  the  same  thing  regarded  in- 
ternally (as  our  system,  equivalent  also  to  principle),  or  perhaps 
(which  at  least  may  be  possible)  is  intended  delicately  to  hint, 
that  the  understanding  of  the  disciples  at  that  time  had  as  yet 
not  penetrated  into  the  depths  of  the  word,  but  still  remained 
standing  by  the  "  doctrine"  instead  of  the  disposition  of  heart.1 

In  Luke  xii.  1,  where  Christ  repeats  the  same  warning  to  his 
disciples  before  all  the  people,  and  names  only  the  leaven  of  the 
Pharisees,  He  immediately  adds  to  it  the  decisive  explanation  : 
which  is  hypocrisy,  (Comp.  on  this  before  at  chap.  xi.  39 — 44). 
We  will  scarcely  go  wrong,  if  we  lay  this  explanation  at  bottom 
here  also,  although  at  first  it  is  only  the  Pharisees  who  are  called 
hypocrites,  and  here  very  remarkably  the  Sadducees  also  are 
classed  along  with  them.  In  Mark  we  read,  instead  of  this,  teal 
tt}?  gt/M??  'HpcoBov,  which  is  substantially  the  same,  only  the 
Sadducees  are  denoted  in  that  special  point  of  view,  in  virtue  of 
which  the  Pharisees  themselves  took  them  into  fellowship  to 
make  common  cause  with  them  against  Jesus.  The  Herodiansy 
as  they  again  appear  in  connexion  with  the  Pharisees  in  Matt. 

1  At  all  events,  as  regards  the  HerodianSj  the  doctrine  taken  exactly 
can  no  otherwise  be  suitable  than  when  it  is  understood  of  the  "had 
principles  which  prevailed  at  the  court  of  the  king."  (See  Braune  on 
the  passage,  who  interprets  it  just  as  we  do).  In  like  manner,  Neander 
well  observes,  that  the  "  doctrine,"  properlys  peaking,  of  the  Pharisees 
and  the  Sadducees,  outwardly  signified,  could  not  at  all  be  thus  con- 
nected as  alike.  It  is  only  an  odd  use  of  Scripture  springing 
from  his  own  ideas,  when,  for  example,  Nagel  (in  the  Lutherische 
Zeitschrift,  1847,  1.  p.  22)  cites  in  favour  of  his  close  pressing  of  the 
doctrine,  that  Christ  (xvi.  12)  did  command  them  to  beware  of  the 
leaven  of  false  doctrine — just  as  if  Matth.  xvi.  12  were  also  the 
immediate  word  of  Christ !  Christ  rather  meant  the  "  disposition, 
character,  life"  of  the  hypocrites,  which,  as  at  that  time  among  the 
Pharisees,  may  exist  along  with  strict  orthodoxy ;  any  other  under- 
standing of  it  would  only  be  the  recorded  misunderstanding  of  the  dis- 
ciples. Here  lies  an  important  principal  point  for  or  against  the  new 
Lutherans,  who  are  right  indeed  in  rebuking  the  really  false  doctrine  in 
the  Herodiano-political  or  Sadduceo-heretical  system,  but  along  with 
this  should  not  forget  also  the  leaven  in  the  Pharisaico-orthodox,  in  the 
proudly  hypocritical  separatism. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  6,  8,  11.  323 

xxii.  16,  and  Mark  iii.  6,  were  not  exactly  a  special  sect ;  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  all  Sadducees  precisely  Herodians,  but 
this  name  designates  chiefly  the  political  adherents  of  the  Herodian 
dynasty  who  stuck  to  the  Eomans,  their  protectors,  and  in  so 
far,  therefore,  both  by  their  Sadducean  theory,  and  by  their 
practice  and  their  treatment  of  the  circumstances  of  the  time, 
stood  in  the  sharpest  opposition  to  the  orthodox  Pharisees,  who, 
from  Israelitish  pride,  abhorred  and  keenly  felt  the  heathen  sove- 
reignty. Not  the  less,  on  this  account,  were  these  enemies 
united  at  heart,  when  the  object  was  to  tempt  and  to  assail  Jesus, 
as  they  had  just  before,  at  ver.  1,  appeared  together  making  com- 
mon cause.  Perhaps  the  disciples,  in  their  simplicity,  had  indig- 
nantly reprehended  this  mistaken  demand  of  the  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees,  which  had  been  so  sharply  repelled  by  Christ ;  and 
Christ,  wisely  putting  them  to  shame,  checks  their  as  yet  un- 
warrantable judgment,  and  tells  them  that  they  were  not  yet  so 
surely  exalted  above  these  people's  state  of  mind,  and  had  also 
reason  still  to  beware  of  their  leaven. 

Leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  : — thus  Christ  views  as 
fundamentally  one,  two  parties  who,  as  regards  the  outward  ex- 
pression, seemed  at  that  time,  as  at  all  times,  to  lie  far  separate 
from  each  other.  The  whole  of  Israel  (not  taking  into  account 
the  few  Essenes  who  stood  almost  out  of  Israel)  was  then  divided 
into  these  two  opposing  parties,  so  that  every  one  must  needs  be- 
long either  to  the  one  or  the  other ;  either  with  the  one  going 
at  all  events  as  far  as  Zelotism,  which  would  refuse  to  give  tri- 
bute to  Caesar  for  God's  sake,  or  with  the  other  as  far  as  an  entire 
adherence  to  the  political  court-religion  of  the  royal  family, 
reigning  by  favour  of  the  Romans.  Jesus,  however,  will  in  his 
disciples  form  another  and  a  new  party,  alike  opposed  to  both, 
and  yet  not  Essenian,  but  genuinely  Israelitish  in  the  fulfilment, 
in  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah  now  come.  Ye  hypocrites  ! 
Thus  has  He  before  rejected  them  both  together ;  here,  there- 
fore, also  He  means,  in  the  first  place,  the  leaven  of  their  hypo- 
crisy. This,  however,  is  not  yet  the  deepest  import  of  His 
words,  in  so  far  as  He  classes  them  both  together.  In  the  Pha- 
risee, also,  the  secret  Sadducee  lies  hid,  beneath  all  the  show  of 
strict  orthodoxy  and  zeal  for  the  law ;  for  they  are  hypocrites, 
because  they  are  properly  unbelievers  in  heart.     The  ground  of 


g24  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

all  hypocrisy  is  the  putting  aside  and  repelling  of  the  certified 
truth ;  on  the  other  hand,  also,  all  open  unbelief,  Sadducean- 
ism,  Herodianism,  is  in  substance  still  the  same  hypocrisy,  only 
in  an  inverted  form,  in  so  far  as  the  freethinker  and  politician 
carries  his  delusion  in  like  manner  against  conscience,  as  the  right 
truth  and  wisdom,  only  for  show.     It  is  a  hiding  in  the  one  case 
and  an  uncovering  in  the  other,  but  both  equally  false  and 
human.     While,  therefore,  when  both  are  spoken  of  together  as 
hypocrites,  the  honour  of  the  "  a  parte  potiori  Jit  denominatio" 
falls  to  the  Pharisee,  and  the  Sadducee  must  nolens  volens  be 
contented  to  be  reckoned  in  the  same  category— the  Pharisee  is, 
thereby,  also  at  the  same  time,  called  a  Sadducee,  i.e.,  the  one  as 
the  other  an  unbeliever.     This  is  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees,— different  in  outward  appearance  and  yet  the  same  : 
the  unbelieving  hypocrisy  and  the  hypocritical  unbelief  in  its 
innermost  oneness,  such  as  it  must  betray  itself  in  hostile  fellow- 
ship against  the  truth  of  God  in  Christ.     Let  us  now  in  the 
application  pass  beyond  the  limits  of  Israel,  and  see  how  this 
Israel  itself,  in  its  decline  and  corruption,  cannot  cease  to  be  a 
world-historical  type  of  man  and  of  Christendom.     Orthodoxy 
and  rationalism,  zeal  for  the  letter  and  criticism,  pietism  and 
libertinism,  Church  zeal  and  political  worldly- wisdom — also  the 
"  dry  science  withont  energy"  (which  Roos  here  mentions)  and 
the  energetic  literature  of  unbelief  and  immorality— who  can 
name  and  comprehend  all  the  forms  which,  in  theory  and  prac- 
tice, on  this  side  and  on  that,  this  twofold  leaven  has  assumed, 
and  even  now  assumes  at  this  day  J     Thus  it  threatens  the  dis- 
ciples of  Christ  everywhere,  in  public  teaching,  discourse  or 
writing,  in  social  life,  finally  (for  otherwise  there  would  be  no 
danger !),  in  their  own  hearts,  which  readily  sympathise  with  the 
subtilely  scattered  elements  of  falsehood,  in  the  one  form  or  the 
other,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  pure  truth  held  in  entire  faith. 
Therefore  what  Christ  here  says  to  His  disciples  He  says  to  all : 
Take  heed,  by  looking  around  you !  Beware,  by  looking  within 
you ! 

The  disciples  were  then  far  from  such  an  understanding  of  the 
wise  words  of  their  Master,  and  thought  He  meant  by  the 
leaven  only  literal  bread  belonging  to  the  Pharisees.  80  soon 
again  had  they  forgotten  what  was  said   (chap.  xv.  16—20)! 


MATTHEW  XVI.  6,  8,  11.  325 

They  had  accidentally,  on  this  occasion,  not  taken  due  care  to 
provide  themselves  with  bread  according  to  their  usual  custom ; 
Mark,  who  must  have  very  direct  information,  says  quite  exactly* 
that  only  one  loaf  was  in  the  ship.1  This  neglect,  which  now 
occurs  to  them,  helps,  moreover,  to  keep  their  thoughts  fixed  on 
the  bread,  as  if  the  word  of  Christ  were  in  some  way  connected 
with  this.  They  said  among  themselves  eV  eauTot?,  i.e.,  accord- 
ing to  Mark  7T/309  dWrjXovs : — He  will  certainly  mean  that  we 
have  not  taken  bread  with  us.  Strange  enough,  to  bring  this 
into  connection  with  the  warning  against  that  leaven !  Where, 
then,  might  they  find  a  baker  who  was  certainly  neither  a  Phari- 
see nor  Sadducee  in  any  wise  %  And  could  it  be  such  as  this 
that  the  Master  meant ! 

He  rebukes  their  foolishly  confused  thoughts  again,  at  first, 
with  the  friendly  word  which  He  is  always  so  ready  to  speak, 
and  which  was  indeed  in  a  certain  measure  always  appropriate : 
O  ye  of  little  faith  !  Here  it  applies  first  of  all  (recalling  to  their 
minds  chap.  vi.  30)  to  their  needless  concern  that  such  a  thing 
as  a  want  of  bread  should  happen  to  Him,  that  even  He  himself 
should  be  anxious  about  this;  for  it  was  this  that  had  led  to 
their  confused  thoughts.  Then,  however,  Christ  means  in  the 
thoughts  of  his  wisdom  precisely  the  leaven  of  unbelief  of  which 
he  had  spoken  ;  for  this,  indeed,  is  already  implied  in  every  act 
of  little  faith,  and  then  also  occasions  the  hypocrisy  of  cleaving 
to  what  is  external.  By  how  much  faith  is  still  wanting  to  us,  by 
so  much  are  we  also  as  yet  incapable  of  grasping  the  whole  truth, 
and  walking  in  it ;  that  which  proceeds  not  from  faith  is  error, 
and  those  who  are  held  captive  in  error  do  not  perceive  also  even 
what  is  most  evident.  According  to  Matt.,  Christ  simply  chid 
them  with  a  oUnrco  voeire  at  the  beginning,  and  a  7rco9  ov 
voelre  at  the  end  ;  according  to  Mark,  however,  their  want  of 
understanding  is  brought  into  prominence  in  words  of  severer 
rebuke,  in  which  we,  at  least,  may  be  allowed  to  think  it  impos- 
sible that  Mark  here  again  "  pleasantly  and  diffusely  carries  out 
the  words  of  Christ."  Truly  there  is  nothing  pleasant  in  the 
rebuke  proceeding  from  impatient  love  which  longed  so  much  to 


1  The  seven  baskets  full  were  certainly  consumed,  for  the  incidents 
are  by  no  means  so  closely  connected  together. 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

have  at  length  intelligent  disciples ;  still  less  is  there  any  diffuse- 
ness  or  tautology  in  these  significantly  measured  expressions.  If 
this  evangelist  knew  so  specially  that  the  disciples  had  only  one 
loaf,  we  maybe  sure  also  that  the  strikingly  severe  address  of 
the  Master  is  truly  narrated  from  a  good  source,  and  we  will  find 
not  that  Mark  has  diffusely  extended  the  words  of  Christ,  but 
that  Matthew  again  gives  the  extracted  essence.  The  innermost 
ground  of  all  folly,  as  of  that  now  shown  by  the  disciples,  is  the 
unfeeling  heart  hardened  in  unbelief  and  little  faith,  icaphla 
Te7rcopco/jL6V7},  which  the  evangelist  has  already,  at  chap.  vi.  52, 
introduced  as  a  reflection  of  his  own,  taking  it  from  the  words  of 
Christ  on  this  occasion.  Although,  indeed,  this  designation  is 
not  to  be  taken  in  so  bad  a  sense  here  as  at  chap.  iii.  5,  Matt, 
xiii.  15.  If  it  is  true  of  others  that  they  never  see  or  hear  at  all, 
the  same  is  true  of  the  disciples,  at  least  oftentimes ;  still,  and 
just  because  they  are  disciples,  it  is  the  more  severely  to  be  re- 
prehended in  them,  and  therefore  Christ  now  for  the  moment 
places  them  on  a  level  with  those  who  have  eyes  and  see  not, 
ears  and  hear  not.  As  if  he  said  :  These  thoughts  were  such  as 
might  have  occurred  to  you  if  you  were  not  at  all  my  disciples  I 
"  You  have  eyes,  do  ye  not  then  see?  You  have  ears,  do  ye 
not  then  hear  ?'  What  follows  always  when  the  heart  is  har- 
dened ?  Of  course  that  we  neither  observe  nor  perceive  what 
truth  and  wisdom  speak  to  us;  where,  however,  there  is  no 
perceiving,  there,  too,  there  can  be  no  understanding,  no  being 
intelligent.  Thus  in  Mark  voeiTe  and  avviere  are  distinguished, 
while  Matt,  puts  only  voelre  both  times ;  comp.  however*  also 
Matt.  chap.  xv.  16,  17,  as  well  as  chap.  xvi.  12,  rore  avvrj/cav. 
We  can  by  no  means  say  that  voelv  belongs  to  the  yfrvxb 
avvikvai  to  the  irvevpa ;  rather,  indeed,  inasmuch  as  we  feel  and 
perceive  with  the  believing  heart,  and  the  faith-sense  is  true 
reason,  the  voelv  contains  the  ground,  lying  deeper  in  the  will, 
of  the  avvtevai  following  out  of  it.  (Hence  the  exhortation, 
2  Tim.  ii.  7,  voei  a  Xeyco.)  Finally,  in  the  case  of  disciples  who 
had  already  enjoyed  for  a  length  of  time  their  Master's  com- 
pany and  teaching,  had  already  passed  through  and  experienced 
so  much  with  Him,  although  the  perceiving  and  understanding, 
is  always,  at  first  at  least,  a  seeing  and  hearing,  yet  afterwards 
there  may  justly  have  been  required  of  them,  a  remembering  of 


MATTHEW  XVI.  6,  8,  11.  327 

what  was  before  learned,  a  retaining  and  working  out  of  what 
had  been  already  received,  so  as  from  this  rightly  to  know  any- 
thing new  that  might  be  addressed  to  them.  With  which  last 
word  of  rebuke  ov  fAvrj/jbovevere,  the  representation  of  Mark  now 
again  becomes  one  with  that  of  Matthew.1 

Christ  who,  at  the  second  feeding  of  the  multitudes,  had  only 
made  quite  a  slight  allusion  to  the  first,  (Matth.  xv.  34), 
now  expressly  brings  before  them  both  of  these  together,  chiefly 
noticing  the  supplies  that  had  remained  over.  That  which 
Matthew,  in  respect  of  the  sense,  comprehends  in  Christ's  own 
discourse,  is  given  by  Mark  in  the  form  of  a  thorough  catechising 
of  the  disciples  as  to  what  they  had  forgotten,  so  that  the  shamed 
disciples  are  obliged  to  answer;  in  Mark,  too,  it  is  impressively 
noted  that  Christ  himself  brake  the  bread  among  the  thousands, 
and  therefore  so  many  fragments  remained.  So  literally  historical 
are  these  two  narratives  (of  which  many  aavveroi  are  at  least  for 
making  one,  if  not  a  fable)2  here  confirmed  by  the  mouth  of 
Christ,  in  a  discourse  which  the  Apostles  could  hardly  have  fabri- 
cated in  order  to  glorify  their  master!  On  the  first  occasion, 
there  were  twelve  smaller  baskets  (fcofavoi  such  as  are  conve- 
niently carried  upon  journeys)  corresponding  to  the  number  of 
the  apostles ;  on  the  second,  there  were  seven  large  aiTvpfoes 
corresponding  to  the  seven  loaves  (see  Acts  ix.  25) — for  they 
were  probably  more  careful,  this  time^  to  take  at  once  vessels 
sufficiently  large  for  the  quantity  that  remained  over. 

Christ  having  thus  reminded  his  disciples  of  these  things, 
Mark,  because  he  had  laid  strong  emphasis  on  this  at  the  begin- 
ning, now  shortens  the  termination  of  the  discourse  into  a  mere 
abruptly  concluding,  ttw?  ov  o~vvi€T€ ;  at  which,  first  of  all, 
there  is    to    be   supplied  as  a   middle  member, — how   do  ye 

1  On  the  entire  passage  compare  Beck,  Bibl.  Seelenlehre  p.  56  and 
59 — with  whom  I  have  coincided  in  the  exegesis. 

1  Schleiermacher,  too,  amongst  the  number — who  "  could  not  make 
up  his  mind  to  believe  in  the  second  feeding  I"  Unfortunately  even 
Neander — we  do  not,  however,  retract  even  in  his  case  the  expression 
we  have  used  above,  nor  can  we  sympathise  with  the  two  strong 
eulogies  pronounced  over  the  grave  of  the  man  who  handled  the  Scrip- 
ture so  unbecomingly.  For,  leaving  aside  the  Christianity  of  the 
heart,  all  believing  science  must  have  neither  history  nor  piety,  but  the 
objective  word  for  its  foundation. 


328  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

not  understand  that  with  me  there  should  be  no  anxious  care 
about  bread  ?  Then,  however,  as  the  proper  conclusion  which 
is  expressed  by  Matth. :  That  I  cannot  have  meant  bread  in  my 
warning  against  the  leaven  !  Not  bread — more,  however,  the 
Master  himself  does  not  say,  and  leaves  it  to  the  disciples,  here 
also,  to  find  out  and  to  understand  (or  misunderstand)  something 
besides  (comp.  Matth.  ver.xii.  with  chap.  xvii.  13.) 

CONFESSION  OF  PETEE.  CHRIST'S  FIRST  ANNOUNCEMENT  OF 
HIS  SUFFERINGS.  TAKING  UP  THE  CROSS  AND  FOLLOWING 
CHRIST. 

(Matth.  xvi.  13—28.    Mark  viii.  27— ix.  1.     Lukeix.  18—27.) 

Here  begins  at  all  events  a  last,  brief  period  of  the  life  of 
Jesus,  previous  to  his  sufferings,  and  in  all  that  Matthew  informs 
us  of  it  there  is  a  regular  chronological  connection.  (See  chap, 
xvii.  1,  comp.  there  ver.  22  with  Mark  ix.  30 ;  Luke  ix.  43 ; 
further,  Matth.  xviii.  1,  xix.  1 ;  comp.  Luke  ix.  51.)  We  have  no 
reason  for  taking  Mark  ix.  27  in  close  connection  with  this,  and 
supposing  that  u  Peter's  confession  followed  close  upon  the  con- 
versation about  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees."  Rather,  as  appears 
from  all  the  other  results  of  the  harmony,  in  forming  which 
we  cannot  be  too  careful  to  include  everything  in  the  general 
view  so  as  not  to  go  wrong  in  particulars,  there  lies  a  consider- 
able intermediate  period  between  Matth.  xvi.  ver.  12  and  13,  in 
which  we,  for  our  part,  lay  the  journey  of  Christ  to  the  feast  of 
Tabernacles,  and  his  probable  stay  in  Jerusalem  till  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  Temple,  i.e.  all  the  contents  of  John  chap.  vii.  on  to 
x.  39.1 

In  the  district  of  Ceasarea  Philippi  or  Paneas  (northwards  at 
the  source  of  the  Jordan,  different  from  Caesarea  Herodis  on  the 
Mediterranean  Sea),  Christ  speaks  with  his  disciples  what  all  the 
three  evangelists  narrate  in  the  main  substance ;  Mark  says  it 

1  Bengel :  "  The  gracious  year  in  Galilee  was  accomplished,  and  the 
Saviour  in  the  midst  of  his  career  spent  a  considerable  time  in  quiet. 
He  withdrew  himself  more  and  more  from  action,  and  prepared  himself 
for  suffering."  Ebrard,  rightly  rejecting  Bengel's  external  principles, 
has  nevertheless  given  far  too  little  consideration  to  his  grand  inter- 
nal apprehensions  and  perceptions. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  13 — 28.  329 

was  spoken  iv  rf  68w,  Luke,  that  Christ  was  engaged  in  prayer 
immediately  before,  at  which  the  disciples  were  either  present, 
or  to  which  they  came.     We  are  not  to  seek  for  any  close  refer- 
ence in  this  striking  question,  thus  expressed  for  the  first  time, 
as  to  who  or  what  the  people  took  him  to  be  ;  by  no  means  is  it 
merely  a  momentary  inquiry  about  what  the  disciples  had  just 
been  hearing  of  him  on  the  way,  or  what  the  people  here  (in 
Galilee,  Trachonitis,  &c.)  were  saying  of  him ;  but  his  object  is 
now,  when  his  public  labours  have  already  in  a  certain  sense 
come  to  a  close,  really  to  inquire  after  the  result  of  these  labours 
on  the  whole,  in  order  to  pass  from  this  to  a  second  principal 
part  of  his  discourses  with  the  disciples,  which  is  denoted  by 
the  public  intimations  of  his  sufferings  now  first  begun  to  be  made, 
(chap.  xvi.  21 ;  xvii.  9,  22 ;  xx.  17.)      There  is  here  a  great 
and  significant  turning-point  to  be  observed.    "  I  am  the  Christ" 
— this  he  now  finally  confirms  and  ratifies  to  his  disciples,  while 
he  challenges  their  faith  to  confess  it  before  him  in  opposition  to 
the  dvdpcoiToc ;  immediately,  however,  he  adds  to  this  first  sen- 
tence the  second,  "  And  this  Christ  must  suffer  and  die !"   There  is 
in  Matthew  an  unbroken  connexion  in  everything  from  chap.  xvi. 
13  onwards :  with  the  confession  of  Peter  in  the  name  of  the  disci- 
ples is  connected  the  promise  in  reply,  addressed  to  the  first  apostle, 
and  to  all  the  apostles,  to  the  entire  future  church ;  upon  this 
directly  follows  (see  the  double  tot€  ver.  20,  21,)  the  announce- 
ment of  his  sufferings,  and  all  that  the  address  of  Peter,  now  pro- 
ceeding from  another  spirit,  gives  him  occasion  to  add  respecting 
his  followers  on  the  way  of  the  cross.    It  is  one  connected  testi- 
mony :  That  he  is  the  Christ,  the  founder  and  highest  ruler  of 
the  true  house  of  God,  the  King  and  Lord  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  which  is  his  kingdom  (ver.  28),  the  future  church  (which 
was  only  prepared  and  foreshadowed  by  the  j-firP  PTW. in  Israel  0 
but  that  his  way  lies  through  death  to  the  resurrection,  conse- 
quently also,  that  the  way  of  all  his  disciples  and  of  his  whole 
kingdom  upon  earth,  leads  to  the  victory  of  confirmation  and 
glorification  through  a  conflict  of  suffering,  through  a  continual 
cross  consisting  in  a  renunciation  of  life  in  order  to  find  it  again. 
Ver.  13.     What  now  at  last  do  the  people  believe,  think,  say 
of  me,  after  all  that  I  have  hitherto  done  and  taught  ?     The 
question  is  thus  given  with,  a  simple  fie   in  Mark  and  Luke, 


330  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

while  Matthew,  certainly  more  directly  exact,  replaces  this  or 
strengthens  (?)  it  by  tov  vlbv  tov  avOpcowov,  For  the  reading 
wavers  as  to  whether  also  in  Matthew  the  fie  is  to  be  retained,  or 
(which  indeed  has  only  few  authorities)  whether  it  is  to  be  can- 
celled ;  and  there  appears  here,  first  of  all,  to  be  a  great  deal 
depending  on  this  little  word  in  giving  a  different  sense  to  the 
entire  saying.  If  we  retain  it,  then  it  is  certainly  natural  to 
take  the  appellation  which  is  added,  u  Son  of  Man,"  already  in  the 
Messianic  sense,  Either  wTith  Beza,  Piscator,  Clericus,  to  point 
thus,  Tiva  fie  Xeyovaiv  elvai ;  tov  vlbv  tov  dvOpcowov  ;  Do  they 
indeed  know  me  now  to  be  the  Messiah  ? — or,  with  Olshausen, 
to  take  the  words  as  intimating  the  truth :  fie  rov  vlbv  rov 
avOpGoirov  (&>?  oihare)  ovtcl.  In  favour  of  the  former  of  these 
readings  is  the  circumstance,  that  the  latter  would  make  Christ 
to  have  anticipated  his  second  altogether  unassuming  question, 
(ver,  15,)  and  to  have  prescribed  to  them  himself  what  their  con- 
fessing faith  is  now  to  bring  to  him ;  thus  would  the  only  true, 
and  profoundly  significant,  sense  of  his  awakening  question  be 
disturbed,  Further,  it  is  against  the  latter  reading  that  the  ex- 
pression "  Son  of  Man"  is  never  precisely  and  absolutely  equiva- 
lent to  "  Messiah,"  but  while  there  are  pregnant  intimations 
lying  behind  this  appellation,  it  yet  first  of  all  denotes  the  per- 
sonal manifestation  of  this  Jesus  (now  in  humiliation,  but  after- 
wards also  in  exaltation.)  See  especially,  chap.  viii.  20. 
Finally,  by  the  latter  reading,  the  antithesis  preserved  in 
Matth,  is  destroyed :  Whom  do  men  say  that  the  Son  of  Man 
is  ?  What  do  they  think  of  this  man  whom  they-  see  and 
hear  with  all  His  works  and  words, — of  me,  this  Jesus.1  This  is 
the  simple  sense  of  the  question,  as  Luther's  feeling  has  rendered 
it  in  German  with  the  omission  of  fie.  Are  we  to  suppose,  then, 
that  the  manuscripts  in  which  it  is  wanting  are  right,  and  that  it 
has  been  inserted  here  from  ver.  15  and  the  parallel  places  in 
Mark  and  Luke  ?  This,  too,  is  difficult  to  suppose,  and  not  neces- 
sary, if  we  only  understand  aright  the  added  clause  vlbv  tov 
av0pco7rov,  that  in  the  first  place  it  corresponds  to  the  mere  fie' 
in  ver.  15  and  the  parallel  places.     If  we  hold  this  fast  as  we 

1  As  afterwards  ver.  20,  where  the  predicate  6  Xpia-ros  is  joined  to 
this  subject,  at  least  as  a  quite  true  interpretamentum  of  what  the  read- 
ing 'Irjaovs  means. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  13—28.  331 

ought,  then  we  may,  if  we  please,  suppose  that  there  lies  behind 
the  word  an  intimation  of  its  deeper  sense,  its  Messianic  significa- 
tion, but  only  slight  such  as  is  suitable  to  that  kind  of  asking  which 
will  draw  out  the  right  answer ;  this,  then,  is  something  quite 
different  from  the  unsuitable  anticipation  of  an  openly  announ- 
ced testimony  concerning  himself:  I  am  the  Son  of  Man,  i.e., 
the  Messiah  I1  It  is  what  might  thus  be  extended  :  Ye  know 
now  what  1  properly  mean  when  I  at  any  time  thus  designate 
Myself?  (And  this  would  be  what  is  true  in  Olshausen's  a>? 
oiSare,  without  the  too  strong  ovra,  which  never  belongs  to  this 
expression).  Such  a  preparatory  intimation  lies  at  all  events 
already  on  the  surface  in  the  Tlva — not  rt — by  which  Christ 
asks :  Whom  do  they  take  Me  for  ?  Do  they  give  Me  the  right 
predicate  f  Do  they  perceive  and  acknowledge  that  I  am  what 
I  am,  or  do  they  think  something  else  and  false  concerning  Me  1 
With  a  Xiyetv  chat,  to  which  the  elvai  does  not  answer,  but 
aXkov  Tiva —  % 

Christ's  reason,  however,  for  putting  this  question  after  all 
that  He  had  done  and  taught  was,  naturally  and  necessarily, 
that  all  His  past  acting  and  teaching  (Acts  i.  1)  had  no 
other  end  and  aim  than  to  manifest  who  He  is,  to  awaken 
and  establish  faith  in  His  person.  (John  viii.  24).  The  ques- 
tion here  expressed  is  and  remains  the  great  decisive  ques- 
tion, which  now,  with  stronger  emphasis,  is  ever  being  addressed 
to  the  world  and  to  Christendom ;  previous  to  all  obeying 
of  His  doctrine  (as  a  hollow  Eationalism  will  foolishly  speak 
of  this)  there  must  be  the  knowledge  of  His  person.  His  ser- 
vants must,  in  the  name  of  their  Master,  ask  in  a  way  that  will 
admit  of  no  refusal  "  Who  was  Jesus  ?  Who  is  Jesus  f  and 
only  the  excess  of  folly  and  of  blindness  in  the    "Friends  of 

1  In  which  impossibility  of  the  usage  :  'Eyo>  tlfu  6  vlos  rov  dv- 
0pu>7rov — lies  the  most  decisive  refutation  of  this  view.  The  name 
u  Son  of  Man"  in  the  mouth  of  Christ,  goes  over  from  the  most  direct 
import :  "  This  man  here,"  to  the  hint  which  lies  behind  it :  "  This  one, 
who  now  appears  as  man,  who  will  be  only  man  in  humiliation," — 
which  then  points  farther  back  to  Daniel,  and  has  still  more  signifi- 
cance, viz. : — Representative  of  humanity,  new  first  man,  &c.  Comp. 
Liebner's  reference  to  Dorner  in  the  Dogmatic  of  the  former  1.  i.  p.  331 
Note. 


332  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

light"  has  recently  put  aside  such  a  cardinal  question  with  the 
senselessly  naive  remark : — u  There  the  answer  is  wanting."  In 
another  sense  may,  and  ought,  the  servants  as  regards  their  own 
persons  and  for  their  Master's  sake  also  to  enquire,  what  the 
people  say  and  think  ofthemt 

Whom  do  men  say  that  I,  this  Son  of  man,  am  ?  i.e.,  first  of  all 
the  bulk,  the  majority, — what  is  the  prevailing  public  opinion — 
which  Luke  will  denote  by  ol  6%\oi9  less  exactly  indeed,  but  right 
also,  in  so  far  as  the  disciples  were  in  the  first  place  so  to  under- 
stand it.  Christ,  however,  does  not  say,  the  people,  or  even  Israel 
(what  opinion  is  held  of  Me  in  Israel  ?) — or  the  like,  but  men ; 
thereby  He  hints,  on  the  one  hand,  at  the  universal  importance  of 
His  appearance  for  all  mankind  (which  lies,  also  in  vibs  rov  av- 
0pa>7Tov),  on  the  other  hand,  He  has  thereby  in  a  certain  measure 
expressed  what  forms  an  antithesis  to  the  following  Ye — My  dis- 
ciples. How  runs  the  human  opinion  concerning  my  person 
(that  proceeding  from  flesh  and  blood  ver.  17).  Thus  at  least 
do  the  disciples  understand  Him  in  their  answer,  which  would 
not  be  according  to  truth  if  its  import  were  what  inconsiderate 
commentators  have  found  in  it : — viz.,  They  say  all  manner  of 
things  of  thee  but  the  one  thing,  no  one  anywhere  says  of  Thee  that 
thou  art  the  Messiah  himself,  all  hold  Thee  in  too  slight  estimation 
for  that.  Were  there  not  in  reality  many  who  called  Him  the 
Son  of  David  ?  (Chap.  ix.  27  ;  xii.  23  ;  xv.  22.)  Might  there 
not  be  many  who,  after  His  testimony  upon  the  occasion  of  the 
message  sent  by  John,  recognised  and  confessed  that  he  was  the 
expected  one,  He  that  should  come  I  (Comp.  even  at  an  earlier 
period  John  vii.  26,  31,  41.)  Do  we  not  find  such  a  confession 
even  long  before  in  Samaria,  as  we  read  John  iv.  42  ?  Certainly, 
however,  those  who  thus  spake  of  Him  were  already  also  his  dis- 
ciples, whom  Christ  seemed,  to  His  disciples  at  least,  not  to  include 
here  among  the  "  men,"  and,  therefore,  in  their  reply  they  only 
inform  Him  of  all  the  false  opinions  regarding  Him.  They  also 
do  not  speak  first  of  the  enemies  who  called  Him  seducer,  because 
this  was  not  the  opinion  of  the  people,  who  rather  esteemed 
Him  everywhere  to  be  at  least  a  prophet.  They  mention  first 
the  strangest  and  newest  opinions  by  which  men  evaded  the  truth 
concerning  Him   (chap.  xiv.  2);  then  follows  what  wras  more 


MATTIIEW  XVI.  15.  333 

allied  to  the  truth,  the  folly  which  recognised  not  Elias  as  already 
come,  and  saw  in  Christ  himself  the  forerunner ;  finally,  those 
expectations  of  the  return  of  this  or  that  prophet,  which  had  been 
sought  out  in  order  to  account  for  Him.1 

Ver.  15.  Now  comes  the  second,  properly  the  chief,  question 
for  which  the  first  was  merely  to  prepare  the  way.  The  u/tet? 
placed  before  has  strong  emphasis  :  What  have  ye  who  have  been 
so  long  with  me  by  this  time  learned  I  Do  ye  indeed  now  know 
otherwise  and  better  than  men  %  It  is  not  enough  to  know  what  the 
people  say  of  the  Son  of  Man — this  lay  already  very  prominently 
in  the  first  question  as  a  trial  for  them.  Here  it  avails  not  to 
reckon  up  opinions  and  to  have  no  conviction  yourselves !  True 
he  says,  here  again  Xeyere,  as  Xeyoucr^ before,  but  now  coming  closer 
to  them  in  the  tone  of  trial:  Ye  should  not  merely  say  it,  ye  should 
in  faith  know  and  confess  it !  The  expression  of  faith  is  in  itself 
already  a  strengthening  and  confirming  of  it,  and,  therefore,  does 
Christ  require  this  of  them  here.  Not,  what  think  ye  of  me  in 
secret  as  opposed  to  this  confusion  of  opinions  1  Speak  it  out, 
frankly,  first  before  me,  then,  at  the  proper  time,  when  the  Church 
is  built  by  and  upon  your  confession,  also  before  men.  Then 
answers  Simon  Peter  to  arofia  rdv  a7roo-ro\a>i>,  6  Travra^ov 
6epjj,6<;  (as  Chrysostom  calls  him"),  quickly  and  gladly  in  the 
name  of  all  the  disciples,  taking  it  for  granted  that  none  would 
contradict,  by  declaring  the  same  confession  which  (although 
perhaps  not  literally  the  same)  he  had  already  made  John  vi.  69, 
and  which  Nathanael  had  made  at  an  earlier  period,  John  i.  49. 
Peter  is  not  only  not  led  astray,  but  is  only  the  more  decided  and 
certain,  amid  all  the  confused  sayings  of  the  people,  and  the  con- 
tradiction in  Jerusalem,  John  vii.  27,  41  ;  viii.  48  ;  ix.  22  ;  x. 
24  (where,  just  before  this  question  of  Christ,  it  had  come  to  the 
crisis  of  decision,  whether  he  is  the  Christ  or  not).  He  answers, 
therefore,  the  question  not  as  it  was  put  with,  I  say,  we  say — but 

1  Jeremiah,  according  to  a  tradition  that  took  its  rise  from  2  Mac. 
ii.  5,  14  ;  comp.  4  Esr.  ii.  18.  In  the  case  of  him  and  the  other  pro- 
phets we  are  not  to  think  of  transmigration  of  souls,  but  Luke  has 
the  best  expression.  In  like  manner  it  is  not  to  be  connected  with 
John  i.  21,  or  Mark  vi.  15 — on  the  other  hand,  John  vi.  14  might  be 
meant  thus  in  ignorance. 


334  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  ifkrjpofyopia  of  his  saying  comes  plainly  and  fully  out :  Thou 
art  the  Christ.  The  vio<s  tov  Oeov1  which  in  the  second  confes- 
sion of  the  Apostle,  is  added  to  XpiaTos,  is  by  no  means  merely 
synonymous  with  it,  but  the  second  expression  of  a  deeper  know- 
ledge. A  Nathanael,  indeed,  (John  i.  49),  as  also  a  Caiaphas, 
(Matth.  xxvi.  63),  knew  from  the  Scriptures  which  went  before 
that  the  promised  Christ  is  at  the  same  time  the  Son  of  God 
(which  the  Scribes,  contrary  to  the  Scriptures,  overlooked  Matth. 
xxii.  42),  and  the  report  of  this  had  come  even  among  the  people, 
see  Matth.  xiv.  33.  The  Baptist  also  testified  of  Christ  as  the 
Son  of  the  Father,  when  he  explained  his  Ovtos  ianv,  (John 
iii.  28,  35.)  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was  and  remained  still 
a  difference  between  a  mere  recognition  of  the  Messianic  dignity 
of  Jesus  according  to  the  inferior  (Ebionitic)  conception  of  the 
most  of  the  Jews,  and  an  insight  also  into  His  divine  nature.2 
Therefore  Peter  expresses  both  together  here,  he  confesses  the 
Son  of  Man  to  be  the  Son  of  God  (ver.  13),  as  he  opposes  the 
Christ  to  the  Baptist,  Elias,  and  the  prophets  (ver.  14).  Christ 
himself,  indeed,  had  from  the  first  (since  Johnii.  16)  continually 
testified  of  himself  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  everywhere  used 
this  name  instead  of  the  doubtful  name  Christ,  which  by  itself 
might  have  been  misunderstood.  (John  ix.  35,  x.  36).  Peter 
then  answers  in  his  confession  (as  every  confession  of  faith  can 
and  must  be  only  such  an  answer)  with  perfect  propriety  to  the 
assumed  testimony  of  Christ :  Thou  art  what  thou  thyself  sayest 
and  testifiest  of  thyself, — we  say  nothing  otherwise — we  have 
understood  thy  words  and  works,  we  have  now  learned  in  thy 
school  so  much  as  to  pass  the  examination  which  thou  art  now 
beginning.  He  makes  the  expression  finally  still  stronger,  inas- 
much as  he  says,  "of  the  living  God,"  which  can  here  be  neither  a 
mere  solemn  formula,  as  evXoyrjro?  (Mark  xiv.  61),  nor,  as  before 

1  While  Luke,  leaving  out  the  forcible  words  <rv  d  connects  tov  Xpur- 
tov  rod  deov — Mark  gives  these  words  indeed,  but  for  the  rest  retains 
only  6  Xpioros.  We  may  see  ever  anew  the  preference  due  to  Matthew 
in  the  discourses  of  Christ. 

2  Just  as,  in  like  manner,  there  is  here  a  difference  between  that 
"  first  enthusiasm"  of  a  Nathanael,  and  the  matured  persevering  faith 
of  the  apostles  at  this  time.      In  this  Sepp  is  right  ii.  275.    Note. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  17.  335 

in  the  Old  Testament,  a  mere  antithesis  to  the  false  Gods,  but 
which  already  penetrates  into  the  depths  of  the  testimony  at  John 
vi.  57.1  The  understanding  of  history  from  without  finds  in  the 
Son  of  Man,  Jesus,  first  of  all  the  Christ  promised  to  Israel ;  the 
philosophy  of  faith  (the  expression  will  be  excused),  when  it 
rightly  reads,  hears,  perceives,  and  understands  the  words,  soon 
finds  in  this  Christ  the  Son  of  the  living  God ;  the  gospels  declare 
him,  by  his  own  testimony  and  the  confession  of  his  disciples,  to 
be  both  together — the  Gospel  of  Matthew  as  well  as  the  Gospel 
of  John,  chap.  xx,  31. 

Ver.  17.  The  very  remarkable  and  significant  words  of  Christ 
to  Peter,  which  now  follow,  the  pronouncing  him  blessed,  and  the 
promise  addressed  to  him  first  of  all,  and  immediately  thereupon 
the  severe  rebuke  and  repelling  of  his  carnal  forwardness — all 
this  is  entirely  passed  over  by  Luke,  so  that  the  discourse  about 
the  cross  and  the  self-denial  of  his  followers  thus  begins  very 
abruptly.  Mark  again,  in  order  to  confirm  this,  informs  us  only 
of  Peter's  forwardness,  for  which  he  paid  so  dearly,  but  leaves 
out  the  commendation  and  the  promise  that  went  before.  The 
Holy  Spirit  thus  teaches  us  plainly  enough,  that  no  important 
and  effectively  permanent  attribute  for  the  Church  in  all  future 
time,  is  here  ascribed  to  Peter  personally,  chiefly  in  that  he  him- 
self, whose  communications  Mark  follows,  has  not  in  any  way 
assumptively  given  prominence  to  what  is  here  said  to  him, 
although,  on  the  other  hand,  care  has  been  taken  in  Matthew  to 
preserve  a  complete  record  of  these  sayings  of  Christ.  If  what 
we  read  in  ver.  18, 19,  really  had  the  meaning  which  the  Papists 
give  to  it,  then  surely  this  appointment  of  a  chief  of  the  apostles, 
with  a  continuing  caliphate  of  his  successors,  must  properly  be 
the  principal  thing  with  every  evangelist,  who  in  general  gives 
any  account  of  this  conversation  with  the  disciples ;  least  of  all 
might  it  be  wanting  in  the  Gospel  of  Peter.  We  shall  see, 
however,  that  in  all  that  is  said  to  Peter  according  to  Matthew, 
over  and  above  what  he,  as  speaker,  in  the  name  of  the  disciples 
receives  back  also  in  this  capacity,  there  remains  only  a  certain 
historical  temporary  preference  of  his  own  person. 

1  From  which  (ver.  69)  the  Apostle  already  the  first  time  derived  his 
confession,  if  the  genuineness  of  the  reading  could  be  maintained. 


336  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

The  very  first  word,  fia/capios  el,  although  addressed  to  the  quick 
and  frank  disciple  who  uttered  the  confession,  is  yet  at  bottom 
nothing  else  but  what  in  chap.  xiii.  16  was  already  addressed  to 
all  disciples  in  common  as  such  (not  even  merely  to  the  Apostles.) 
Christ  is  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  general  import  of  the  con- 
fession that  he  is  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  without  missing  in  this 
the  specially  dogmatic  speculative  acknowledgment,  upon  which, 
at  a  later  period,  so  much  weight  was  laid.  (Both  in  John  vi. 
69,  and  again  in  John  xi.  27,  in  the  mouth  of  Martha  this  con- 
fession is  expressly  held  fast,  even  when,  in  other  respects,  his 
enigmatic  words  are  not  understood.)  This  is  at  the  first  enough 
for  him,  so  that  he  can  already  ascribe  blessedness  to  such  faith.1 
He,  however,  derives  even  this  simple  insight  of  faith  from  the 
revelation  of  the  Father.  He  does  not  say,  I  have  now  often 
enough  testified  this  to  you  both  by  word  and  deed,  so  that  you 
may  and  must  at  length  apprehend  it !  For  flesh  and  blood  does 
not  yet  perceive  the  open  truth, — the  heart  of  each  individual 
must  open  itself  to  a  revelation  which  it  specially  appropriates. 
Let  what  is  said  at  chap.xi.  25 — 27  be  recalled  here,  and  observe 
that  as  there  it  is  the  Son  who  reveals,  here  the  same  is  humbly 
attributed  to  the  Father  by  the  Son.  And  that  not  merely  on 
account  of  the  humility  which  here  so  becomes  him,  but  at  the 
same  time  because  Christ,  inasmuch  as  he  says  if  My  Father," 
will  thus  accept  and  repeat  the  confession  of  Peter,  confirming 
and  sealing  it ;  as  if  he  said,  Yes !  I  am  the  Son  of  God ! 
Further,  it  is  thereby  indicated,  as  indeed  Jesus  always  thus 
spake  and  acted  in  the  presence  of  his  disciples,  that  with  all  the 
fulness  and  clearness  of  his  testimony  respecting  himself,  he  yet 
left  over  the  last  decision,  in  the  vtjttiois  who  accepted  it,  to  the 
drawing  and  illuminating  power  of  his  Father.  Thus,  again, 
does  the  first  agree  in  substance  with  the  fourth  Gospel,  (see 
John  vi.  44,  45,  37),  and  we  may  reasonably  reserve  for  the  dis- 
courses in  John  the  more  exact  interpretation  of  the  fundamen- 
tal conceptions  already  indicated  here. 

But  the  commendation  addressed  to  Peter  in  the  words,   My 

1  He  does  not  at  once  press  the  disciple  further  with  the  question  : 
tl  But  in  what  sense  dost  thou  know  me  thus,  and  how  dost  thou  appre- 
hend the  union  of  the  Divine  and  the  human  in  me."     (Braune.) 


MATTHEW  XVI.  16,  17.  337 

Father  hath  revealed  it  to  thee,  i.e.,  certainly  alone  could  reveal 
it  to  thee,  thou  hast  heard  it  and  learned  it  from  the  Father — 
must  appear  at  the  same  time  as  of  a  humbling  character, 
by  the  mention  which  is  made  of  flesh  and  blood,  which  can- 
not properly  reveal,  but  rather  only  resist.  Christ,  in  the 
midst  of  his  joy  at  having  brought  the  disciples  now  so  far, 
feels  sad  to  think  not  merely  how  obstinately  and  how  long  the 
blindness  of  nature  has  resisted  the  light  of  grace  even  in  them? 
but  at  the  same  time  how  much  of  flesh  and  blood  still  remains 
in  them  (see  shortly  ver.  22) — therefore  he  can  as  yet  rejoice  over 
their  faith  only  in  this  form,  and  must  still  connect  the  commen- 
dation which  they  have  deserved  with  a  warning  reference  to 
their  old  nature.  It  is  spoken  ironically  indeed,  amid  the 
earnestness  of  acknowledging  love,  when  the  aire/cako-tye  is  by 
catechresis,  with  an  ovk,  said  also  of  crapf;  /cat  alfia.  Peter 
has  confessed  in  the  name  of  all ;  naturally  also  he  receives, 
in  return,  in  the  name  of  all,  the  commendation  limited  by  a 
warning ;  yet  at  the  same  time,  Christ  has  special  reason  first  of 
all  to  keep  fast  hold  of  him  personally,  and  by  no  means  (as 
would  otherwise  have  been  natural),  according  to  the  analogy  of 
ver.  15,  to  continue  thus  :  Blessed  are  ye,  &c,  but,  thou  Simon 
son  of  Jonas.1  That  is  as  much  as  to  say,  Chiefly  has  thy  flesh 
and  blood  often  enough,  to  speak  ironically,  revealed  something 
different  to  thee,  and  will  yet  often  thus  speak  out  of  thee ;  this 
time,  however,  thou  hast  not  spoken  as  the  old  Simon  who  came 
to  me  at  first,  and  is  even  still  there.  Son  of  Jonas:  this  is  the 
third  term  which  stands  between  "  Son  of  man  "  and  "  Son  of 
God,"  ver.  13  and  16,  denoting  the  carnal  birth  and  descent,  in 
opposition  to  the  new  name  Peter  which  is  given  for  the  new 
creature  in  Christ  (hence  John  xxi.  15 — 17,  where  again  at  the 
last  this  humbling  designation  occurs,  without  the  new  name). 
Certainly  not,  as  Olshausen  strangely  thinks,  from  its  similarity 
to  the  commendation :  "  Thou  art  also  a  child  of  the  Spirit" 
^IcDva  being  taken  by  a  play  on  the  word  for  pj^V?  *•*•*  dove),  for 

T 

partly,  this  signification  of  the  name  is  not  even  certain,  on 
account  of  that  reading  in  another  place,  according  to  which  it 

1  Which  Matth.  purposely  makes  more  emphatic  by  retaining  the 
Aramaic  /3cip  (see  on  the  other  hand  John  i.  43),  in  order  that  the  Kom. 
proprium  may  appear  thoroughly  intelligible. 

VOL.  II.  Y 


338  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

might  certainly  be  a  contraction  for  pj-fp,  partly,  because  at 
all  events  the  new  name  which  follows  here,  as  at  John  i.,  not- 
withstanding of  its  connection  with  the  natural  special  character 
of  Peter,  yet  forms,  in  the  main  point  an  antithesis  to  the  old 
birth  m  general.  To  mistake  this  is  to  destroy  the  deepest 
significance  of  the  entire  saying,  either  entirely,  or  again  by  an 
etymologically  separate  play  on  the  word  in  the  bad  sense,1  in 
part  to  deprive  it  of  its  penetrating  sharpness.  Flesh  and  blood 
—this  includes  in  Christ's  thoughts  these  two  things  together, 
namely,  the  natural  man  Simon  as  the  son  of  his  father,  and  at 
the  same  time  pointing  back  to  ver.  13,  men.  See  the  same 
perfect  antithesis  afterwards  again  at  ver.  23.  "  Neither  from 
men  without  nor  from  thyself  hast  thou  this  revelation."  Com- 
pletely analogous  to  this  explanation  is  the  entire  first  chapter  of 
the  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  with  the  antithesis  that  pervades  it 
throughout  between  the  human  and  divine.  In  ver.  1,  Jesus 
Christ  and  God  the  Father  in  opposition  to  the  ovk  air  avdpco- 
7rwj/  ovBe  Bl  av9pco7rov,  as,  at  ver.  10,  God  and  Christ  to  the 
dv6p(0wois — vers.  11,  12,  the  anTOKakvfi<i  in  opposition  to  the 
Kara  dvOpco-rrov  and  irapa,  cvOpcbnov — vers.  13  to  16  the  amoKa- 
\vyfrat,  top  vibv  avrov  iv  ifiol  pre-ordained  indeed,  at  the  same 
time,  from  his  mother's  womb  (peculiar  to  Paul  as  to  Peter)  in 
opposition  to  the  former  natural  Saul, — and  then  the  same  anti- 
thesis with  <?ap%  Kal  alfia  which  here  still  more  evidently  includes 
men  without  (vers.  1, 10—12)  along  with  the  natural  man  of  Saul 
(vers.  13,  14),  nay  even  comprehends  the  apostles  (ver.  17)  in  a 
certain  sense.  This  whole  chapter,  then,  so  develops  itself  from 
the  word  of  Christ  to  Peter,  that  it  almost  sounds  as  if  Paul 
remembering  this,  to  him  well  known,  saying  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
to  Peter,  would  say  :  lam  also  a  Peter,  "  my  faith  and  confession 
is,  like  his,  not  of  flesh  and  blood  but  from  divine  revelation." 

1  The  sainted  v.  Meyer  wrote  to  me  : — "  I  also  suppose  in  Jonas  an 
allusion  to  the  dove,  but  not  as  Olshausen.  John  xxi.  15 — 17,  led  me 
to  this.  The  dove  is  a  shy,  timid,  animal,  and  points  there  to 
the  denial  of  Peter  from  the  fear  of  man."  Lange,  moreover,  plays 
strangely  upon  the  word :  "  before,  he  was  the  shy  dove  of  the  rock 
(which  seeks  refuge  in  the  rock,  the  church  !) — in  future  he  would  be 
the  sheltering  rock  of  the  dove."  It  is  not  shelter  that  is  spoken  of  but 
a  foundation  for  building  on. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  18.  339 

This  is  again  an  illustration  from  the  Bible  which  already  puts 
far  aside  the  Eomish  interpretation  of  the  word  that  now  follows 
addressed  to  Peter !  So  much  the  more  significant,  as  it  is  pre- 
cisely Paul,  in  whose  person  is  prefigured  the  immediate  validity 
of  ever}-  new  calling  and  ordination  proceeding  from  the  head  of 
the  church,  against  all  historical  connection  even  of  apostolical 
tradition. 

Ver.  18.  Thou  hast  said  to  me  av  el, — in  recompense  T  say 
the  same  also  to  thee.  This  confirmatory  repetition  of  John 
43  is  at  the  same  time  an  advance  beyond  it.  There  it  was  in 
regard  to  the  presence  of  Him  who  should  come: — Thou  art 
Simon ! — bat  prophetically  for  the  future  : — Thou  shall  be  called, 
become  and  be  Peter !  But  here  it  is  very  different :  Thou  art 
now  Peter,  as  thou  art  called,  thou,  the  same  Simon  son  of 
Jonas,  in  the  personal  unity  of  that  which  the  grace  of  the 
Father,  revealing  the  Son  in  thee,  has  now  already  wrought  in 
thy  nature  through  faith.  Thou  art,  even  now  before  me,  what 
thou  art  ordained  to  be  ever  more  perfectly,  in  all  the  future  of 
thy  apostolic  calling,  and  therefore  art  thou  called  Peter  by  me ; 
a  firm,  frank  confessor,  on  whose  confession  and  faith  something 
may  be  built,  a  strong  foundation  stone  for  the  building  of  God 
upon  earth.  (As  the  old  temple  stood  on  a  foundation  of  rock 
— observes  Delitzch  on  this,  in  the  Catechism  of  the  house  of 
God,  p.  6).  That  this  now  applies  to  Peter  no  longer  merely  in 
the  name  of  all  the  apostles,  but  with  a  certain  preference  of  His 
personality,  the  Protestant  Church  ought  never  to  have  denied 
to  its  own  hurt,  by  an  unnatural  explanation  of  the  words.  It 
runs  strangely  enough  in  the  Berlenburgher  Bible, — "  Thou  art 
a  Peter" — for  the  meaning  of  the  giving  the  name  and  the 
calling,  lies  in  nothing  else  than  in  the  circumstance,  that 
this  name  is  entirely  so  appropriate  only  to  this  Simon.  Against 
the  explanation,  "  one  of  the  rocks  upon  which  I  build  My 
Church,  one  of  the  first  preachers  and  founders  of  the  Church" 
— Sepp  by  way  of  ridicule,  is  right  when  he  says,  "  Then  also 
by  a  logical  inference  backwards,  it  is  only,  Thou  art  Christ, 
one  of  the  Sons  of  God  !  Kal  eirl  ravrrj  ttj  irerpa — in  these 
words  undoubtedly  the  personal  reference  to  Peter  is  con- 
tinued, for  IleTpos  is  explained  by  irerpa  only  according  to  its 
etymology:  6  irerpos  signifies  indeed  in  Greek  also  rock,  and 


340  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

was  in  the  Aramaic  HD^j  n°t  *°  ^e  distinguished  from  irerpa  (so 
that  Christ,  to  a  certain  extent,  at  the  sametime  really  says,  And 
upon  thee,  this  Peter) ;  but,  in  order  to  make  the  sense  clear  to 
the  Greek  reader,  Matthew  must  the  second  time  take  the  appel- 
lative for  the  proper  name*  It  is  not  therefore,  as  well  meaning 
people  have  artificially  sought  to  make  out :  And  upon  myself 
the  true  rock ;  in  which  case,  in  order  to  take  from  the  ravrrj 
the  necessary  reference  to  what  goes  before,  Christ  must  suddenly 
have  pointed  to  Himself  with  His  finger  I1  And  then  it  would, 
in  this  view,  be  incomprehensible,  what  in  general  Peter  had  to 
do  before  with  such  a  saying.2  Just  as  little,  although  the  most 
even  of  the  Church-fathers3  understand  it  thus,  are  we  to  explain 
it :  Upon  this  thy  confession — this  faith  in  me — this  conviction  of 
the  fundamental  truth,  firm  as  a  rock  in  thee  and  in  others. 
TJiiersch  is  quite  right  when  he  says,  "  The  demonstrative  can 
just  as  little  have  the  force  of  isolating  the  faith  and  the  confession 
of  Peter  from  his  person,  as  it  would  be  justifiable  to  refer  the 
promise  to  the  person  of  Peter,  apart  from  his  faith."  Quite 
recently  Alford  also  observes  very  strikingly,  that  according  to 
the  whole  usage  of  the  New  Testament,  it  is  not  doctrines,  con- 
fessions, characters,  that  are  designated  as  pillars  and  columns  of 
the  building,  but  men,  persons ;  in  like  manner,  he  refers  us  to 
what  the  same  Peter  says  of  the  living  stones,  1  Peter  ii.  5. 
Simon  Peter  therefore  retains  indeed  the  preference  as  regards 
his  calling  and  place  in  the  circle  of  the  Apostles,  which,  already 

1  Which  artifice  of  Protestant  criticism  on  this  passage,  bringing  little 
honour  to  the  cause,  Thiersch  compares  with  the  similar  artifice  of 
Carlstadt  in  reference  to  the  words  used  at  the  institution  of  the 
Supper. 

2  Only  on  a  very  superficial  consideration  and  as  the  result  of  pre- 
judice can  any  one  find  the  ancient  saying  of  Augustine  to  be  plausible  : 
Super  me  sedificabo  te,  non  me  super  te.  Non  enim  a  Petro  petra,  sed 
Petrus  a  petra,  sicut  Christus  non  a  Christiano,  sed  Christianus  a  Christo 
vocatur. 

3  Lannoy,  Doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  out  of  77  sayings  of  the  most  fa- 
mous Church-fathers  and  Church  writers  has  found  only  17  which  ex- 
plain Peter  himself  as  the  rock  ;  44,  on  the  contrary,  understand  the 
fath,  and  16  Christ  Himself.  Gregory  of  Nyssa  records  particularly 
that  "  to  this  day  many  will  not  at  all  admit  that  it  is  the  confession 
which  is  here  spoken  of."  Wieseler  is  specially  arbitrary  in  his  exe- 
gesis from  this  point  of  view  (Chronol.  d.  Apost.  Zeitalt.  585) — as  it 
the  7rerpa  must  be  distinguished  from  the  personal  Peter  I 


MATTHEW  XVI.  18.  341 

looking  triumphantly  beyond  the  intervening  denial,  is  here 
ascribed  to  him.  On  thee  as  (whom  I  will  make  to  be)  the 
first  confessor,  preacher,  and  chief  apostle  of  Israel  (Acts  i. 
15;  ii.  14;  Mark  xvi.  7),  and  even  of  the  heathen  (Acts  x. 
xv.  1).  Thus  does  Meyer's  note  comprehend  all  that  must 
stand  here.  But  now  we  go  on  to  say,  further,  with  equal  jus- 
tice : — Peter  is  the  first  and  chiefest  ground-stone,  yet  not  in  his 
human  character  as  the  son  of  Jonas,  but  precisely  as  Peter, — 
not  alone,  but  with  the  other  apostles — finally,  not  in  himself, 
which  no  man  can  ever  be,  the  proper  foundation  and  rock  in 
the  deeper  sense.1  So  soon  as  flesh  and  blood  will  again  speak, 
he  shall  be  repelled  as  Satan.  John  also  and  James  are  pillars 
with  him.  (Gal.  ii.  9).  On  the  twelve  foundations  (Rev.  xxi. 
14),  stand  twelve  names  without  distinction,  as,  in  like  manner, 
in  Matt.  xix.  28,  twelve  seats  are  promised.  Finally  (and  this  is 
what  of  truth  remains  in  Augustine's  word  which  is  only  too 
sharply  applied),  upon  what  then  would  Peter  be  built,  who  does 
not  stand  fast  in  himself,  if  not  upon  the  one  foundation  and 
corner-stone  laid  by  God,  of  which  we  read  in  1  Cor.  hi.  11 ; 
Eph.  ii.  20  ;  and  also  in  1  Pet.  ii.  4 1  Christ  has  significantly 
said  only  :  On  thee  will  I  build,  olKoSo/jLr}o~co — not  found,  Oe/Jbeki- 
coaco.  A  man  can  be  the  first  building-stone  upon  the  founda- 
tion of  God,  and  in  so  far  himself  a  foundation,  but  not  more. 
As  a  section  of  the  church  of  Christ  rests  upon  a  preacher  or 
missionary  whose  natural  qualifications  and  new  nature  together 
were  ordained  for  this,  so  upon  the  apostolical  labours  of  Peter 
was  the  whole  at  first  built.  But  such  a  foundation-stone  is  for  this 
reason  no  head,  no  prince  and  ruler  over  the  others,  or  over  the 
entire  house,  for  it  is  built  on  his  ministry,  not  on  his  commands. 
(1  Cor  iii.  5).2     In  the  gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the 

1  For  our  readers  this  remark  will  suffice,  with  a  word  or  two  in 
addition  :  On  the  one  hand  it  is  least  of  all  true  that  he  had  successors, 
and  especially  in  those  who  maintain  that  they  are  such  !  Bengel's 
Quid  haec  ad  Romam  t  is  enough.  On  the  other  hand,  we  are  not  even 
entitled  to  say  that  he  had  equals.  Origen's  commentary  is  not  (with 
Alford)  to  be  pronounced  excellent :  Christ  says  this  as  to  that  Peter, 
SO  likewise  npos  Trdvra  roy  yeuopevov  o7roIos  6  JJerpos  eKelvos.  Against 
this  Firmilian  rightly  protested,  that  the  Romish  Stephen  would  in- 
troduce multas  alias  petras. 

2  u  By  Peter,  this  representative  of  the  apostles,  being  called  a 
rock,  nothing  else  is  denoted  but  the  essence  of  Protestantism,  the 


342  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

entire  New  Testament,  there  is  no  trace  to  be  found  of  sucli  a 
supremacy,  but  the  contrary,  indeed,  every  where.  In  Acts 
vi.  the  twelve  call  together  the  multitude  of  the  disciples  ; 
Acts  x.  47,  Peter  asks  permission  from  the  inferior  attendants 
who  were  present,  as  at  chap.  xi.  he  vindicates  himself  before 
God  and  man  by  a  "  What  was  I."  In  chap.  xv.  he  takes  the 
first  word,  but  James  gives  the  judgment  which  the  apostles  and 
elders,  together  with  the  whole  Church,  sanction  by  the  Holy 
Ghost;  2  Pet.  i.  16,  iii.  2,  he  speaks  by  we  with  the  other 
apostles,  as  1  Pet.  v.  1,  he  is  only  a  fellow-elder;  Gal.  ii.  he 
receives  a  rebuke  from  the  reformer  Paul.  Shall  we  still  further 
show  here  in  a  few  words,  which  are  not  at  the  present  time 
superfluous,  how  the  Papists  with  their  Peter  are  overthrown,  if 
they  will  only  read  the  Bible  and  let  it  be  read  f  Already  has 
Christ  himself  uttered  a  sharp  prophetical  word,  as  against  idolatry 
towards  his  mother,  so  against  the  false  father  on  earth  over  the 
equal  brethren,  (Matt,  xxiii.  8,  9)  ;  afterwards,  Peter  must  needs 
testify  in  the  Scripture  against  almost  all  the  principal  parts  of  the 
Papacy.  Against  lordship  over  the  church,  1  Pet.  v.  3, 4.  Against 
a  separate  priesthood,  chap.  ii.  5 — 9.  Against  assumption  over 
the  civil  magistrate,  vers.  13 — 17.  Against  silver  and  gold  and 
shameful  gain,  Acts  iii.  6 ;  1  Pet.  v.  2.  Against  unbecoming 
marks  of  honour  and  slipper-kissing,  Acts  x.  25,  26.  Against 
infallibility,  ver.  34.  Against  celibacy,  1  Cor.  ix.  5.  Against  all 
righteousness  by  works,  in  harmony  with  Paul,  Acts  xv.  10, 11 ;  1 
Pet.  i.  13,  &c. 

Upon  this  rock,  this  true  Peter,  confessing  his  grace  and  truth 
without  pride  or  falsehood  proceeding  from  flesh  and  blood, — on 
this  future  Peter,  whom  he  even  now  sees  standing  before  his 
far-reaching  glance  in  the  great  and  strong  word  of  confession — 
will  Christ  build  His  Church.  For  a  good  building  must  also 
have  a  good  foundation  (chap.  vii.  25).  Here,  for  the  first  time, 
in  the  mouth  of  Christ,1  and  in  general  only  once  again  in  the 

power  of  the  ecclesiastical  personality"  Petersen  von  der  Kirche  ii.  99. 
Of  course  a  personality  actively  instrumental  in  the  cause  of  Christ, 
filled  with  the  spirit  and  life  of  Christ  through  faith. 

l  Not  before  the  death  of  the  Baptist — in  this  many  are  for  finding 
a  special  significance,  because  till  then  the  old  economy  lasted.  Did 
it  not  rather  last  till  the  death  of  Christ  ? 


MATTHEW  XVI.  18.  343 

gospels  in  Matth.  xviii.  17,  we  find  tins  great  word  iKtckrjaia 

corresponding  to  the  Heb.  "Jpjjj  and  ppTV'     Although  in  that 

T        .         T  *" 
second  passage  the  expression  obtains  at  the  same  time  a  more 

special  signification,  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  evidently  the  whole 
of  what  is  said  in  chap,  xviii.  points  definitely  back  to  this  passage 
in  chap,  xvi,  so  that  the  fundamental  idea  can  only  be  the  same. 
In  order  not  to  repeat  ourselves,  we  shall  therefore  postpone  the 
more  particular  explanation  till  we  come  to  that  passage,  where 
Christ  himself  says  several  things  of  the  iiackricria.  Here  we 
perceive,  in  the  first  place,  that  He  will  set  up  a  church  in  the 
future,  that  at  the  same  time  this  will  correspond  to  the  true 
house  of  God  upon  earth,  the  temple  of  the  old  dispensation 
(which  is  evident  from  the  expression  build),  that  He  alone  him- 
self builds  (Ps.  cxxvii.  1 ;  cxlvii.2),  and  therefore  it  is  called  His 
church  (fiov  placed  with  emphasis  before),  consequently  once  more, 
that  He  himself  also  alone  can  and  will  make  all  stones  for  the 
building,  and  all  workmen,  irerpas  and  Trerpovs,  to  be  what  they 
become,  Matth.  iv.  19. 

Opposed  to  this  building,  at  this  time  still  lying  in  the  future, 
for  which  the  promised  olfco$ofj,r}a(D  from  the  founding  to  the 
finishing  is  ever  being  fulfilled  (for  until  the  descent  of  the  key- 
stone from  heaven,  chap.  xxi.  44,  the  building  is  not  finished, 
Eph.  ii.  21,  22;  1  Pet.  ii.  5) — opposed  to  it  the  prophetic  glance 
of  Christ  sees,  in  fierce  assault  against  it  and  conflict  with  it, 
another  house  or  kingdom  unhappily  already  built ;  against  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth  (which,  ver.  19,  is  in  a  certain  mea- 
sure a  synonyme  for  the  Church)  nothing  less  than  the  entire 
hell  is  at  work  !l  That  the  gates  or  doors  irvkai,  are  intended 
to  denote2  a  power,  is  already  evident  from  the  KaTio-yyaovaiv 
which  follows :  the  expression,  however,  is  used  in  order  to  put 
building  against  building.  Walls  and  gales  mean  defence  and 
power  (Is.  lx.  18 ;  xxvi.  1)  ;  chiefly,  however,  in  oriental  usage, 
as  at  this  day  still  in  the  high  gate,  the  gate  of  the  royal 
palace  indicates  what  we  westerns  denote  by  "  court" — the 
throne  of  the  ruler,  power  and  dignity,  from  which  everything 
comes  forth,  and  to  which  all  returns  in  his  kingdom  (Esth.  ii. 

1  For  avrrjs  at  the  end  refers  of  course  now  to  eKKkrjo-la,  certainly 
not,  as  has  also  been  said,  to  nerpa. 

2  Least  of  all  a  court  of  judgment,  the  judgment  of  the  dead  in  the 
nether- world ! 


344  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

19).  Thus  are  the  gates  of  death,  Job  xxxviii.  17 ;  Ps.  ix. 
14  (to  which  at  ver.  15  the  gates  of  the  daughter  of  Zion  are 
opposed)  Ps.  cvii.  18,  not  merely  entrances,  but  indicate  the 
power  of  death,  seizing  on  his  prey,  and  then  keeping  fast  hold 
of  it  in  his  province ;  thus  finally  do  we  find,  just  as  here,  in 
Is.  xxxviii.  10  f^|ty£  +W]&  LXX.  irvXai  aSov;  comp.  again 
Wis.  xvi.  13,  the  same  thing  together  with  Qavarov  e%ovaia. 
When  the  promise  of  Christ  in  reference  to  his  firmly  built 
Church  is  usually  explained  of  victory  and  sovereignty  over  all 
the  power  of  sin,  over  the  devil  with  his  enmity  as  manifested  in 
malice  and  rage,  in  cunning  and  falsehood,1  according  to  what 
is  generally  understood  by  the  word  hell— -this  is  indeed  not  ex- 
act, in  so  far  as  the  first  fundamental  idea  of  the  ^^j  or  $&?? 
of  the  Bible  is  thereby  entirely  passed  over,  although  this  must 
be  primarily  meant  here.  Christ  says,  first  of  all :  No  power 
of  death,  and  of  the  kingdom  of  death,  shall  prevail  against 
you,  any  more  than  against  me,  whose  .death  becomes  a  re- 
surrection—an idea  in  which  he  already  hastens  forward  to  the 
second  part  of  the  discourse,  ver.  21.  What  is  said  in  Acts  ii. 
24,  iii.  15,  repeats  itself  ever  onwards  in  the  members  of  the 
Head.  But  then  again,  indirectly,  that  common  understanding 
of  the  words  is  indeed  quite  correct  and  well  founded :  for  what 
is  the  power  of  death  other  than  the  power  of  sin,  which  casts 
down  into  death,  and  is  properly  itself  death ;  what  else  can 
aim  at  destroying  the  life  of  the  Church  but  the  power  con- 
sisting in  sin  and  lies  of  him  who  rules  in  Scheol,  and  has 
the  power  of  death  over  sinners  upon  earth,  of  which  the  death 
and  resurrection  of  Christ  forcibly  deprives  him  t  Heb.  ii. 
14.  The  "kingdom  of  death"  and  the  "kingdom  of  Satan," 
is  indeed  one  and  the  same.3  Christ  means  Satan,  without 
doing  him  the  honour  of  here  naming  him:  of  His  own  and 
the  Church's  certain  victory  over  this  strong  one  he  speaks  in 
this  strain  of  humble  majesty,— even  when  triumphing  before 

1  Already  Jerome  :  Ego  portas  inferi  reor  esse  vitia  et  peccata,  vel 
certe  haereticorum  doctrinas. 

2  The  €KK\r)o-ia  has,  according  to  Ignatius  d(j>0ap<r[a  from  Christ.     It 
is  immortal — perpetuo  mansura  as  the  Augustana  says. 

3  Which,  in  opposition  to  Neander  (p.  470),  is  said  in  order  to  ward 
off  the  one-sidedness  of  a  narrow  sense. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  19.  345 

hand  in  the  promise  of  it,  yet  as  it  were  coming  down  to  the  arena, 
and  looking  at  the  heat  and  anxious  solicitude  of  the  conflict,  so 
that  he  only  says,  The  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it, 
instead  of  saying,  It  shall  prevail  over  them ! 

Yer.  19.  We  reserve  the  more  particular  consideration  of 
what  is  here  said  also  for  the  place  where  Christ,  repeating  the 
word  church  (which  when  first  uttered  to  the  disciples  must  have 
been  almost  quite  a  dark  wordj,  confirms  and  explains  it.  Build 
upon  thee — commit  to  thee  the  keys  of  the  edifice — thus  does 
Christ  proceed  on  purpose,  as  if  this  second  thing  were  said  of 
Peter  personally  and  pre-eminently ;  but  really  only  with  the  pur- 
pose of  trying  Simon  son  of  Jonas,  whether  he  can  bear  any  such 
thing  without  boasting.  Thou  art  certainly  become  an  able  and 
important  man  in  my  kingdom :  What  sayest  and  thinkest  thou  of 
this  I  Dost  thou  bear  thyself  humbly,  art  thou  all  the  more  on 
thy  guard  against  flesh  and  blood,  or —  f  We  know,  indeed, 
what  was  soon  to  follow !  Certainly,  the  expression  "on  this  rock'' 
signified  before  almost  as  much  as  "  upon  thee,"  yet  we  feel  that 
Christ  .could  not,  and  would  not,  so  express  himself  as  to  say,  I 
will  build  the  Church  of  God  upon  a  man  !  The  man  is  Simon 
Bar-Jona  the  sinner  (Luke  v.  8),  not  upon  him,  but  upon  this 
Peter  such  as  grace  makes  him  ;  upon  him,  because,  and  in 
as  far  as,  he  certainly  corresponds  to  this  name  more  than  the 
others.  Still  for  this  very  reason  the  co-ordinate  irkrpai  and 
GTvkoi  (see  even  the  promise  in  its  widest  enlargement,  Rev.  iii. 
12)  are  by  no  means  excluded,  and  even  the  primacy  of  Peter 
himself  rests  at  bottom  only  upon  this,  that  he  is  called  to  begin 
the  preaching  of  the  word  as  primus  inter  pares.  So  soon,  how- 
ever, as  by  further  inference  ail  actual  rule  and  authority  seems 
to  connect  itself  with  such  a  primacy,  ver.  19,  we  then  learn 
upon  the  second  mention  of  the  future  Church  at  chap,  xviii. 
17 — 20,  that  the  same  authority  is  immediately  given  not  merely 
to  all  the  Apostles  in  common,  but  even  in  the  most  proper  sense 
to  the  church,  and  that  to  every  individual  church  where  two  or 
three  are  met  together  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  just  because  He, 
the  sole  abiding  source  of  all  power  and  rule  in  this  kingdom,  is 
in  the  midst  of  them.  Only  after  these  connecting  words  of 
transition  follows  then,  in  John  xx.  23,  the  more  particular 
explanation  and  reference  of  the  power  of  the  keys  to  the  Apostles 


346  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  their  successors  in  office,  which  with  Paul,  who  in  like  man- 
ner exercises  that  power  although  he  was  not  then  present,  we 
must  explain  according  to  what  is  said  in  1  Cor.  v.  4;  2  Cor.  ii. 
10. 

As  the  first  part  of  Christ's  reply,  Thou  art  Peter!  proceeds  only 
from  the  /car/a)  Se  aol  \iyco  of  Christ  (which  certainly  does  not 
merely  contain  a  confession  of  what  we  are,  as  does  our  confession 
to  him),  as  it  is  only  He  himself  who  builds  the  Church  on  the  irer- 
po?  whom  He  by  his  calling  has  made  to  be  what  he  is  (Rom.  iv. 
17),  so,  further,  all  that  follows  proceeds  only  from  his  Bcoaco  aoi. 
That  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  now  evidently  "in  a  certain  measure" 
synonymous  with  the  Church,  has  already  been  observed.  We  can 
and  must  still,  it  is  true,  make  the  distinction  (for  example  with 
Eichter)  :  "  the  Church  has  the  keys  of  the  kingdom,  for  it  is  the 
institution  by  which  we  enter  into  that  kingdom ;  Christ  builds 
upon  Peter,  not  his  kingdom  but  his  Church,  which,  as  regards 
Christianity,  is  not  the  form,  but  only  one  form  of  its  manifesta- 
tion." Still,  here  at  least,  in  chap.  xiii.  and  xvi.  28,  this  distinc- 
tion is  preliminarily  not  yet  more  specially  brought  out ;  here  the 
keys  belong  simply  to  the  building  spoken  of  before.1  That  which 
Christ  will  build  upon  earth  is  God's  house  or  temple,  but  it  is  a 
living  house  composed  of  living  stones,  therefore  in  the  first  place 
an  assembly  of  the  faithful,  built  upon  Him  in  faith  and  confession ; 
this  eKK\7)(7ia,  however,  with  all  the  power  and  fulness  of  that 
which  is  committed  to  it,  is  forthwith  a  fiaaikela,  and  that  precisely 
the  true  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth,  hitherto  announced  and 
signified  in  everything,  a  kingdom  which  stands  as  strongly  and 
victoriously  above  the  opposing  power  of  hell  from  beneath,  as,  in 
the  type,  the  fruitful  and  habitable  terrestrial  globe  fa^ri)  above 
the  waters  of  the  abyss  and  of  the  first  fall.  (Ps.  xciii.,  Ps.  xxiv. 
2.)  But,  because  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  immediately 
represented  before  as  a  house  to  be  built,  Christ  at  the  same  time 
continues  the  figure  when  he  speaks  of  the  keys  which  correspond 
to  the  gates,  the  going  out  and  coming  in.  Also  in  Job  xii.  14 
the  building  and  shutting  stand  together;  in  Is.  xxii.  21,  22, 

1  Which,  moreover,  touches  the  well- authorized  yet  subtle  determi- 
nation of  the  distinction  between  "  kingdom  of  God1'  and  Church 
according  to  ordinary  usage, — thus  have  I  since  expressed  myself  on 
this  point  in  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  (ii.  252.) 


MATTHEW  XVI.  19.  347 

the  key  of  the  house  of  David  signifies  the  official  authority  of 
the  householder  or  administrator,  as  a  burgomaster  or  comman- 
der (of  course  only  as  under  the  king)  keeps  the  keys  of  the 
city  or  fortress ;  which,  finally,  in  Rev.  iii.  7,  is  again  repre- 
sented as  the  prerogative  of  the  one  king  and  Lord,  in  his  house 
and  kingdom,  who  certainly  cannot  commit  his  own  supreme 
power  and  dignity  by  transference  to  substitutes  in  his  name. 
Here  let  so  much  only  be  observed  in  general  beforehand,  that 
the  power  of  the  keys  is  the  right  and  power  to  determine  who 
shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  who  belongs  to  it, 
who  shall  abide  in  it  or  not  (comp.  chap,  xxiii.  13,  where  we 
read  of  shutting  with  a  falsely  assumed  right,  and  Luke  xi. 
52,  of  the  key  of  knowledge)  ;  at  the  same  time  further  in 
general,  what  is  to  be  held  valid  in  it,  the  power,  namely, 
of  distributing  or  of  withholding  its  goods  and  graces.  When, 
immediately  after  the  keys,  Christ  goes  on  to  speak  of  binding 
and  loosing,  this  is  not  properly  speaking  a  transition  to  another 
figure,  but  is  just  equivalent  to  "shutting  and  opening;"  for 
the  locks  of  the  ancients  had  bands  which  were  fastened  or  un- 
fastened by  the  simple  key-bar.  (See  Odyss.  8,  802,  0.  447,  <f>. 
45,  240.)  Although,  by  means  of  this  transition,  Christ  at  the 
same  time  refers  to  the  Rabbinical  usage  which  had  arisen  from 
the  Old  Testament,  according  to  which  binding  and  loosing  is 
equivalent  to  forbidding  and  allowing,  and  already  also  in  the 
special  signification  of  retaining  or  remitting  sin.1  And  the 
general  meaning  recurs  again  at  chap,  xviii.  18,  without  any 
allusion  to  the  keys.  "  Key  of  knowledge"  is  certainly  compre- 
hended in  the  keys  here  spoken  of,  as  the  first  and  the  starting- 
point,  but  we  are  by  no  means  warranted  in  saying  (with 
Wieseler)  that  it  is  only  the  keys  of  knowledge  that  are  here 

1  In  the  Old  Testament  the  way  is  prepared  for  this  when  *fy& 
1DN  (Num.  xxx.  3)  is  a  vow  or  obligation  whereby  one  binds  his 
soul  to  anything,  Chald.  Dan.  vi.  8  a  prohibition,  and  Ps.  cv.  21,  22, 
^DN  evidently  passes  over  into  the  signification  :  forbid  and  command, 
instruct.  (Vulg.  ut  erudiret.)  Compare  the  Arabic  "j-Qn  ana*  D"^n. 
Afterwards  in  the  Talmud  ^^^  vetare,  -flDN  or  "VlD^N  ilhcituin  *n 
antithesis  to  ^j-pn  concessura;  in  like  manner  ^1$  solvere,  then 
also  absolvere,  remittere,  condonare. 


348  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

meant,  seeing  that  they  involve  at  the  same  time  an  authority 
to  act.  Christ  says  here,  indeed,  as  afterwards,  chap,  xviii.  6 
iav,  oaa  iav  in  the  neuter  :  what  ye  shall  bind  and  loose,  not  pro- 
perly whom.  This  authority  then  is  exercised,  in  the  first  place, 
by  the  preaching  of  reconciliation  or  condemnation  in  general, 
by  the  true  doctrine  regarding  the  conditions  valid  before  God 
upon  which  grace  is  to  be  received  i1  but  the  application,  flowing 
from  this,  to  the  authority  over  persons,  which  is  so  strongly  ex- 
pressed in  John  xx.  23,  must  not  be  excluded.  Chap,  xviii.,  in 
which  the  saying  is  repeated,  will  first  make  clear  to  us  the  full, 
profound,  import  and  emphasis  of  the  assurance,  that  whatsoever 
is  thus  bound  and  loosed  on  earth  in  the  name  of  Christ  is,  as 
such,  to  be  ratified  also  in  heaven.  Bengel's  harmony  of  the 
gospels  contains  only  the  following  profound  observation  on  these 
verses  :  "  Great  power  of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God.  Hell,  earth, 
and  heaven  are  in  divers  ways  conscious  of  it." 

Ver.  20,  21.  These  verses  are  connected  by  the  repeated 
Tore.  All  that  had  been  announced  regarding  the  future  king- 
dom extends  to  a  period,  previous  to  which  the  Son  of  God  must 
first  suffer  and  die.  This  is  the  wondrous  decree  of  the  Father, 
the  revelation  of  which  the  apostles'  flesh  and  blood  still  kept 
them  from  understanding,  although  it  is  openly  declared  to  them 
by  Him  whom  they  perceive  and  confess  to  be  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God.  In  order  that  the  fulfilment  of  this  pur- 
pose may  not  be  hindered— to  speak  after  the  manner  of  men — 
rather  in  order  not  to  aggravate  the  guilt  of  those  who  crucify 
Christ,  the  great  word  which  had  just  found  expression  in  the 
circle  of  the  apostles,  "  Jesus  is  the  Christ,"  is  not  yet  to  be  made 
the  subject  matter  of  public  preaching,  as  it  was  afterwards  to  be 
from  the  day  of  Pentecost  onwards.  It  is  not  to  be  declared  even 
where  the  faith  that  apprehends  it  may  not  hitherto  have  opposed 
it,  and  least  of  all  is  it  to  be  insisted  on  before  the  time,  where  it 
would  cause  opposition  and  offence,  ere  the  second  great  word, 
which  must  always  stand  connected  with  it—viz.,  "  Christ  has 
suffered  for  us"  has  become  a  fact  for  announcement. 

1  According  to  Maimonides  it  was  spoken  thus  on  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  teacher :  We  give  thee  the  power  to  bind  and  to  loose. 
It  was,  indeed,  a  symbol  of  the  Rabbinate  actually  to  deliver  a  key  to 
the  person  who  received  the  office. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  20,  21.  349 

Scarcely  are  the  disciples  happy  in  the  joy  of  their  confession,  and 
in  the  great  presentiments  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth, 
which  Christ  had  awakened  within  them  by  his  little  understood 
words,  when  he  again  immediately  damps  their  feeling  by  the 
still  less  understood,  terribly  sounding,  word  concerning  his  suf- 
ferings and  death  I  He  had  already  given  them  (and  not 
them  merely)  many  a  hint  about  this,  the  most  pointed  of  which 
we  find  in  chap.  x.  38 ;  but  from  this  time  forward,  he  began  to 
speak  of  it  with  literal  plainness,  which  Matthew  denotes  by 
huicvveiv,  Mark  not  merely  by  SiSda/ceiv  but  by  the  additional 
words  teal  irappnala  rbv  \6yov  iXdkec — only  Luke  gives  no  pro- 
minence to  this.  The  significant  word  Set,  as  afterwards  Luke 
xxiv.  26  the  retrospective  eSet,  and  Matth.  xxvi.  54  the  Bel  again 
when  it  was  being  fulfilled,  points  beforehand  to  the  divine  purpose 
intimated  in  the  Scriptures  (comp.  Matth.  xxvi.  24,  with  Luke 
xxii.  22),  and  is  thus  certainly  not  merely  equivalent  to  fiiXkei,  into 
which  Grotius,  for  example,  would  flatten  the  expression.  The 
last  journey  to  Jerusalem,  which  indeed  is  as  yet  in  the  distance 
(chap.  xx.  18  ;  Luke  ix.  51 ;  xvii.  11),  stood  before  him,  and  all 
that  was  there  to  be  fulfilled  in  him,  the  first  expression  of  which 
is  here  in  the  words  iroWa  iraOelv — in  which  general  expression 
are  comprehended  the  later  special  intimations  of  his  being 
mocked,  spit  upon,  scourged,  crucified.1  Mark  and  Luke  add, 
by  way  of  strengthening  the  expression  :  and  be  rejected,  in  which 
we  are  all  the  more  to  recognise  an  allusion  to  Ps.  cxviii.  22  as 
Christ  afterwards  expressly  says  this  to  his  enemies  (chap.  xxi. 
42),  and  here  indeed  has  just  been  speaking  of  building,  of  stones 
for  building,  and  foundation  stones.  The  same  sad  airohoKifM- 
aaQrivai  lies  implicitly  also  in  Matthew  in  the  mere  airo,  as  Luke 
xxiv.  20,  in  like  manner  declares.  Those  who,  as  builders  in 
Israel,  should  acknowledge  and  receive  him, — from  these  must 
he  reffus  many  things,  even  to  the  being  killed.     Elders,  high 


1  Although  before  Nitzsch  (in  Fichtes  Zeitschrift,  1840,  p.  52),  we 
would  like  to  be  held  so  considerate  as  not  to  deny  that  the  evangelists, 
without  prejudice  to  the  higher  truth,  might  confound  words  of  fulfil- 
ment with  words  of  prediction,  yet  by  a  like  considerateness  we  see  not 
the  slightest  ground  for  the  certain  supposition  that  such  was  actually 
done.  For  even  Nitzsch  will  certainly  not  concede  to  the  critics  a  not 
being  able  on  the  part  of  Christ. 


350  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

priests,  and  Scribes — viz.,  the  most  distinguished,  most  holy,  and 
most  learned ;  the  government  (or  Consistorium,  in  so  far  as  the 
Soman  government,  which  the  name  Ccesarea  Philippi  a  little 
before  significantly  called  to  mind,  permitted  this  still  to  exist), 
clergy,  and  faculty  in  Israel.  To  be  condemned  to  death  as  an 
outcast  by  these,  and  actually  to  suffer  this  with  patience— what 
an  announcement  respecting  the  Messiah  for  the  ears  of  the 
disciples  !  They  do  not  comprehend  it,  they  are  quite  stupified 
(verbliifft)  (sit  venia  verbo),  and  therefore  entirely  fail  to  hear,  as 
we  know,  what  is  said  afterwards  quite  as  literally  as  to  his  rising 
again  on  the  third  day,  in  which  the  earlier  hints  (chap.  xii.  40 ; 
John  ii.  19)  now  find  their  clear  and  direct  expression.  (Comp. 
so  on  Mark  ix.  10; 

Ver.  23.  Simon  Peter,  however,  who  had  just  been  placed  so 
high,  ventures  alone  with  bold  haste,  following  the  impulse  of 
the  first  and  immediate  impression,  to  protest  against  what  Christ 
has  said.  We  may  imagine  the  different  effect  which  these  words 
of  Christ  might  produce  on  the  other  apostles,  according  to  the 
individual  peculiarity  of  each— the  still,  astonished,  feeling  of  a 
John,  or  a  Nathanael,  the  prostrate  sadness  of  a  Thomas :  "  Is 
this  then  the  end  to  which  he  is  to  come  f— quite  forgetting 
for  the  moment  perhaps  the  preceding  words  about  the  Church ; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  crafty  listening  of  a  Judas  Iscariot;  then 
again  the  naive  questioning  of  an  Andrew  or  Philip  :  "  What  is 
this  that  he  says?  We  understand  him  notf  None  of  them, 
however,  ventures  at  once  to  give  expression  to  his  secret 
thoughts ;  Peter  alone  is  bold  enough  to  speak  without  much 
deliberation,  and  he  comes  out  indeed  with  the  most  foolish  reply. 
To  suffer  many  things  and  be  killed— this  has  plainly  struck 
upon  his  still  attentively  listening  ear,  and  his  flesh  and  blood  has 
immediately  a  No  to  give  to  it  !  As  if  he  had  already  the 
promised  keys  in  his  hand,  he  delivers  his  protest  against  allowing 
upon  earth  what  he  considers  to  be  unjust;  nay  more,  as  the  Mas^ 
ter  takes  the  pupil  to  task,  so  he  takes  the  Master  himself,  and 
would  rather  at  once  stop  up  Christ's  way  to  the  building  of  the 
Church,  because  he  does  not  understand  him.  nPoa\a/36fj,evo<;, 
i.e.  he  takes  hold  of  him  by  the  arm  or  garment,  draws  him  aside 
and,  fall  of  zeal  and  earnestness,  gives  him  the  good  confidential 
counsel,  to  think  better  of  what  he  says,  and  to  change  his  mind ! 


MATTHEW  XVI.  23.  351 

It  must  have  been  so  bad  that  Matthew  can  use  the  very  striking 
expression  hriTi\xav  (which,  as  directed  against  Christ,  occurs 
only  here),  together  with  an  Tjpgaro,  which,  in  the  exalted  irony 
of  the  simple  narrative,  corresponds  to  that  r)p%ajo  of  Christ  (ver. 
21).  Luther's  German  translation,  "Lord,  spare  thyself,"1  does 
not  indeed  directly  correspond  to  the  first  sense  and  sound  of  the 
proverbial  expression  t\e&)9  croi,  which  escapes  from  Peter,  and 
at  which  is  rather  to  be  supplied  elrj  6  0eo?.  It  is  parallel  to  the 
Heb.  *rh  n^^n>  f°r  wnicn  the  Sept.  has,  in  one  place,  t\eo>5, 
in  another  firj  yevoiro,  but  which  is  still  more  properly  rendered 
by  the  German  Gott  bewahre  !  Gott  behute  !  (God  forbid).  But 
as  this,  in  the  form  of  a  proverb,  loses  its  proper  meaning,  and 
merely  signifies  No,  No  !  with  the  additional  meaning  according 
to  circumstances  of :  Keep  or  preserve  thyself  from  this, — so  there 
certainly  lies  something  of  Luther's  expression  in  the  exclama- 
tion. For,  that  Christ  himself,  instead  of  this  firj  yivoiTo,  should 
do  what  he  tells  him — this  is  the  good  advice  which  Peter  takes 
him  aside  to  give  him.  The  tcvpie,  as  a  strong  re-echo  of  ver.  6, 
follows  rightly  after  the  first  exclamation,  and  is  intended  to 
confirm  it.  Such  a  thing  must  not  happen  to  Thee,  the  Christ, 
and  Son  of  God !  And  the  good  Peter  is  so  confident  of  his 
cause,  that  he,  moreover,  by  way  of  strengthening  and  deciding, 
adds  with  an  almost  comical  presumption,  if  it  were  not  tragical 
on  the  other  side  :  ov  p,r]  earai  ooi  tovto — which  certainly  can- 
not again  (according  to  Winer)  signify  merely  absit,  ne  accedat, 
but  speaks  decisively,  as  if  the  matter  is  at  the  will  of  Peter 
— for  which  therefore  the  rendering  in  Luther  must  be  more 
accurate  :  That  shall  not  happen  to  thee,  I  will  not  have  it  so,  I 
know  better  !2 

And  the  answer  of  Christ  ?  It  strikes,  indeed,  sharply  at  Peter 
before  the  others  as  he  deserved,  but  it  is  still  at  the  same  time 
addressed  to  the  others,  as  the  continuation  ver.  24  shows.  Peter 
had  taken  him  apart,  Christ  answers  him  in  like  manner  as  the 
words  run,  but  at  the  same  time  he  turns  again  to  the  rest, 

1  Or  even  as  the  Berlenburgher  Bible:  Have  compassion  on  thyself! 
Erasmus  makes  an  ill  improvement  on  the  Vulg.  :  propitius  tibi  sis. 

2  There  certainly  lies  something  in  this  of  what  Von  Ammon  so 
strongly  expresses  (L.  J.  ii.  298) :  Peter  puts  Christ  under  care  as  an 
enthusiast,  who  occupies  himself  with  melancholy  thoughts  1 


352  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

that  they  too  might  hear  it,  because  something  of  that  which  in 
Simon  had  come  out  with  such  prompt  candour  was  in  them 
all.     This  application  and  meaning  of  the  words  Matthew  de- 
notes in  his  significant  brevity  by  the  single  word  arpafek, 
Mark  not  merely  strengthens  it  into  hrunpaj>ek,  but  describes 
more  exactly  in  the  words,  and  He  looked  upon  His  disciples— 
finally,  also  puts  a  well-warranted,  more  than  compensatory,  eVi- 
Tifiav  in  the  mouth  of  Christ,  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  disci- 
ple.    Peter's  zeal  of  the  flesh  is  met  by  a  like,  or  rather  an  over- 
powering, zeal  of  the  spirit,  and  he  who  shortly  before  had  been 
pronounced  blessed,  endowed  with  high  honours,  is  now,  as  the 
words  at  first  seem  to  run,  almost  honoured  with  the  title  of 
Satan.    Does  this  mean,  perhaps  (as  many  are  for  understanding 
it),  a  Satan,  adversary,  seducer?     Wilt  thou  become  a  Satan  to 
me?     (As  2  Sam.  xix.  22.)      It  seems  at  first  sight  as  if  this 
were  its  meaning,  and  then  the  foregoing  words  would  signify, 
Get  thee  behind  me  !     Thou  oughtest  to  follow  me,  instead  of 
putting  thyself  in  my  way,  and  going  before  with  thy  advice.1 
But  then  the  second  sentence  :    Thou  art  a  GKavhaXov2  to  me, 
would  be  so  like  the  first  as  to  be  almost  a  tautology,  which  is 
not  suitable  to  the  profound  meaning  of  the  words  proceeding  from 
deepest  emotion.     Further,  the  Get  thee  behind  me  Satan,  as  a  re- 
petition of  the  word  in  the  temptation  (chap.  iv.  10),  is  too  strong 
to  be  thus  explained.      But  then  this  would  be  too  strong  and 
harsh  for  poor  Peter  personally,  who,  according  to  the  explana- 
tion immediately  afterwards  given  by  Christ  himself  and  kindly 
intended  to  have  a  softening  effect,  meant  to  speak  only  humanly, 
and  did  not,  therefore,  knowingly  and  designedly  speak  satani- 
cally.      How  then  are  we  to  explain  it  ?      I  think  (with  many 
others)  that  Christ  actually  marks  in  this  temptation  Satan  lurk- 
ing behind  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Peter  (Eph.  vi.  12).    The  first 

1  In  this  sense  what  Roos  says  is  true  and  excellent :  "  He  did  not 
therefore  bid  him  entirely  away,  but  behind  himself  into  the  place 
which  became  a  disciple."  In  no  case  is  it  an  entire  "expulsion  from 
the  circle  of  the  disciples,"  as  v.  Ammon  wilfully  presumes,  that  is 
here  spoken  of. 

2  We  could  not  press  the  word  quite  so  snarply  as  Alford,  who  is  for 
supplying  the  definite  article  :  Thou  art  my  stone  of  offence,  my  TreW 
*Kdv8akov !  (1  Pet.  ii.  7,  8).  This  Judas  was  to  Christ  in  the  circle 
of  the  Apostle3  and  that  in  a  much  deeper  sense. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  23.  353 

word  is  at  bottom  to  be  applied  to  the  wicked  enemy  himself, 
the  second  to  the  instrument  of  his  assault,  as  appears  from  the 
reference  of  the  o-tcavSaXov  to  irerpa,  which  is  not  merely  acciden- 
tal.1 The  future  ground-stone  now  as  yet  throws  himself  at  the 
feet  of  the  Master-builder  as  a  stone  of  stumbling — so  little  does 
his  fitness  consist  in  anything  else  than  in  what  this  Master- 
builder  will  yet  make  out  of  him. 

It  was,  in  fact,  a  severe,  and  deep-searching  temptation  for 
Jesus  this  word  of  his  dear  Peter,  springing  from  a  zeal,  which, 
at  heart,  was  so  well  meant ;  this  we  perceive  likewise  from  the 
earnestness  and  warmth  of  his  reply.  He  cannot  answer  here 
with  his  usual  exalted  equanimity,  for  he  is  very  sensitive  on  the 
point  of  this  Aei  \ie  iroKKa  iraOelv  when  any  one  attacks  him 
upon  it — this  is  the  tender,  sore  point  of  his  own  most  peculiar 
and  innermost  conflict,  his  own  shrinking  fear  of  the  baptism  of 
death.  The  Apostle's  flesh  and  blood  expresses  what  the  flesh 
also  of  the  Son  of  Man,  resisting  in  human  weakness,  had  long 
previous  to  Gethsemane  begun  to  say  in  him  :  hence,  this  holy 
zeal  of  obedience  to  the  Father,  of  love  to  sinners,  determined 
denial  of  self,  hence  this  sharpness  towards  the  Apostles,  such 
as  we  find  him  showing  towards  his  disciples  in  connection  with 
nothing  else.  Hence  his  so  suddenly  detecting  and  repelling 
the  Satanic  cunning  which  aimed  at  making  him  waver  !  But 
scarcely  has  he  said  this  in  the  first  sentence,  as  he  must  and 
could  not  otherwise  say  it,  and  in  the  second,  has  come  down 
again  to  the  person  of  Peter,  when  his  tender,  sorrowful  love, 
vindicating  itself,  so  to  speak,  in  order  that  the  poor  disciple  may 
not  be  too  much  cast  down,  adds  the  third  exculpatory  and  ex- 
planatory sentence.  Thou  knowest  not,  indeed,  that  and  how 
Satan  has  now  spoken  to  me  through  thee.  Thou  art  for  leading 
me  away  from  God's  decree,  thou  art  doing  so,  however,  not  from 
intentional  opposition  to  it,  but  from  human  ignorance,  which 
must  serve  the  enemy.  Thou  meanest,  thinkest,  understandest 
not,  now  (only  now)  ra  rov  Oeov — thou  thinkest  and  speakest  in 
the  manner  of  all  avOpomoi.  Thou  certainly  meanest  well,  of 
that  I  am  sure,  and  thy  t\eo>9  <tol  proceeds  from  a  heartfelt  love, 

1  The  first  puts  in  opposition  to  the  Tkea>s  (etfy  6  6e6s)  an  exclama- 
tion repelling  Satan,  the  second  corresponds  to  the  good  intention  of 
Peter  personally  :   That  must  not  happen  to  thee. 

VOL.  II.  Z 


354  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

as  the  nvpie  from  the  half  faith,  which  now  knows  of  Christ,  but 
not  yet  of  his  cross.  Thus  does  Christ  sorrowfully  excuse  him, 
although  on  the  other  hand  it  is  an  earnest  warning  addressed 
to  him,  and  shows  us  here  by  the  most  lively  example  how  "  the 
human  is  so  often  the  profane"  how  little  men  in  their  human 
feeling  can  grasp  the  counsel  of  God  with  respect  to  redemption 
and  his  kingdom,i  how  dangerously  the  love  that  springs  from 
the  flesh  comes  in  the  way  of  the  holy  love  of  the  Father  and 
Son.  This  temptation  of  Christ  by  Peter  repeats  itself  in  a 
thousand  forms  in  his  followers,  and  is  still  more  hazardous  than 
the  direct  temptation  in  the  wilderness,  being  here  also  placed 
after  that  temptation  as  a  higher  degree  of  it.  Those  whose  in- 
tentions towards  us  are  the  best,  are  then  most  dangerous  to  us 
when  their  intentions  are  merely  human.  Then  it  is  necessary 
to  know,  and  to  keep  fast  hold  of,  the  things  that  be  of  God 
against  flesh  and  blood  from  without,  by  which  Satan  would  en- 
tice our  flesh  and — in  us  sinners  otherwise  than  with  the  Holy 
one — more  than  our  flesh  into  unfaithfulness ;  then  it  is  neces- 
sary to  hold  fast  that  which  the  faithful  Forerunner  immediately 
after  holds  forth  to  all  his  followers,  (vers.  24,  25),  as  the  weapon 
they  are  to  use  when  placed  in  the  same  circumstances. 

Finally,  there  appears  in  this  conflict  of  the  pseudo-Peter  with 
Christ,  at  least  remotely  as  in  a  prophetic  figure,  the  presumptive 

1  I  cannot  forbear  adding  here  a  beautiful  passage  from  the  profound 
book  (which  I  would  kindly  recommend  to  believing  thinkers)  :  Kap- 
plinger,  Beschreibungen  ueber  das  Wesen  der  Gottheit.  "  It  is  a  spiri- 
tual law  for  the  proper  revelation  of  divine  qualities  and  powers,  to  lay 
the  foundation  for  the  development  of  these  in  their  perfection  under 
the  forms  of  outward  meanness  and  lowliness.  By  this  process  of  re- 
vealing and  unfolding  great  divine  qualities  and  powers,  so  opposed  to 
the  earthly  reason,  they,  as  it  were,  repel  from  themselves  those  quali- 
ties and  powers  that  are  only  earthly  and  human,  so  as  to  reveal  them- 
selves according  to  their  original  and  peculiar  divine  character,  &c. 
Hence,  Jesus  Christ  repelled  even  his  disciples  from  himself  in  order 
that  no  foreign  and  human  power  might  come  in  to  disturb  and  limit 
his  essentially  divine  qualities  and  powers,  when  revealing  them  in 
their  perfection.  Therefore  he  had  already  before  said  to  Peter :  Get 
thee  behind  me,  thou  thinkest  only  what  is  human  but  not  what  is 
divine"  This  is  indeed  profound  exegesis  proceeding  from  a  genuine 
Theosophy  of  the  Cross,  and  that  by  a  dreamer  of  Weinsberg.  How 
does  it  contrast  with  the  shallow  treatment  of  Scripture  even  by  a 
Schleiermacher,  who  has  nothing  more  to  say  than— Christ  called  the 
apostle  a  Satan,  one  who  has  not  at  heart  the  divine  word ! 


MATTHEW  XVI.  24,  25.  355 

successor  of  this  apostle,  in  his  well-meant  human  blindness  to 
the  mystery  of  the  cross  in  the  kingdom  of  the  cross,  (thus 
mildly  to  interpret  the  papacy  and  the  better  Papists),  on  account 
of  which,  while  he  imagines  himself  to  be  the  representative  of 
the  householder,  supplying  his  place,  he  is  really  for  driving  him 
out  of  the  house.  But  this  is  and  remains  the  pseudo-Peter, 
even  with  the  true  confession  of  the  dogma  respecting  the  Son 
of  God,  and  against  this  continuing  o-fcavSaXov  on  the  way  of 
Christ  with  his  church,  the  words  Get  thee  away  Satan,  proving 
his  power,  have  long  since  been  spoken  once  for  all. 

Ver.  24,  25.  These  verses  have  already  received  their  ex- 
planation at  Matth.  x.  38,  39,  of  which  Christ  here  reminds  his 
disciples  with  a  tacit  "  Have  you  then  quite  forgotten  these  my 
words  ?  Must  I  repeat  them  to  you  again  V  In  ver.  26  there 
follows  then,  in  addition,  the  clearest,  most  decisive,  explanation 
of  tyv)(r)v  <ra)(rai.  The  repetition  also  gives  prominence  to  the 
fact,  that  with  all  his  invitations,  Christ  must  still  leave  the 
matter  over  to  the  will  of  each  individual,  just  because  it  stands 
thus  :  €l  Ti?  9e\ei.  According  to  Mark  he  now  calls  also  "  with 
the  disciples"  the  people  who  were  standing  near,  and  speaks 
openly  to  them  also  of  his  cross,  as  before  to  the  disciples,  only 
indicating,  however,  and  presupposing  His  own  cross  in  that  of 
his  followers.  This  is  a  further  continuation  intended  for  all  who 
will  yet  become  His  disciples,  as  that  which  was  before  said  to 
Peter  was  spoken  with  an  eye  to  all  who  are  now  his  disciples ; 
for  in  the  bearing  of  the  cross,  there  avails  no  distinction,  no 
rank  or  preference,  from  Peter  down  to  the  last  and  the  least  who 
will  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Luke  also  observes  at  least 
that  He  said  to  them  all — so  that,  in  this  instance,  the  rot?  fiaOr]- 
rah  avTov  of  Matthew  receives  its  correction  or  rather  its  expla- 
nation from  the  other  evangelists — to  all  present  and  future 
(whosoever  will  be  My  disciple,  as  ye  are).  Deny  himself — of 
this  we  have  already  spoken  at  chap.  x. ;  here  let  the  remark  be 
made,  which,  there  would  have  reached  beyond  the  first  de- 
velopment of  the  sense,  namely  that  in  the  strictness  of  this  re- 
quirement there  yet  lies,  at  the  sametime,  a  comforting  mildness. 
It  is  presupposed,  and,  in  the  meanwhile,  acknowledged  that  the 
old  self  is  as  yet  present  in  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  for  other- 
wise therewould  be  no  necessity  fi™  their  denying  it.     And  what 


356  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

else  is  this  denying  than  first  of  all  theXoyi^eaOat  of  faith  (Rom. 
vi.  11),  which  is  not  merely  allowed  but  even  required  of  us  by  the 
kindly  assisting  grace  !  "  As  Peter  said  when  he  denied  Christ : 
I  know  not  the  man  !  So  say  thou  of  thyself  and  act  accordingly .'> 
(Bengel.)  Not :  Let  him  kill  himself/crucify  himself— God  will 
take  care  that  this  come  about  by  means  of  the  never-failing 
cross,  which  offers  itself  for  acceptance.  Again,  that  this  means 
nothingmerely  coming  from  without,  nothing  extraordinary  alone, 
we  have  already  seen  from  the  icaff  rj/xepav  of  Luke.  If  thou 
hast  not  now  precisely  contempt,  rejection,  enmity,  from  without 
for  the  sake  of  Christ,  still  thou  hast  some  suffering  of  body, 
some  burden  arising  from  the  transient  nature  of  the  world ;  or 
if  thou  hast  not  this,  thou  shalt  yet  all  the  more  assuredly  feel 
the  tribulation  and  temptation  of  sin  in  the  evil  world,  thou  shalt 
and  must  at  all  events  even  now  feel  something  of  the  inward 
conflict  with  thy  sin,  that  which  is  peculiar  to  thyself,  for  the 
denial  and  destruction  of  which  all  that  every  moment  of  life 
brings,  has  been  given  to  thee  and  laid  upon  thee  by  God. 
Without  this  inward  cross  all  outward  suffering  in  the  flesh  is 
profitless  and  unavailing,  for  an  Indian  Fakir  undergoes  the  ex- 
tremest  sufferings  of  this  kind  which  tend  rather  to  the  strength- 
ening of  his  pride,  so  that  they  are  no  real  ^r£  ]T|3V«  All 
bearing  of  burdens  or  laying  burdens  on  oneself,  without  self- 
denial,  is  not  the  cross  of  which  Christ  speaks  to  His  followers ; 
all  sacrifices  and  surrenders  are  vain,  if  they  be  not  done  as  He  says" 
for  My  sake — Mark,  for  My  sake  and  the  GospePs — i.e.  in  order 
that  we  may  become  partakers  of  the  Gospel,  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  which  is  offered  in  it.  1  Cor.  ix.  23.  God  prepares  the 
cross  for  thee ;  cast  it  not  away,  but  consider  it  as  thine,  according 
to  the  will  of  obedience,  as  if  thou  thyself  hadst  chosen  it.   Deny 

thyself,  say  to  the  opposing  will  of  the  flesh  :  Not  as  I  will this 

is  the  first  and  fundamental  thing.  Thus  is  the  cross  taken  up, 
and  now  comes  the  second  word  in  which  the  necessary  strength 
and  perseverance  are  held  forth  :  Follow  Me. 

The  train  of  thought  in  the  remaining  part  of  Christ's  words 
from  v.  24  onwards,  is  therefore  so  to  be  understood  as  that  He  first 
lays  down  the  great  motive  for  His  followers,  and  then  gives  the 
grounds  of  this  inevitable  requirement.  The  nature  of  the  case 
demands,  first  of  all,  as  a  present  necessity,  that  only  the  death  of 


MATTHEW  XVI.  26.  357 

the  old  sinful,  selfish,  life  shall  introduce  to  the  new  holy  and 
glorious  life  of  Christ,  (ver.  25.)  Without  this,  however,  if  the 
man  continue  in  his  own  life,  if  he  continue  as  he  is,  the  whole 
world  will  help  him  nothing,  and  he  cannot  thereby  redeem  him- 
self or  save  himself  from  destruction  and  judgment  (ver.  26). 
This  therefore  is  required  secondly  (which  was  already  implied 
in  the  first),  in  the  future  trial  at  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man 
to  judgment,  which  is  inevitably  certain  (ver.  27),  the  certainty 
of  which  is  pledged  for  by  a  previous,  more  proximate  coming  and 
revelation  of  his  kingdom  (ver.  28). 

Yer.  26.  Here  again  is  one  of  those  sayings  of  which  we  are 
wont  to  observe,  that  there  is  much  to  be  said  concerning  them 
in  the  way  of  preaching,  but  little  in  the  way  of  interpretation  ! 
He  who  will  understand  it  understands  it,  and,  in  thus  receiving 
it,  the  understanding  of  it  becomes  more  clear  and  perfect.  Christ 
refers  evidently  to  Ps.  xlix.,  and  that  not  merely  in  the  second 
half  of  the  saying  almost  literally  to  vers.  8,  9 :  but,  in  the  say- 
ing as  a  whole,  he  refers  to  the  main  import  of  this  entire  psalm, 
in  which  is  declared  the  nothingness  and  insufficiency  of  all 
earthly  good  and  earthly  possessions  for  the  final  destiny  of  the 
soul  at  death  (see  vers.  7,  17 — 20.)  Christ  alters,  however,  and 
strengthens  the  words  of  the  psalm — which  only  declares  how  no 
one  can  redeem  the  soul  of  his  brother — to :  How  and  whereby 
may  a  man  redeem  himself  1  Zr)/jb(a  is  hurt,  loss,  damage,  in 
anything  (Acts  xxvii.  10,  21 ;  Phil.  iii.  7,  8).  Consequently  ttjv 
ijrvxfjv  £y/Mova6aL  is  to  lose  the  soul,  or  himself,  as  Luke  has  it, 
thus  evidently  explaining  it.1  If,  in  a  general  fire  raging 
around  thee,  thou  wert  to  save  and  preserve  thy  great  and  well- 
filled  palace,  and  yet  be  destroyed  thyself  by  the  fire — what 
wouldst  thou  have  gained  in  comparison  with  him  who,  while  his 
goods  were  burned,  has  yet  escaped  with  his  life  ?  Therefore 
also  conversely :  What  shall  it  damage  a  man  though  he  should 
give  up  the  whole  world  (which  will  at  one  time  pass  away  and  be 
consumed),  if  only  his  soul  be  saved  ?  The  true  eternal  salvation 
of  one  human  soul  is  of  infinitely  more  value  than  the  whole  world ; 
thus  must  we  set  profit  and  loss  against  each  other,  and  he  who 

1  'EavTov  8e  aTroXeVas  fj  fr/wa&is— "  the  being  lost  is  here  denoted 
first  as  a  doing,  then  as  a  suffering" — Lange. 


358  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

has  not  so  reckoned  will,  in  the  end,  find  to  his  eternal  loss  how 
terribly  he  has  miscalculated !  Then  will  the  bankrupt  be  forced 
to  cry  out,  What  shall  a  man  give ;  to  which  the  psalm  already 
furnishes  the  answer :  It  must  cease  for  ever  !  And  though 
he  alone  were  to  possess  the  world,  it  would  be  no  avraXKayjia, 
no  equivalent  for  his  soul,  as  the  Zurich  translation  renders  it, 
nothing  that  in  the  exchange  could  compensate  for  the  lost  soul, 
Yulg.  commutatio.  But  the  word  expresses  still  more  than  this, 
for  it  corresponds  to  the  ov  Baxrei  i^lXaafjua,  tyjv  ti/jltjv  rrj<s 
\vTp(t)a€(DS  rrjs  Tjrt^r}?  avTov  Ps.  xlix.  8,  9 — Heb.  ^^  and 
JYH£.  That  must  be  ov  <f>0aprd  (1  Pet.  i.  18).  Christ  at  the  same 
time  hereby  testifies,  that  God  alone  has  found  out  the  avrak- 
Xar/fia,  and  Xvrpov  (Matth.  xx.  28)  :  he  who  despises  this,  who 
makes  its  power  and  sufficiency  of  none  effect  for  himself — what 
shall  he  be  able  to  give  of  that  which  belongs  to  another? 

Ver.  27.  The  same  reason  is  further  given  as  formerly  in 
chap,  x.,  according  to  our  interpretation  of  that  passage :  There 
lies  before  us  in  the  judgment  a  trial,  in  order  to  be  prepared  for 
which,  we  must  now  let  our  soul  be  redeemed,  saved,  sanctified, 
and  kept  by  Christ's  cross.  Then  it  will  be  no  loss  to  have 
borne  this  cross,  but  an  eternal  gain,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
will  be  no  gain  to  have  possessed  the  whole  world,  but  an  eternal 
loss  !  According  to  Matth.,  Christ  has  said  here  by  anticipation 
what  he  afterwards  said  (chap.  xxiv.  30,  xxv.  31).  The  same 
Son  of  Man,  concerning  whose  present  appearance  in  lowliness 
the  discourse  began  at  ver.  13,  will  appear  personally  a  second 
time ;  as  the  first  time  he  appeared  entirely  as  Son  of  Man  in 
our  weakness,  so,  although  still  the  Son  of  Man,  He  will  yet 
then  manifestly  appear  as  the  Son  of  the  living  God ;  in  the 
glory  of  His  Father,  which  is  at  the  same  time  His  own  glory 
(chap.  xxv.  31 ;  Luke  ix.  26),  with  His  angels  serving  Him  as 
Lord  (chap.  xiii.  41).  Mark  and  Luke  have,  instead  of  this, 
another  saying  which  Matth.,  with  still  further  alteration,  repeats, 
and  we  may  well  suppose  that,  on  this  occasion,  Christ  used  both 
sayings.  It  is  the  only  occasion  on  which  we  find  this  expression 
in  the  mouth  of  Christ :  Whosoever  is  ashamed  of  Me — which  is 
still  sharper  and  more  reprehensatory  than  the  denying,  spoken 
of  in  Matth.  x.  It  cannot,  however,  signify:  Whosoever  is 
ashamed  of  the  Son  of  Man,  for  this  name  always  denotes  the 


MATTHEW  XVI.  28.  350 

visible  presence  of  Christ,  whether  in  its  more  lowly  or  more 
exalted  manifestation — but,  quite  properly,  of  Me  and  My  words, 
the  confession  and  following  of  my  doctrine  and  truth,  in  which 
I  myself  am  now  here  for  the  sake  of  the  world,  previous  to  my 
coming  again  to  judgment.  In  Mark  what  is  said  before  (ver.  35), 
precisely  corresponds  to  it :  for  my  sake  and  the  gospeVs,  (Kom. 
5.  16).  Mark  alone  adds  besides,  in  order  to  bring  into  full 
light  the  criminality  and  perversity  of  being  thus  ashamed :  in 
this  adulterous  and  sinful  generation !     (Matth.  xii.  39). 

Ver.  28.  In  the  jxeXKei,  (ver.  27),  Christ  has  represented 
His  second  coming  to  judgment  (which  must  point  to  something 
else  than  the  rising  again,  ver.  21),  as  a  thing,  indeed,  perfectly 
ure,  (Luther :  will  certainly  happen),  but  still  as  belonging 
to  a  more  remote  future,  to  a  final  end  which  is  left  quite 
undefined.  But  in  order  that  this  may  not  prove  too  faint 
and  too  wide  a  prospect  for  the  disciples  and  for  us,  in  order 
that  even  from  these  words  we  may  know  already,  at  least  in 
general,  how  it  shall  stand  with  the  building  of  the  church, — of 
course  after  the  resurrection  of  Christ  when  the  rejected  stone 
has  become  the  corner-stone, — how  it  shall  be  in  regard  to  the 
therein  valid  representation  of  the  master  of  the  house  by  means 
of  regularly  appointed  holders  of  the  keys,  nay  how,  in  regard 
to  the  conflict,  also  announced  to  the  church,  of  the  powers 
of  hell  against  it— to  show  this,  Christ  adds  a  word  which  could 
scarcely  have  been  wanted  (as,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  evident) 
for  the  complete  rounding  off  of  the  entire  announcement 
which  he  here  makes.  With  a  here  concluding  'Aixrjv  (Luke 
akr}d(o<i)  he  again  announces  a  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man,  a 
more  mediate,  more  proximate  coming,  which  is  to  be  the 
pledge  of  His  coming  to  judgment.  That  this  latter  coming  is 
not  what  is  here  spoken  of  is  incontrovertibly  evident  from  its 
being  said  that  those  who  have  seen  this  other  and  nearer 
coming  are  yet  afterwards  to  die,  which  can  have  no  application 
to  the  last  day.1     It  is  evidently,  in  the  most  general  conception 

1  The  confusion  in  Hofmann  (Weissagung  und  Erfullung  ii.  272) — 
according  to  which  Christ  is  represented  as  having  actually  expected 
the  last  judgment  before  a  generation  should  pass  away — takes  its 
rise  from  this,  that  men,  despising  the  genuine  tradition  of  the  funda- 
mental conceptions  of  the  Bible,  are  ever  for  building  their  exegesis 
upon  their  own  self-wisdom. 


360  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

of  it,  the  same  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  that  is  here  meant  as 
was  spoken  of  chap  x.  23 ;  for  Christ  points  back  here,  through- 
out, to  what  was  said  there,  at  the  sending  out  of  the  apostles. 
Christ  comes  in  His  kingdom  (comp.  Luke,  xxiii.  42),  with  His 
kingdom,  when  He  sets  it  up,  reveals  His  power  in  it  and  by 
it ;  and,  precisely  hereby,  is  the  coming  at  first  in  His  kingdom 
to  be  distinguished  from  the  visibly  personal  coming.     Mark  and 
Luke,  therefore,  as  regards  the  sense,  quite  correctly  change  the 
saying  (which  Matth.  retains  in  its  original  form  as  connected  with 
chap,  x.),  so  as  to  explain  it  in  opposition  to  any  misunderstand- 
ing of  it.     Luke,  indeed,  says  only  until  they  see  the  kingdom 
of  God — where  the  strongest  emphasis  rests  on  the  seeing  with 
the  eyes  what  has  actually  been  brought  to  pass.     Mark  more 
distinctly  has,   in   addition   to   this,  the  words   hXrjXvOviav  iv 
hvvafiei,  in  which  the  original  epxeaOai,  spoken  of  Christ  him- 
self, is  applied  to  His  kingdom,  but  quite  correctly  so,  in  as  far  as 
the  Svvafus  of  the  coming  King,  the  efficacious  power  of  His 
invisible  presence,  displays  itself  in  the  establishment  and  main- 
tenance of  the  kingdom.     See  in  Eom.  i.  4,  and  2  Cor.  xiii. 
3,  4,  the  interpretation  of  this  iv  hvvdfxei.    His  kingdom  is  His 
church,  as  also  Matt.  xiii.  41.    He  assures  His  apostles,  then,  that 
the  setting  up  of  His  church,  announced  ver.  18,  shall  be  accom- 
plished even  in  this  generation,  and  He  expresses  this  by  the 
striking  words  which  all  the  three  evangelists  have  preserved : 
that  some  of  those  now  standing  here  (among  whom  are  by  all 
means  to  be  understood  those  also  of  the  people  who  were  standing 
around,  although  at  the  most  only  secondarily)  would  not  taste 
or  experience  death  (which  can  only  be  meant  here  as  at  John 
viii.  52)  until  his  kingdom,  and  therein  his  power  and  presence,  be 
as  clearly  displayed  to  their  view  as  if  they  saw  Christ  himself 
already  come.      Consequently  he  can  least  of  all  mean  by  this, 
the  transfiguration  which  immediately  follows  ver.  17/  nay,  not 
even  merely  the  building  and  continuance  of  his  Church  in  Gene- 
ral, beginning  with  the  day  of  Pentecost ;  for  how  then  woufd  he, 
thus  selecting,  speak  of  some  ?     And,  although  we  may  not  strain 
this  expression,  so  as  to  make  it  mean  that  only  two  or  three  of 

1  A  curious  idea  of  many  commentators,  beneath  which  there  lies 
only  so  much  of  truth,  namely,  that  this  transfiguration  was  again  a 
very  natural  figurative  pledge  c-f  all  future  glorification. 


MATTHEW  XVII.  7,  9,  11,  12.  3(^1 

the  apostles  should  survive,  what  he  announces  there  still  remains 
a  nvh  fiev,  to  which  corresponds  a  Tives  he,  who  shall  taste  of 
death  before  they  see.  We  therefore  rightly  understand  this,  as 
at  chap.  x.  23,  of  the  great  catastrophe  of  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  the  setting  up  of  the  New  Testament  Church,  which 
was  then  first  fully  ratified  and  manifestly  loosed  from  Jewish 
entanglements,  of  that  iKKk^cria  which,  in  Rom.  ix.  24,  is  already 
described  with  believing  anticipation.  Then  also  did  Christ  come 
in  his  power  to  judgment,  foreshadowing  the  judgment  of  the 
world,  so  that  all  who  believed  in  his  power  to  save,  and  who 
have  since  become  his  people  (Rom.  ix.  25,  26),  have  before  their 
eyes  in  that  event  a  pledge,  equally  consoling  as  it  is  warning,  of 
that  which  is  testified  of  as  in  the  remote  future  in  the  words  fjueWei 
epyeaQai,  airohcoaei  eKaorrw  Kara  ttjv  irpaf;iv  avTov.  (Comp.  Deut. 
xxxii.  36  with  Heb.  x.  30).  John  xxi.  22  also  belongs  to  this  as 
an  appropriate  parallel  passage  ;  how  many  even  of  the  apostles 
may,  with  Peter  (and  Paul)  have  tasted  of  death  previous  to 
this  event  we  know  not. 


^  THE  TRANSFIGURATION.      THE  FUTURE  ELIAS. 

(Matth.  xvii.  7,  9,  11,  12  ;  Mark  ix.  9,  12,  13). 

Luke  ix.  28  points  in  the  expression,  \ierra  tou?  \070u?  rov- 
toi>?,  at  the  inner  connexion  between  the  transfiguration  and  the 
first  announcement  of  suffering  on  the  part  of  Christ,  even  more 
strongly  than  the  two  other  evangelists,  who  mention  the  number 
of  days  that  intervened.  It  will  be  difficult,  in  this  instance,  to 
adhere  to  our  plan  of  interpreting  the  sayings  of  Christ,  and  not 
the  narratives,  and  it  may  here  also  be  said  with  special  truth, 
that  only  the  perfect  understanding  of  the  whole  occurrence  can 
open  our  ears  for  perceiving  the  innermost,  peculiar  force  of  the 
word  of  Jesus  :  Arise  and  be  not  afraid  ! 

On  the  day  at  least,  on  which  he  takes1  with  him  up  to  the 
high  mountain  the  three  disciples,  who  had  already  been  the 

1  Already  in  the  unusual  expression  dv<xf>epei  there  is  something  that 
indicates  how  he  took  them  up  with  himself,  brought  them  before  God 
(compare  Luke  xxiv.  51). 


362  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

selected  witnesses  of  the  first  miracle  of  raising  from  the  dead, 
the  sons  of  thunder,  and  the  man  of  rock,  Christ  knew  that  some- 
thing was  now  to  happen  to  him,  and  in  general  what  that  was. 
That  question,  six  days  before,  which  denoted  that  the  turning- 
point  in  his  course  was  now  reached,  from  which  the  Son  of 
God  approximated  ever  nearer  to  his  sufferings,  was  already  a 
presentiment  of  this  testimony  that  was  now  to  be  given  bv  the 
Father,  and  which  was  to  seal  the  confession  of  the  disciples. 
The  innermost  reference  to  Christ  himself  of  this  voice  sounding 
at  the  middle-point  between  Matth.  iii.  17  and  John  xii.  28,  with 
all  that  accompanies  it,  the  parallelism  between  this  consecration 
to  his  suffering,  and  the  first  inauguration  at  his  baptism,  is  now 
more  distinctly  acknowledged  by  the  more  recent  orthodox  theo- 
logians than  it  ever  was  by  the  ancients;  it  is  no  longer  deemed 
enough  to  find  in  it  merely  a  testimony  for  the  disciples  who  be- 
held his  glory  (2  Pet.  i.  16,  as  also  Luke  ix.  32),  but  it  is  now 
explained  of  the  new  anointing  for  the  knowing  and  doing  of  his 
work,  which  was  here  given  from  above,  especially  to  the  Son 
himself.1  He  who  for  us  is  to  enter  by  a  voluntary  death  into 
glorification,  in  order  that  He  may  fulfil  all  righteousness,  must 
first  learn  and  actually  experience  in  regard  to  Himself  other- 
wise than  by  the  knowledge  arising  from  faith,  that  the  86%a 
of  light  and  life  is  already  present  in  His  humanity,  that  it  can 
break  forth  in  Him,  and  radiate  from  Him,  even  without  His 
passing  through  death— in  order  that  thus  anticipating  the 
Father's  good  pleasure,  He  may  be  prepared  to  deny  this  self, 
and  to  empty  Himself  of  this  glory  even  to  the  cross.  He  who 
thus  fulfils  the  law  and  the  prophets,  must  now  already  beyond 
the  limits  of  death  hold  a  secret  council  with  the  personal  repre- 
sentatives of  the  law  and  of  prophecy,  who  have  beforehand 
some  participation  in  the  fruit  of  His  resurrection,2  who  at  Mai. 

1  We  may  refer  chiefly  to  the  profound  expressions  in  Beck,  Christ- 
hche  Lehrwissenschaft  i  512,  and  following.  With  wilful  ignorance, 
bchleiermacher  says  :^  "  In  vain  do  we  take  pains  definitely  to  repre- 
sent to  ourselves  an  aim  for  this  mysterious  occurrence." 

2  In  the  bodies  of  both  we  find  a  wonderful  exception  to  the  general 
fate  of  death,  although  the  lawgiver  actually  died  beforehand  on  ac- 
count of  sm,  while  the  prophet  was  already  lifted  up  nearer  to  the  vic- 
*F™1  dfth^  N,0t  .that\they  were  actually,  before  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  the  first-fruits,  clothed  with  the  final  resurrection- body  but 


matthew  xvn.  7,  9,  11,  12.  363 

iv.  4,  5,  appeared  together  as  closing  the  old  covenant,1  and  now, 
in'  the  heavenly  imperial  council  before  the  throne  of  the  fieya- 
\07rpe7n79  86f;a,  stand  upon  the  threshold  of  the  new  covenant, 
as  the  Baptist  in  the  character  of  the  typical  Elias  did  upon  earth 
for  the  people.  Mer  avrov  avWaXovvres — by  this  one  well- 
chosen  word  (which  Mark  and  Luke  also  retain),  does  Matthew 
veil  from  us  the  wondrous  words  of  the  symphony,  in  those  higher 
regions  as  yet  concealed  from  us  by  the  cloud  of  the  ascen- 
sion, where  the  Son  receives  from  the  Father  honour  and  glory 
in  the  words,  This  is,  &c.  Luke  is  permitted  to  lift  the  veil  a 
little,  and  plainly  to  show  us  (what  we  might  of  ourselves  guess 
and  perceive)  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  announced  to  the  disci- 
ples a  week  before,  as  the  centre-point  of  these  heavenly  words, 
from  the  sanctuary  of  which,  the  supreme  Praeses  of  the  council 
then  again  refers  us  to  the  earthly  words  of  Christ.  They  spake 
of  His  decease,  which  (now  near  at  hand)  He  should  accomplish 
at  Jerusalem,  to  accomplish  which  He  now,  a  second  time,  more 
especially  consecrates  Himself  to  the  Father,  devotes  and  for- 
tifies himself,  as  the  first  time  at  the  etVo8o9,  Acts  xiii.  24. 
E%o8o<;  here  certainly  does  not  signify  (according  to  Schleier- 
macher)  the  "calling"  to  be  fulfilled  (Sp6fio<:  Acts  xiii.  25;  xx. 
24),  but  evidently,  in  the  first  place,  the  end  of  life  as  Wis.  vii. 
6 ;  2  Pet.  i.  15,  still  not  without  a  prospective  glance  at  the  turn- 
ing of  death  into  life,  so  that  the  "rising  again"  (chap.  xvi.  21, 
xvi;9,  23),  is  at  all  events  included :  the  victorious  accomplish- 
ment, result,  and  issue  of  this  death,  which  for  Him  and  us  is  at 
the  same  time  f)  eiaoBo?  et?  rrjv  alcoviov  ftaatXelav,  2  Pet.  i.  11. 
(Just  as  at  Heb.  xiii.  7.)  Let  it  be  considered  what  the  Apostle 
(2  Pet.  i.  16,)  means  by  Suva/us  ical  irapov<ria\  Those  who  have 
prepared  the  way  for  him  to  this  ft-jpftj  and  are,  therefore,  well 
acquainted  with  it,  now  speak  with  Him  and  to  Him  concerning  it, 

their  death  and  state  after  death  has  yet  something  in  it  specially  my- 
sterious. Here  lies  still  another  secret :  if  already  at  that  time,  as  the 
Tract.  flmjftjj  teaches,  the  half  shekel  for  the  temple  was  collected 
in  the  month  Adar,  and  if  there  was  ground  for  the  tradition  in  Josephus 
of  Moses'  death  having  happened  on  the  first  of  Adar,  then  was 
Christ  transfigured,  perhaps,  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Lawgiver's 
death. 

1  Therefore  not  merely  (according  to  v.  Gerlach) :  The  Founder  and 
the  Restorer  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  Old  Testament. 


364  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW 

but  still  more  He  to  them,1  putting  Himself  in  the  position  of  one 
ready  to  answer  their  questions,  in  order  that  they  may  rejoice 
before  Him  in  His  glory  with  more  perfect  understanding  and 
clearer  view  than  the  disciples,  who  are  as  yet  heavy  with  the 
sleep  of  earth — also,  indeed  (as  Roos  mentioned),  that  they  may 
now  bear  to  the  invisible  world  tidings  of  Christ's  willingness  to 
undergo  the  redeeming  death  now  near  at  hand. 

Then  the  light-cloud  becomes  to  the  earthly  eyes  the  blinding, 
overshadowing  darkness  of  the  sanctuary ;  the  two  are  already 
entered  into  it,  the  three  are  terrified  without,  for  it  is  not  yet 
time  to  build  the  eternal  tabernacles  of  glory  on  the  earth,  which 
must  first  receive  for  its  purification  the  blood  of  Christ  from  the 
hands  of  sinners.  Jesus  alone  remains  before  their  eyes,  and  the 
supremely  decisive  voice  of  the  eternal  Father  in  the  inaccessible 
light  which  no  man  hath  seen  nor  can  see,  comes  from  out  the 
cloud.  Even  when  the  vail  of  the  heaven  is  for  a  moment 
withdrawn,  we  are  only  referred  back  to  earth,  to  the  Son 
of  Man  and  of  God  struggling  in  lowliness,  passing  by  suf- 
fering into  glory.  The  second  voice  of  the  Father,  which 
directs  to  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  the  first  did  to  His 
person,  speaks  in  the  words  of  Scripture,  of  Psalms,  Prophets, 
and  Law  (Ps.  ii.  7 ;  Is.  xlii.  1,  4 ;  Deut.  xviii.  15,  18),  and 
invests  him  with  the  honour  of  king  because  He  is  the  Son  (Ps. 
ii.  6),  of  priest  as  making  an  atonement  with  which  God  is  well- 
pleased,  of  prophet,  who  is  to  be  heard  along  with  and  above  the 
law  and  the  prophets,  inasmuch  as  He  bears  testimony  of  Him- 
self and  the  Father's  purpose  in  Him. 

The  disciples  fall  in  great  fear  on  their  face ;  He,  however,  in 
most  exalted  dignity,  calmness,  and  might,  touches  them,  as  once 
Gabriel  did  the  prophet  (Dan.  viii.  18,  ix.  21,  x.  10),  and  speaks 

1  As,  in  this  instance,  Ebrard,  who  in  other  respects  with  good 
apologetical  intention  is  for  remaining  as  much  as  possible  on  the  sur- 
face, cannot  refrain  from  saying  here  finely  :  "  In  the  transfiguration, 
Jesus  had  given  to  the  fathers  of  the  old  covenant  the  blessed  know- 
ledge of  his  willingness  to  redeem  them  by  his  death,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  the  publishers  of  the  new  covenant  the  unity  of  that  covenant 
with  the  old,  and  Christ  as  the  Fulfiller  of  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
was  visibly  manifested."  Only,  in  order  not  to  go  against  the  eXeyov  of 
Luke,  we  must  not  exclude  the  joint- witness  already  proceeding  from 
them. 


MATTHEW  XVII.  9.  3G5 

to  them  his  old  familiar  words  ct  Arise  and  be  not  afraid"  with  a 
new  and  peculiar  significance  at  this  moment.  Not  yet  as  after- 
wards Rev.  i.  17,  18,  and  yet  already  as  the  same  one. 

Yer  9.  Christ  calls  it  an  opa/na,  i.e.,  a  elSov,  as  Mark  says,  in 
Luke  a  ecopa/cao-w,  and  includes  in  this  the  whole  manifestation 
and  revelation,  togetner  with  the  voice  which  they  heard ;  for 
certainly  this  was  no  ordinary  seeing  and  hearing,  but  a  perceiv- 
ing with  the  opened  eyes  of  a  faculty  of  perception  which  is 
ordinarily  closed,  and  which  was  partly  brought  about  in  the 
disciples  by  their  falling  into  sleep,  through  the  divinely  inverted 
reaction  against  the  influences  from  beneath.  (Num.  xxiv.  3, 
4.)  But  there  is  a  great  mistake  in  supposing  that  this  sleep- 
waking  seeing  and  hearing,  to  which  we  have  only  a  remote 
analogy  in  somnambulism,  and  in  the  vision  of  Balaam1  is 
something  inferior  and  uncertain,  and  not  rather  a  waking,  to 
which  the  common  form  of  waking  stands  in  the  same  relation 
as  does  the  state  of  dreaming.  Christ  speaks  here  truly,  not  ac- 
cording to  that  usage  of  men,  which  puts  the  "pafia  ftXeireLv 
(Acts  xii.  9),  in  opposition  to  the  reality  of  a  thing  that  has  actually 
taken  place.  To  begin  by  proving  this,  appears  to  us  as  needless 
for  believing,  as  it  would  be  vain  for  unbelieving  readers.  True, 
indeed,  a  preacher  in  the  open  pulpit  in  Gorliz,  on  the  6th  Sun- 
day of  Epiphany,  has  even  recently  ventured  to  explain  the 
whole  occurrence  as  a  dream-vision  ;2  this  preacher  must  cer- 
tainly also  hold  the  second  epistle  of  Peter  to  be    apocryphal ! 

1  It  is  difficult  to  explain  in  Luke  Siayprjyoprjo-avres.  If  it  were  taken 
to  signify  watching  the  whole  time  through  (as  ndcrrjs  rrjs  wktos  biayp. 
Herodian  iii.  4,  8),  this  would  be  a  complete  contradiction  to  fiePaprnie- 
voi  vttvco.  Better  certainly  :  watching  in  the  intervals,  as  in  diseased 
sleep. 

2  J.  L.  Haupt  in  Nehmiz  and  Sonntag  Predigtsammlung :  "  Christ 
himself  calls  it  a  vision,  and  seems  to  guard  his  disciples  against  the 
delusion  that  they  had  actually  seen  Moses  and  Elias,  inasmuch  as  he 
afterwards  explained  to  them  that  Elias  is  already  come," — namely, 
in  John  the  Baptist,  and  nothing  farther  I !  Neander  also  unfortu- 
nately finds  it  to  be  a  dream  (the  disciples  having  dreamt  of  the 
impending  event  at  Jerusalem  I) — mentions  himself,  indeed,  the  strong 
objection  that  then  the  three  had  the  same  dream — solves  it,  however, 
still  worse  by  the  supposition  that  after  all  it  was  only  Peter ;  speaks, 
moreover,  of  John's  not  mentioning  it  in  a  manner  which  we  must 
pronounce  foolish  and  unjustifiable.  Thus  does  Neander  place  himself 
on  a  level  with  Hennel,  who  reduces  the  whole  to  a  dream  of  Peter. 


366  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

But,  in  answer  to  all  critics  who  take  this  epistle  which  seals  the 
evangelical  record  to  be  not  genuine,  we  only  exclaim  with  the 
most  perfect  confidence,  in  place  of  adducing  any  external 
grounds:  O  ye  psychologists,  O  ye  Christian  psychologists! 
The  supposition  that  words,  doctrines,  testimonies,  such  as  are  to 
be  found  in  the  second  epistle  of  Peter,  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  it,  have  proceeded  from  a  forger's  own  invention, 
that  such  strength,  such  enlightenment,  such  confidence  of 
speech,  could  exist  in  one  and  the  same  mind  along  with  a  pious 
fraud — that  this  fivOoXoyos,  when,  in  a  "second  epistle,"  he 
designedly  counterfeits  the  person  of  the  apostle,  still  exhorting, 
confessing,  and  prophesying  before  his  death,  has  had  the  impu- 
dence expressly  to  renounce  aeaofaafievoi,*;  ilv6oi<s,  and  with  this 
impudence  at  the  same  time  has  such  gifts  of  knowledge  and  of 
boldly  original  discourse — this  hypothesis  contradicts  all  the 
psychology  of  Christian  feeling,  and  this  the  true  defenders  of 
the  genuineness  of  the  epistle  should  not  be  ashamed  openly  to 
confess  as  the  dictate  of  their  Christian  feeling.1  Truly  when 
Peter  then  wrote,  he  knew  what  he  was  saying. 

So  much  concerning  the  word  opa/ia  in  the  mouth  of  Jesus, 
whom  we  are  to  hear,  and  with  him,  those  of  whom  he  has  said  : 
Whosoever  heareth  you  heareth  me !  and  whom  he  indirectly 
commands  to  make  known  this  opa/xa  afterwards,  in  that  he  for- 
bids them  to  do  so  till  after  the  resurrection.  He  includes  the 
testimony  concerning  his  glory  as  Son,  now  seen  and  experienced, 
in  the  first  prohibition,  chap.  xvi.  20,  21,  and  thereby  points  once 
more  to  the  "  rising  again"  which  was  then  not  heard.  Now, 
indeed,  the  disciples  must  take  up  this  word,  and  retain  it  for  a 
while,  but  they  rather  take  it  in  some  figurative  sense  than  in 
the  proper  sense,  and  make  out  of  the  clearest  letter  a  dark 
question,  because  they  would  not  understand  the  death  spoken 
of  before.  Mark,  ver.  10.  You  are  to  tell  it  to  no  one,  not  even 
to  your  fellow-apostles.  How  hard  may  it  have  been  for  them 
to  obey  this  command,  with  their  habit,  otherwise  laudable  and 
amiable,  of  repeating  and  communicating  to  one  another 
all  that  happened  to  the  Master  |     But  in  order  that  they  may 

1  Very  beautifully  has  Bonnet,  in  bis  excellent  writing,  la  Parole  et 
la  Foi  (Geneva  and  Paris,  1851,  against  Scherer),  thus  adduced  the 
argument  for  the  second  epistle  of  Peter,  p.  27,  30. 


MATTHEW  XVII.  9.  367 

not  be  vain  of  this  preference  shown  to  them  in  being  selected  as 
eye-witnesses,  and  that  the  others  may  not  in  their  present  folly 
envy  them  on  this  account,  in  order  that  the  whole  thing  may 
remain  what  it  is  and  should  be,  not  a  spectacle  for  eyes  that 
are  intent  on  seeing  wonders,  but  a  testimony  afterwards  to  be 
transferred  by  the  spirit  to  the  word  so  as  to  be  believed,  a  voice 
of  the  Father — for  this  end  Christ  has  admitted  only  three  to 
the  knowledge  of  it,  and  now  forbids  even  these  to  speak  of  it 
before  the  time.  They  must  also  obtain  their  honour  in  the 
matter  by  denying  themselves.  First :  Can  ye  be  silent  %  are 
wre  worthy  to  meditate  on,  and  to  keep  holy  mysteries  ?  Then 
shall  ye  at  one  time  tell  them  before  the  world ! 


And  his  disciples,  of  course  the  three  who  now  descend  with 
him  from  the  mountain  {see  more  exactly  Mark  ver.  9,  14), 
embrace  the  opportunity,  ere  they  are  compelled  to  be  silent, 
now  when  they  are  coming  down  to  put  to  him  one  of  the  many 
questions  which  perplex  their  minds.  They  do  not  venture  to 
come  out  with  the  great  cardinal  question  about  the  rising  again 
(of  course  not  the  resurrection  in  general  as  believed  among  the 
Jews,  but  the  rising  again  of  Christ,  of  whose  death  they  will 
hear  nothing)  ;  but,  next  to  this,  it  was  most  natural  for  them  to 
ask  about  the  appearing  of  Elias,  That  Elias  must  come  before 
the  Messiah,  had  perhaps  already  before  this  suggested  itself  as  a 
matter  of  secret  doubt  to  their  minds ;  in  Matt.  chap.  xi.  14,  Christ 
had  already  explained  this  of  the  Baptist,  and  their  ears  indeed 
had  heard  what  was  then  said  ;  now,  however,  another  Elias,  the 
personal  Elias,  has  just  appeared  to  them,  and  scarcely  have  they 
seen  and  heard  what  then  appeared  to  them,  when  it  has  vanished 
again,  and  they  are  to  tell  it  to  no  one  !  All  this  brings  power- 
fully to  their  minds  the  saying  of  the  scribes,  and  the  question 
how  all  this  perplexing  appearance,  which  has  just  been  presented 
to  their  eyes,  stands  related  to  that  saying.  Not  that  the  mean- 
ing of  their  question  could  be  :  It  is  certainly  only  a  saying  of 
the  scribes  ?  But,  wherefore  has  he  again  disappeared,  and  are  we 
not  to  make  it  known  ?  What  avails  it  that  he  is  come?  And 
in  what  way  hast  thou  meant  that  John  also  is  the  future  Elias  ? 
They  do  not,  however,  speak  out  clearly  all  these  questions,  sa 


368  THE  GOSPEL  OP  ST  MATTHEW. 

indeed,  in  the  confusion  of  the  moment,  they  must  have  been 
complicated  in  their  own  minds ;  but,  in  the  manner  of  men  who 
are  shy  in  putting  a  question,  and  who  never  speak  clearly  out, 
they  ask  generally :  What  then  do  the  scribes  say  %  i.e.,  what 
dost  thou  say  to  this,  that  they  so  say  and  teach  t  Inform  us  of 
this  matter,  and  give  us  the  solution  of  it !  (This  is  the  sense  of 
the  oti  in  Mark,  which  puts  the  question  indirectly ;  it  is  not 
equivalent  to  hum  or  Start  afterwards  in  ver.  28,  as  in  the  LXX., 
in  Josephus,  and  also  in  the  profane  writers,  but  to  be  supple- 
mented thus :  How  does  it  therewith  stand  related  that  —  % ) 
And  if  we  only  ask  Him  concerning  all  that  the  Scribes  say,  he 
gives  willingly  the  right  information,  as  much  as  we  can  bear. 

Ver.  11,  12.  Whoever,  in  this  answer  of  Christ,  would  explain 
away  the  manifest  and  striking  confirmation  of  the  fact,  that  a 
coming  of  Elias  was  yet  to  take  place,  must  do  great  violence  to 
the  words,  and  will  never  be  able  to  strain  the  Future  amoKara- 
ott}o-6£  iravra,  in  form  and  import,  so  as  to  be  applicable  also  to 
John  the  Baptist.  In  Mark,  the  first  clause  stands  as  plain, 
though  not  so  precise,  with  airoKaOiaTa  in  the  Present,  as  in 
Matthew  there  is  only  the  directly  confirmatory  epxerai.  Christ 
cannot  possibly  have  intended  to  say  anything  else,  as  the  words 
run,  than  quite  decidedly :  By  all  means  the  Scribes  are  right, 
Elias  comes  or  must  come  first,  ere  the  entire  setting  up  of  the 
Messiah's  kingdom,  in  the  most  proper  and  final  sense,  takes 
place.  He  does  not,  indeed,  hereby  confirm  the  errors  and  fables 
which  the  earlier  or  later  Scribes  connected  with  it,  he  only  con- 
firms in  general  the  doctrine  and  expectation,  not  as  a  saying  of 
the  commentators,  but  as  a  simply  to  be  read  yeypairrai.  For 
as  has  been  already  said,  by  N'QSIl  Tvhto  J"1N  w^tn  tne  article, 
the  sacred  text  in  Malachi  can  only  mean  the  historical  person ; 
so  much  the  more  certainly  that,  immediately  before,  Moses  is 
designated  by  a  like  nomen  proprium,  hence  the  LXX.  have 
rendered  it  precisely  by  rbv  Beafilrrjv.  The  Christian  Scribes  of 
the  present  day,  indeed,  easily  settle  such  matters — "  they  rough- 
plane  it  very  cleverly,  and  say,  It  is  a  Jewish  representation — 
though  they  are  not  well  acquainted  even  with  Jewish  representa- 
tions."1   But  the  Church  Fathers  teach,  with  the  Jews,  a  future 

1  To  apply  the  words  used  by  Meyer  in  connection  with  another  subject. 


MATTHEW  XVIT.  9.  369 

return  of  Elias,  because  Christ  has  here  confirmed  it  as  it  stands 
written.  Justin,  for  example,  acknowledges  this  to  Tryphon  ; 
Augustine  connects  Israel's  conversion,  and  their  final  true  and 
spiritual  understanding  of  the  law  as  fulfilled  in  Christ,  with  the 
labours  of  this  prophet  (de  civ.  Dei  lib.  20.  c.  29).  The  more 
particular  investigation  of  all  this,  and  the  question  whether  Elias 
is  also  one  of  the  two  witnesses  in  the  Apocalypse,  does  not  belong 
to  this  place,  where  we  have  only  to  establish  the  clear  statement 
of  Christ. 

' ATroKaraarricreL  mavra — this  connects  well  with  the  expres- 
sion of  the  LXX.,  o?  diroKaraa-Trjo'eL  icaphiav  for  yj  ^^Jl?  but, 
by  the  iravra  conjoined  with  it,  the  idea  is  so  much  extended 
as  to  become  almost  something  different  from  the  bringing  back 
of  the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the  children,  wnich  is  there 
said.  KadcaTavaiy  means  to  set  up,  to  restore, — compounded  with 
diro,  it  is  intensified  so  as  to  mean:  perfectly  or  entirely  to  set 
up,  to  bring  anything  to  pass,  so  as  to  be  what  and  how  it  should 
be.1  Yet  there  lies  here  in  the  ttp&tov,  a  necessarv  limitation  of 
the  7rdvra,  implying  that  the  forerunner  does  not  already  set  up 
the  kingdom  (Acts  i.  16) — for  what  then  would  remain  to  be  done 
by  Christ  himself?  Consequently:  He  will  put  everything  in  order 
for  the  kingdom,  will  completely  accomplish  the  work  of  making 
ready  a  people  prepared  for  the  Lord  (Luke  i.  17),  committed  to 
him  as  his  office,  in  a  wider  and  more  proper  sense  of  its  fulfil- 
ment than  John  preliminarily  and  typically  did.  It  is  not  a 
restitutio  omnium  rerum  in  integrum,  that  is  spoken  of  here,  any 
more  than  afterwards  at  Acts  iii.  21,  where,  moreover,  this  mani- 
foldly significant  word  is  differently  applied,  so  as  to  refer  to  the 
presentation  of  all  that  has  been  prophesied  of  in  its  fulfilled  reality. 
What  Elias  agreeably  to  his  character  did  at  first  in  the  kingdom 
of  God,  by  pointing  powerfully  to  the  Lord  in  a  period  of  most 
melancholy  degeneracy,  and  as  a  reforming  prophet  repairing  the 
altar  of  the  Lord  that  was  broken  down  (1  Kings  xviii.  30),  in 
order  that  the  fire  from  heaven  might  come  down  upon  it — the 
same  is  represented  as  being  done  by  him,  also  at  his  return, 
and  that  with  abundantly  more  effect.     This  he  shall  do — how 


1  A  much  stronger  idea  than  merely  to  ''bring  back  to  the  right 
track,"  as  Neander  makes  it. 

VOL.  II.  2  A 


370  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

could  Christ  mean  by  this  the  work  of  the  Baptist,  who  had  already 
come,  which  remained  for  the  most  part  fruitless,  whose  coming 
together  with  His  rejection,  and  His  being  given  over  to  the  will 
of  the  unrighteous,  forms  rather  the  sharpest  antithesis  to  the 
first  €p%etat1 

And  yet  in  the  words,  But  I  say  unto  you,  Christ  certainly 
says  in  addition  to  this  that,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  person  of 
John  was  also  meant  by  the  prophecy  respecting  Elias.  We 
see,  therefore,  that  this  prophecy,  according  to  Christ's  manner 
of  interpretation,  which  affords  a  rule  for  many  others,  fulfils 
itself  twice,  and  His  present  statement  is  in  perfect  harmony 
with  what  He  said  before  at  chap.  xi.  14  (as  we  there  explained 
it).  Every  half  fulfilled  prophecy  will,  at  one  time,  be  entirely 
fulfilled,  so  that  not  an  iota  of  its  word  shall  fail  of  fulfilment ; 
many,  even  by  far  the  most  of  prophecies  again,  have  their  typi- 
cal before  their  final  fulfilment.  They  knew  not  the  first  Elias 
— would  not  take  him  for  what  he  was  (chap.  xi.  14),1  but  did 
to  him  whatsoever  they  listed — and  yet  only  what  was  at  the  same 
time  already  foreseen,  ordained,  and  written.  (Comp.  Matth. 
xxvi.  24  with  Luke  xxii.  22.)  They  have  done  what  happened 
to  him ;  for  Christ  imputes  not  merely  to  Herod  and  Herodias, 
what  they  did  according  to  the  mind  and  in  the  name  of  many, 
and  reckons  in  the  eirolnaav  all  that  the  people  collectively  did 
against  him,  which  proceeded  from  the  ovk  iireyvcoa-av,  the 
natural  result  of  which  was  the  martyrdom  of  the  preacher  of 
repentance,  who  was  as  it  were  left  in  the  lurch  by  the  nation.2 
In  like  manner  it  awaits  the  Son  of  Man  (now  in  the  immediate 
future)  also  to  suffer  from  them !  This  simple  extract  of  the 
principal  thing  in  Matthew  is  explained  by  the  fuller  and  more 
exact  statement  in  Mark,  where,  by  a  striking  turn,  the  question 
immediately  follows — properly  a  convictive  counter-question  to 
the  disciples :  How  then  (if  there  be  only  one  coming  of  the 
Messiah  and  Elias)  can  it  be  written  of  the  Son  of  Man,  that  He 
must  suffer  many  things  and  be  set  at  nought  %  (Jva  for  on,  ver. 

1  "  Thus  is  many  a  great  man  not  known  during  his  lifetime,  even 
supposing  that  he  also  were  prophesied  of  in  the  Bible !"     Roos. 

2  Sepp,  strange  to  say,  finds  here  the  first  information  and  dis- 
covery made  by  Christ  to  His  disciples,  that  John  the  Baptist  was 
killed. 


MATTHEW  XVII.  9.  371 

30,  and  the  strong  expression  i^ovZevcoOy  not  without  reference 
to  Isa.  liii.  3  yfir\  $fo,  Dan.  ix.  26  *fy  p^,  in  both  of  which 
passages  the  LXX.  have  quite  mistaken  the  meaning).     Inas- 
much as  the  scribes  do  not  read  and  understand  this,  their  say- 
ing about  the  coming  of  Elias  is  onesidedly  false  ;  rightly  under- 
stood, however,  the  two  things  are  quite  compatible,  for  there  is 
a  first  and  second  Elias,  just  as  there  is  a  first  and  second  coming 
of  the  Son  of  Man.     That  the  scribes  have  derived  their  saying, 
Elias  must  first  come,   in  general  truly  from  the   Scripture, 
although  they  do  not  understand  what  this  specially  means,  is 
finally  denoted  again  by  the  words  as  it  is  written  of  him,  in 
which  it  is  maintained  that  the  sufferings  of  the  first  Elias,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  Messiah,  were  the  subject  of  prophecy.  For  it 
will  not  do  to  supply  here  merely  :  in  general,  that  He  is  to  come ; 
but  our  interpretation  is  as  yet  too  dim-sighted  to  discover  with 
certainty,  where  the  prophecy  of  John's  fate  is  to  be  found. 
Some  have  said  that  from  the  foretold  sufferings  of  Christ  an 
inference  may  be  made  implicitly  to  those  of  His  forerunner,  or 
that  the  record  of  the  Tishbite's  life  shows  us  the  antitype  in  the 
type.1     Both  of  these  conjectures,  however,  are  insufficient,  the 
latter  also,  whatever  truth  belongs  to  it,  does  not  go  the  full 
length,  as  the  agreement  fails  precisely  in  the  death  of  Elias ;  it 
is  reasonable,  therefore,  in  us  to  wait  for  a  future  opening  up  of 
the  Scripture.     He  who,  in  regard  to  the  prophetical  word,  can- 
not bring  his  proud,  learned  heart  to  this,  as  in  many  places  it 
is  proper  to  do,  is  not  qualified  for  attaining  by  humble  investi- 
gation to  an  understanding  of  prophecy.     He,  in  fine,  who  "  is 
not  ashamed"2  to  declare  that  it  is  preposterous  "  to  find  in  the 
Old  Testament  the  Christian  idea  of  the  suffering  Messiah,"  and 
who,  in  the  character  of  a  Christian  scribe,  is  so  bold  as  to  con- 
tradict the  Lord  Jesus  to  his  transfigured  face — such  a  one  we 

1  So  Hengstenberg :  Christ  considers  the  history  of  Elias  as  a  pro- 
phecy of  the  history  of  John;  he  shows  even  how  John  cannot  at  all 
be  Elias  if  he  did  not  experience  contradiction  of  sinners,  rejection  and 
suffering. 

2  De  Wette  on  the  practical  explanation  of  the  Psalms,  p.  18,  19. 
A  scarcely  credible  specimen  of  confused  statements  with  bold  asser- 
tions is  this  little  work  as  a  whole,  whose  abuse  I  reckon  an  honour. 
Should  not  the  author,  now  dead,  have  been  himself  a  little  ashamed 
of  this  opposition,  in  his  last  and  better  days. 


372  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

should  in  vain  ask  to  read  and  hear  how  Christ  again,  in  all  that 
He  says,  points  back  to  His  sufferings,  of  which  it  stands  ivritten  ; 
how  He  manifestly  distinguishes  between  His  first  and  second  com- 
ing, and  thus  alone  gives  the  hey  to  the  understanding  of  all  the  Old 
Testament  prophets. 

THE  LUNATIC :  THE  UNBELIEVING  AND  PERVERSE  GENERATION. 

(Matth.  xvii.  17,  20,  21 ;  Mark  ix.  16,  19,  21—29  ; 
Luke  ix.  41). 

What  a  change,  to  which  we  find  nothing  similar  in  the  life 
of  Christ !  From  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  out  of  the  opened 
heaven,  he  comes  down  to  the  vale  of  tears,  and  finds  the  distress 
of  a  more  than  ordinarily  fearful  case  of  demoniacal  possession, 
finds  the  mockery  of  the  Scribes  directed  against  the  disciples 
who  were  left  behind,  finds  unbelief  in  Israel,  unbelief  also  in 
His  own  disciples,  and  His  difficult  work  with  this  generation 
begins  forthwith  anew.  From  the  sanctuary,  into  which  His 
perfect  faith  has  introduced  Him,  He  comes  forth — and  what  a 
spectacle  meets  His  view  !  Nothing  more  natural  than  that  all 
He  now  says  should  bear  the  stamp  of  holy  passion  and  zeal 
coming  from  the  depths  of  His  bosom,  as  well  as  that  the  ground- 
tone  of  it  all  continues  to  be  a  complaint  against  their  unbelief, 
and  the  overpoweringly  pressing  invitation  to  faith.  Matthew 
gives  prominence  to  the  two  principal  sayings  in  which  this  is 
expressed,  giving  only  so  much  of  the  narrative  as  is  necessarily 
connected  with  these ;  Mark  is  able,  again  from  good  sources, 
vividly  to  paint  the  whole  occurrence,  and,  besides,  he  preserves 
important  words  spoken  by  Christ  in  conversation  with  the 
father  of  the  lunatic,  as  also  at  the  healing  of  the  latter;  Luke 
alone  adds  at  least  the  circumstance,  that  it  was  an  only  son. 

The  disciples,  who  remained  below,  should  have  cast  out  the 
devil  in  the  absence  of  their  Master,  for  to  them  in  the  mean- 
time the  demoniac  had  been  brought ;  but  they  could  not, 
although  Luke  has  recorded  at  the  beginning  of  the  same  chapter, 
that  Christ  had  given  them  authority  and  power  over  all  devils.1 

1  According  to  Lange,  this  loss  of  former  power  was  "  probably  a 
consequence  of  the  great  depression,  which  the  communication  of  Christ 
regarding  his  impending  sufferings  had  produced  in  them." 


MATTHEW  XVII.  17.  373 

This  caused  a  pressing  of  the  people  around  the  poor  disciples  to 
their  shame,  a  reasoning  among  the  Scribes  certainly  not  friendly 
to  them,  and  thus  the  Master  finds  them  when  He  returns  to 
them !  All  the  people  are  "  struck  with  fear"  at  His  presence 
suddenly  appearing  in  these  circumstances,  they  are  moved 
with  something  more  than  accustomed  reverence,1  and  hasten 
to  Him,  humbly  saluting  Him ;  it  is  hereby  indicated,  however, 
that  the  Scribes  did  not  join  with  them.  And  He  immediately 
begins  by  inquiring  what  is  the  matter,  and  where  help  is  wanted. 
He  ashed— not  the  Scribes  (which  is  a  reading  arising  from  a 
false  interpretation),  probably  also  not  merely  the  people  who 
ran  to  Him,  but,  as  was  very  natural,  all  in  common,  including 
his  disciples  as  the  principal  persons  to  whom  he  had  come : 
Why  dispute  ye  with  one  another  ?2  What  are  you  about, 
that  I  should  find  you  in  such  commotion  1  But  the  ashamed 
disciples  are  silent,  nor  do  the  scribes  think  proper  to  acknow- 
ledge before  the  Master  what  they  have  been  saying  against  the 
disciples.  Instead  of  them,  the  man  about  whose  case  the  ques- 
tion was,  the  agitated  and  sadly  disappointed  father  of  the  pos- 
sessed, takes  up  the  word,  and  relates  the  case  with  a  terrible 
description  of  the  malady,  and  a  melancholy  charge  against  the 
disciples  : — they  could  not — they  were  not  able.  The  first  answer  of 
Christ,  however,  is  a  strongly  vented  word  of  grief,  an  accusation 
of  unbelief  against  the  whole  race  in  common,  into  whosemidst  He 
must  thus  again  enter ;  this  word  has  very  strikingly  been  pre- 
served almost  literally  the  same  by  all  the  three  Evangelists. 

1  This  may  be  sufficiently  explained  also  without  supposing,  as 
many  do,  an  after-lustre  of  the  transfiguration,  What  was  proper  for 
Moses  was  beneath  the  dignity  of  Christ ;  besides  here  the  miraculous 
light  was  not  meant  as  an  after-lustre  for  the  people. 

2  I  do  not  retract  this,  although  Alford  has  contradicted  me,  and  I 
read  Mark  ix.  16  with  many  now  :  cmjpwTrjaep  avrovs  (which  here 
almost  recurs  to  the  avrovs  and  avrols  ver.  14,  takes  in,  however,  the 
ox^os  named  ver.  15) — as  also  with  Rec.  and  several :  av^rdre  npos 
avrovs  (Cod.  A.  eavrovs).  Quite  naturally,  inasmuch  as  all  were 
gathered  round  the  disciples  when  Christ  came  to  them,  he  does  not 
immediately  single  out  the  disciples  alone  (as  Alford  has  misunder- 
stood me),  but  puts  them  in  this  first  address,  as  afterwards  (ver.  16), 
together  with  the  entire  unbelieving  generation.  It  is  his  first 
impression  which  here  finds  the  expression :  What  have  you  sons  of 
men  already  again  found  to  dispute  and  be  in  distress  about  ? 


374  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Ver.  17.  An  expression  of  holy  impatience,  to  reach  the  goal 
which  He  had  just  been  so  near  on  the  Mount !  The  vehement 
indignation  of  warm  love,  which  seeks  only  faith  to  call  forth  the 
helping  power  and  glory  of  God !  (Luke  ver.  43 ;  John  xi. 
40).  The  inward  grief  of  Him  who  was  holy  and  righteous 
in  the  truth  of  God,  for  whom  the  perversity  of  men  is  so 
hard  to  bear!  It  is  with  Him  a  different  zeal  from  that  of 
Moses  (Num.  xx.  10),  which  was  sinful,  because  it  becomes 
no  one  who  is  himself  a  sinner  to  rebuke  in  his  own  might.  How 
long  shall  I  continue  with  you,  labour  almost  in  vain  among  you, 
who  even  yet  do  not  believe  ?  How  long  shall  I  still  suffer  you  t 
Only  He  can  speak  thus  who,  as  the  holy  One  among  sinners, 
bore  the  burden  of  all  (Gal.  vi.  2),  and  whose  whole  life  was  in  the 
innermost  sense,  from  the  very  first,  a  profound  suffering  through 
the  feeling  and  enduring  of  sin.  Thus  according  to  the  Father's 
counsel  it  was  necessary  in  this  word,  which  was  drawn  from  the 
usually  closed  depths  of  His  heart,  immediately  after  the  revela- 
tion of  His  glory,  to  manifest  the  glory  also  of  His  human  endu- 
rance, the  pain  of  divine  love  in  His  human  nature,  which  was 
alike  strongly  susceptible  of  this  on  account  of  meekness  and 
purity.  If  we  had  not  this  word,  and  that  other  in  Luke  xii. 
50,  we  should  want  the  true,  entire  insight  into  the  self-denying, 
atoning  nature  even  of  His  whole  earthly  course  in  our  flesh  and 
blood.  What  complainings,  known  only  to  the  Father,  does  this 
single  expression,  which  He  neither  can  nor  will  restrain,  pre- 
suppose? He  takes,  however  this  expression  also  of  most  imme- 
diately personal  feeling — so  entirely  do  all  His  thoughts  continu- 
ally move  in  the  sphere  of  holy  writ — directly  from  that  first 
complaint  of  God  against  His  people  Deut.  xxxii.  5,  20.  (The 
Sept.  has  in  the  first  of  these  verses  yevea  <r/co\ia  koX  hiearpafju* 
pivn,  in  the  second  i^eo-Tpa/n/nevr)).  There  also  follows  at  ver, 
20  ovk  ear i  iri(TTi<;  iv  avroh  as  the  right  rendering  of  ^^ 
01  fiDN — tms?  however,  Christ  puts  with  emphasis  before  in 
His  omaro*;.  This  rebuking  complaint  then  applies  again  to 
all  in  common,  to  whom  He  has  now  come,2  in  whose  unbelief  He 

1  Which  the  more  recent  commentators  without  reason  deny,  see  Is. 
xxvi.  2,  3,  4 ;  Hab.  ii.  4. 

2  In  Mark  ver.  19,  avrols  and  ifias  are  connected  exactly  with  ver. 
16. 


MATTHEW  XVII.  17.  375 

sees  represented  mankind,  especially  all  Israel  as  it  is,  the  per- 
verse generation  by  nature  and  from  of  old ;  nay,  the  repetition  of 
that  word  of  the  Spirit  in  the  mouth  of  Christ  already  points 
beforehand  to  the  rejection  of  this  people  on  account  of  their 
unbelief,  which  is  further  prophesied  of  in  Deut.  xxxii.  First  of 
all,  however,  the  words  apply  to  the  hastily  judging  people,  as 
also  to  the  scribes,  who  were  malignantly  rejoicing  at  the  impo- 
tency  of  the  disciples,  then,  in  particular,  to  the  father  of  the 
demoniac,  as  wTe  shall  immediately  see,  finally,  also  in  no  less 
measure  to  the  disciples,  who  were  bringing  shame  upon  him 
below,  when  he  was  receiving  honour  above ;  they  certainly  de- 
serve on  this  occasion  to  be  classed  with  the  multitude.1  Still  the 
rebuking  complaint  is  by  no  means  to  be  regarded  as  a  repulse,  im- 
plying that  he  now  ceased  to  bear  and  to  love  (already  in  the  ea)<? 
7TOT6  he  represents  himself  as  obediently  waiting  with  patience), 
but  with  all  the  more  effect  on  this  account  does  the  majestically 
brief  command  of  the  Helper  follow :  Bring  Mm  hither  to  Me, 
him  who  is  in  need  of  help  !  As  in  everything  there  is  ever  again 
the  one  thing :  Bring  him  only  to  Me  ! 

That  which  Matthew  hastily  sums  up  in  ver.  18,  in  order  to 
connect  with  it  the  other  word  concerning  unbelief,  is  given  by 
Mark  in  full  detail.  The  evil  spirit,  at  the  look  of  Jesus,  im- 
mediately raises  the  frightful  paroxysm  in  the  person  who  had 
been  brought  to  Him.  But  without  any  trace  or  tincture  of 
that  horror  which  had  restrained  the  faith  of  the  disciples,  with 
a  calmness  which  is  at  the  same  time  a  feeling  of  deep  sympathy 
with  the  wretchedness  before  Him,  Christ  looks  on  the  tearing, 
rolling,  and  foaming,  wisely  delays  the  help  in  order  that  all  who 
were  agitated  might  be  tranquillized  and  prepared  for  the  salu- 
tary impression,  and  kindly  asks  the  father  how  long  it  is  since 

1  Schleierraacher  finds  such  a  reference  to  the  disciples,  although 
certainly  unwarranted,  yet,  in  the  connection,  very  natural.  (Accord- 
ing to  him  the  whole  story  of  the  transfiguration,  and  what  belongs  to 
it  in  Matthew  has  undergone  "  a  transformation  into  something  strange 
and  odd,  an  unfortunate  complication.")  On  the  other  hand,  Neander 
will  not  at  all  admit  that  the  "  harsh  rebuke"  was  intended  for  the 
weak  apostles,  whom  on  other  occasions  Christ  treats  so  gently  ;  they 
would  not,  in  that  case,  he  thinks,  have  asked  him  as  afterwards  follows. 
The  word,  according  to  him,  was  spoken  chiefly  to  the  father  of  the 
possessed,  and  with  him  to  all  who  should  at  any  time  desire  merely 
bodily  help. 


376  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

this  happened  to  the  poor  boy ;  tovto,  with  full  and  hearty 
sympathy  and  consideration — as  much  as  to  say,  This  is  indeed 
very  bad  and  melancholy !  The  father,  as  if  it  were  necessary 
to  keep  up  this  sympathy,  begins  anew  to  describe  the  case  in 
stronger  terms  than  before,  and  as  he  before  complained  that  the 
disciples  could  not  help  him,  so  now,  in  his  anguish,  he  speaks 
very  unbelievingly  indeed  (differently  from  the  leper  in  Matt, 
viii.  2)  the  bold  word  :  But  if  thou  canst  do  anything,  more  than 
the  disciples  in  thy  name — help  us,  have  compassion  on  us  ! 
This  us,  proceeding  from  paternal  love,  this  cry  for  pity  would 
in  ordinary  circumstances,  notwithstanding  of  all  the  boldness 
of  the  if,  have  moved  Christ  immediately  to  say  a  Be  whole. 
Now,  however,  his  mind  is  so  full  of  thoughts  about  faith  and 
unbelief,  that  the  bodily  malady,  bad  as  it  is,  falls  into  the  back- 
ground ;  He  delays  still  the  help  which  will  certainly  come,  and 
must  first  speak  and  testify  of  faith.  One  feels  the  sublimity  of 
this  single  interest  and  zeal  with  which  Christ  here  speaks  and 
acts,  as  opposed  to  the  last  impotent  raging  of  the  spirit  that  is 
to  be  cast  out.  The  poor  father  almost  doubts  whether  he  can 
do  anything ;  in  the  reply  which  he  gives,  Christ  leads  him  into 
His  own  heart :  If  thou  couldst  believe !  This  is  the  principal 
thing — my  power  will  then  certainly  show  itself.1  If  he  spake 
so  doubtingly  to  Christ  with  his  "  If,"  with  what  doubts  is  he 
likely  to  have  gone  at  first  to  the  disciples,  when  the  Master 
whom  he  wanted  was  not  there.  His  faith  could  and  must  first 
of  all  do  the  most,  as  the  son  appears  almost  passively  incapable  ; 
his  unbelief  next  to  the  power  of  the  malady,  had  been  to  the 
disciples  the  obstacle  that  had  put  out  their  little  spark  of  faith. 
He  who  does  not  believe  can  do  nothing,  and  he  who  can,  is  yet 
not  able  to  show  the  unbeliever  anything  within  the  sphere  of  the 
operations  of  this  miraculous  power  of  God  over  nature,  and  that, 
moreover  against  the  power  of  hell.  But  all  things  are  possible 
to  him  that  believeth  !  Who  needs  an  interpretation  of  this  word 
in  order  to  understand  it  I     And  who  can  fathom  its  immeasur- 

1  On  the  neuter  to,  before  entire  clauses  see  Winer,  §  20.  Others 
construe :  As  regards  this  (that  thou  saidst) :  el  Bvvaa-ai — know  that  all 
is  possible,  &c.  (In  which  ntarevaai  must  fall  out  as  not  genuine). 
Others  again  artificially  construe,  by  reading  the  Imper.  Mid.  TnVrevo-at, 
as  if  it  meant :  That  el  Svvacrcu  only  believe  ! 


MATTHEW  XVII.  17.  377 

able  depth  of  meaning,  who  can  exhaust  it  in  thought  and  feel- 
ing? Christ  repeats  the,  All  things  are  possible  to  the  disciples, 
with  a,  Nothing  shall  be  impossible  to  you,  (ver.  20)  ;  we  will 
speak  of  it  when  we  come  to  that  verse. 

It  is  not  our  plan  to  interpret  the  words  of  men  to  Jesus, 
otherwise  there  would  be  much  to  say  upon  the  ingenuous  excla- 
mation of  the  man,  (Mark  ver.  24),  which,  amid  all  His  unbelief, 
the  Holy  Ghost  put  into  His  lips,  in  order  that  afterwards  it 
might  have  a  place  in  the  gospel  for  the  instruction  of  the  whole 
world.  We  only  say  here  again,  that  we  deeply  pity  any  one 
who  does  not  feel  constrained  to  acknowledge  such  narratives  and 
sayings,  as  Mark  here  gives,  to  be  unsearchable,  the  origin  of 
which  was  possible  only  as  facts  in  the  living  conflict  of  the 
Son  of  God  with  the  children  of  men.  Where  do  we  read  the 
like  ?  Where  has  the  like  been  done  I  Into  whose  mind  could 
such  things  come  if  they  did  not  actually  take  place  ?  Perhaps 
even  yet  Christ  would  have  spoken  farther  of  faith  and  unbelief, 
but  the  press  of  the  people  around  the  person  who  was  ill,  and  the 
talk  about  him,  increased,  and  this  at  length  moves  Him  fas 
Mark,  exact  even  to  the  last  feature,  observes)  to  speak  his  word 
of  power  as  helper,  and,  on  account  of  the  unbelief  which  was 
there,  where  faith  must  needs  co-operate  in  order  to  the  exertion 
of  his  power,  he  speaks  here  in  a  greater  number  of  words  than 
we  have  an  example  of  anywhere  else.  He  addresses  the  spirit 
at  some  length,  puts  his  /  command  thee  in  opposition  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  disciples,  which  had  been  powerless,  and  which  had 
made  the  devil  so  bold,  and,  in  order  to  give  the  most  perfect  as- 
surance to  the  father  and  son  and  all  the  hearers,  he  adds  the 
command,  which  occurs  only  here,  that  it  should  depart  from 
him  for  ever,  never  again  to  enter  into  him.  What  condescen- 
sion here  marks  the  work  and  faithfulness  of  Christ,  in  the  regard 
which  he  shows  to  every  circumstance  !  Now,  the  deaf  spirit 
must  hear  the  command  addressed  to  him,  now  the  evil  spirit 
departs  after  venting  his  rage  for  the  last  time. 

The  disciples,  however,  have  not  yet  heard  aright  the  Master's 
word  to  the  unbelieving  generation,  and,  from  their  great  slow- 
ness to  hear,  it  has  never  occurred  to  them,  at  least  not  come 
home  to  them  as  the  principal  thing,  to  apply  it  also  to  them- 
selves 1     This  Matthew  records  of  himself  along  with  the  others, 


378  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and  lets  us  see,  at  the  sametime,  only  by  tins,  what  he  has  no- 
where expressly  told  us,  namely,  that  the  disciples,  hitherto, 
from  the  time  that  Christ  gave  them  powrer,  had  been  able  to  cast 
out  devils,  and  that  the  present  wTas  the  first  astonishing  case  of 
failure.  Many  and  various  may  have  been  their  thoughts  and 
conjectures  as  to  wherein  the  cause  of  this  failure  lay  :  too  many 
spirits  in  the  diseased  person,  or  one  that  w7as  too  powerful  for 
them  ?  his  own  great  sin,  or  that  of  his  father  ?  their  own  sinful- 
ness ?  perhaps  the  dispute  about  precedency  which  had  already 
been  raised  by  the  separation  of  the  three  disciples,  and  which 
soon  came  to  light  f  or  some  other  secret  ban  lay  in  the  midst  of 
them  ?  The  Master,  however,  says  it,  and  comprises  it  in  one 
word :  Because  of  your  unbelief ! 

Ver.  20.  This  is  also  a  general  and  fundamental  answer, 
brought  to  us  from  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  to  all  our  ina- 
bility both  past  and  present.  It  is,  at  the  sametime,  a  most 
friendly  rebuke,  as  afterwards  it  is  said  of  the  Comforter,  that  he 
shall  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  in  that  they  believe  not.  Three 
times,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  Christ  in  almost  the  same  words, 
attributed  so  great  effects  to  faith,  or  rather  this  greatest  one  of 
all,  that  nothing  is  to  be  impossible  to  it ;  we  find  a  repetition  of 
it,  not  merely  in  Matth.  xxi.  21,  but  also  previous  to  this  in  Luke 
xvii.  6.  When  Christ  spoke  with  the  father  of  the  demoniac,  he 
disclosed  his  unbelief  to  him  as  the  obstacle  that  stood  in  the 
way ;  now,  however,  he  lays  the  blame  on  the  disciples.  Let 
each  have  his  own!  Let  every  one  seek  and  find  out  his  own 
sin  !  The  disciples  ought  certainly  to  have  been  able  with  their 
strong  faith  to  overcome  even  the  unbelief  of  the  man  (because 
it  was  not  complete  unbelief),  and  to  remove  it  as  a  mountain  : 
this  is  evidently  implied  in  the  words  of  Christ.  This  is  the  first 
and  only  occasion  (besides  Mark  xvi.  14 ;  John  xx.  27,  after  the 
resurrection),  on  which  Christ  so  literally  applies  to  the  dis- 
ciples this  word  of  severe  rebuke,  "unbelief;"  instead  of  this 
he  usually,  when  reproving  their  unbelief,  kindly  addresses 
them  by,  «0  ye  of  little  faith  !"  The  expression  in  Mark  iv. 
40,  however,  borders  upon  it :  How  is  it  that  ye  have  no  faith  ? 
Namely,  now  in  readiness,  as  the  other  way  of  taking  it  runs  : 
Where  is  your  faith  %  Thus  and  no  otherwise  is  hereto  be  un- 
derstood the  expression   «  if  ye  have  faith"— not  merely  if  ye 


MATTHEW  XVII.  20.  379 

possess  faith  in  general,  but  if  ye  have  it  ready,  and  hold  it  fast 
for  the  moment  when  ye  are  called  to  use  it,  and  to  prove  it. 
Then,  however,  all  distinction  between  little  and  much,  small 
and  great  faith,  properly  speaking,  falls  to  the  ground,  the 
smallest  measure  of  real,  living  power  of  faith,  disturbed  at  the 
moment  by  no  unbelief  and  doubt,  is  sufficient  to  accomplish  the 
areatest  things,  just  as  a  small  spark  actually  burning  kindles  an 
entire  v\r).  For  either,  on  the  one  hand,  faith  remains  faith,  or, 
on  the  other,  unbelief  remains  unbelief!  It  is  precisely  this 
mountain  before  their  eyes, — therefore  does  Christ  take  the  simi- 
litude from  it,  and  again  speak  biblically  and  proverbially  at 
the  same  time.  Mountains  are  obstacles  which  are  to  be  re- 
moved out  of  the  way,  as  Is  xl.  4  out  of  the  way  of  the  com- 
ing Lord,  Zech.  iv.  7  the  hindrances  to  the  building  of  the 
temple.  As  with  us  it  is  quite  common  to  say  (although,  since  the 
period  of  railways,  this  expression  has  almost  lost  its  force)  that 
there  is  still  many  a  hill  to  be  surmounted,  that  one  has  not  yet 
got  over  all  the  mountains  in  the  way.  Among  the  Jews  an 
eloquent  teacher  is  called  QY^n  *"p^>  one  who  tears  up  moun- 
tains. This,  now,  Christ  takes  as  a  figure  and  example  of  any 
miraculously  powerful  effect  of  faith,  when  he  immediately  goes 
on  to  say  in  general :  Mountains  shall  remove  out  of  their  place 
if  ye  bid  them,  all  things  will  be  obedient  to  what  you  say, 
nothing  will  be  impossible  to  you  !x  to  you  even  as  to  God  (chap, 
xix.  26;  Luke  i.  37.)  Thus  does  Christ  put  the  omnipotence 
of  God  into  our  hand  of  faith.  Thus  he  says  to  us  that  faith, 
because  it  lays  hold  on  the  omnipotence  of  God,  can,  in  virtue 
of  this,  work  miracles, — but  how  and  to  what  purpose  does  he 
mean  this  %  He  speaks  of  the  wonders  of  God's  power  in  the 
sphere  of  external  nature,  in  order  to  awaken  and  strengthen  our 
faith  in  the  miracles  of  grace  wrought  in  the  hearts  of  men.2 

1  Which  vfj.1v  abundantly  refutes  that  cunning  refinement  which 
timidly  turns  away  from  the  words  by  reading  the  foregoing  word  in 
Mark  ix.  23  :  ILdvra  Sward  omnia  effici  possunt,  a  Deo  scilicet  t£ 
ttkttcvovti  in  usum  confidentium  ! 

2  Others,  indeed,  less  in  harmony  with  the  proverbial  usage,  are  for 
finding  an  allusion  to  those  passages  where  mountains  are  also  king- 
doms, powers  of  the  world — nay  "  this  mountain  "  (which,  however, 


380  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

He,  in  the  first  place,  rebukes  that  unbelief,  so  deeply-rooted  in 
man  (since  Satan's  first  lie  which  separated  the  world  from  God) 
and  to  this  day  so  prevalent  in  Christendom,  which  looks  upon 
nature  with  its  objects  and  laws  as  if  the  supreme  free  will  of  the 
living  God  had  not  remained  immanent  in  it  from  the  creation 
onwards  (Heb.  xi.  3.)  Not  as  the  scoffers  who,  speaking  scoff- 
ingly  even  of  a  creation,  affirm  that  all  things  remain  as  they  were 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation.  As  if  the  one  original  law  of 
the  power  of  freedom,  of  spirit  and  will,  is  not  to  be  reckoned  as 
a  living,  penetrating  element  in  all  "  laws,"  and  to  be  received 
as  a  never  failing  pre-supposition,  God  does  as  he  will  with  the 
powers  of  heaven  and  of  earth  (Dan.  iv.  32)— can  still  always 
make  what  he  will,  can  create  also  something  new  in  the  old 
creation  (Ps.  cxv.  3  ;  Num.  xvi.  30.)  Whatsoever  He  will,  He 
does,  in  heaven  and  on  the  earth,  in  the  sea  and  in  all  deep 
places  (Ps.  cxxxv.  6.)  He  removes  mountains  ere  they  are  aware 
of  it,  moves  the  earth  out  of  its  place ;  speaks  to  the  sun  and  it 
riseth  not,  and  seals  up  the  stars;  He  alone  spreads  out  the 
heaven  and  walks  on  the  waves  of  the  sea.  To  this  simplicity  of 
Job  (chap.  ix.  5 — 8)  must  all  the  learning  of  natural  science 
return  in  the  spirit  of  a  little  child,  if;  as  an  idolatrous  illusion, 
it  would  not  rest  in  mediate  causes,  and  in  that  which  in  itself 
is  nothing.  Nothing  stands  so  fast,  not  even  the  granite  of  the 
original  mountains,1  as  not  to  be  subject  every  moment  to  the 
mighty  hand  of  God ;  and  this  puts  such  power  into  the  hand  of 
our  faith,  into  the  word  of  our  confidence  :  Ye  shall  point  out  to 
the  mountain  its  place,  saying  evrev8ev  e/cei,  and  it  will  obev ! 
Nothing  therefore  is  said  at  all,  and  one  knows  not  of  what  one 
speaks,  if  these  promised  miracles  in  external  nature  are  cast 
aside,  and  only  the  similitude  left  over ;  this  were  to  forget  the 
simple  proposition,  that  every  similitude  must  first  be  true  and 
real  in  its  substratum,  in  order  that  with  this   anything  may 

would  not  at  all  be  suitable  !)  is  said  precisely  to  be  the  power  of  the 
heathen  world — as  elsewhere  the  fig-tree  is  Judaism  I  Evang- 
Kirchenz.     1847.  p.  948. 

1  Not  even  the  equilibrium  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  which  it  is 
reckoned  would  compensate  for  all  permanent  disturbance  (for  example 
in  the  solar  system,  balancing  Jupiter  by  Saturn  !) 


MATTHEW  XVII.  20.  381 

reasonably  be  compared,  otherwise  the  promise  cancels  itself,  and 
becomes  its  opposite.   If  we  might  answer  :  But  really  to  remove 
actual   hills,  this  certainly  cannot   be,  Lord — then  would  His 
word   to  us   rather  mean :    It  is   equally  impossible  for  your 
faith  to  remove  many  an  obstacle !     It  is  here,  just  as  at  Ezek. 
xxxvii.,  where,  in  the  figurative  resurrection,  the  literal  must 
also  be  guaranteed,  for  otherwise  the  meaning  and  answer  of  the 
son  of  man  to  the  question  of  God  would  be  quite  just :  Lord, 
as  little  as  these  dead  bones  can  become  again  alive,  so  little  also 
can  these  dry  bones  of  the  house  of  Israel.     We  will  not  here 
relate  and  examine,  as  regards  the  actual  removing  of  moun- 
tains, the  sayings  and  stories  to  which  Bengel  alludes  in  his 
Factum  tamen  est  aliquando  ;x  that  faith  has  wrought  miracles  in 
the  outer  world,  and  still  sometimes  works  them,  is  disputed  only 
by  those  fools  who  think  that,  with  their  unbelief,  they  can  blow 
away  all  the  Facta  of  history,  and  when  such  a  work  is  wrought, 
it  is  at  bottom  all  one  whether  it  be  a  seed-corn  or  a  mountain 
that  miraculously  gives  place  to  faith      Finally,  however,  which 
is  the  more  real  and  actual,  the  sphere  of  spirit,  or  that  of  matter, 
which  latter  Heinroth,  for  example,  has  declared  to  be  an  iC  hypo- 
thesis 1 "     Which  is  more  difficult  (to  speak  with  Christ  truly  in 
place  of  our  folly  Mattli  ix.  5),  to  remove  a  mountain,  or  to,  tear 
out  a  root  of  sin  from  the  heart,  to  remove  a  a/cdv$a\ov  of  unbe- 
lief, so  that  faith  may  have  free  course,  moreover,  to  show  the  way 
to  the  spirits  of  hell,  who  do  not  merely  lie  like  the  mountains  in 
the  place  where  God  has  created  them  %     To  create  a  new  heart 
is  more  than  to  create  a  new  heaven  and  new  earth  ;  when  God 
shall  have  prepared  His  chosen  ones  by  the  work  of  thousands  of 
years,  He  will  then,  by  the  word  of  His  power,  transform  the 
earth  for  them,  in  one  day.     In  this  lies  the  reason  why  faith 
which  can  do  all  things  has  yet  seldom   (or   perhaps   never) 
removed  mountains ;  for  the  same  faith  knows  also  that  such 
things  render  no  service  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  it  will  work 
only  for  the  kingdom  of  God.     The  difficult  mountains  for  faith 
lie  elsewhere,  the  greater  miracles  are  the  miracles  of  grace  in 

1  Nor  the  lauded  act  of  Father  Radinger  in.  behalf  of  the  holy 
Elizabeth  of  Marburgh,  whose  doubts  he  removed  by  transplanting 
trees  (Luke  xvii.  6)  from  one  shore  of  the  river  to  the  other.  (Sepp. 
iii.  241). 


382  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

the  heart  of  man.  It  is  true,  indeed,  since  even  grace  does  not 
compel,  that  our  faith  also,  however  strong,  cannot  bid  away  the 
sin  of  another ;  but  our  own  sin  will  yield  to  faith,  which  brings 
the  omnipotence  of  God  into  its  will,  and  our  own  faith  can  work 
much  good,  can  overcome  much  opposing  unbelief,  can  so  suffer 
and  love  a  whole  unbelieving  and  perverse  generation,  that  some- 
thing may  be  made  of  it  which  can  be  made  only  thus.  To  this 
the  word  of  Christ  points,  and  gives  us,  in  the  bosom  of  a  sharp 
rebuke,  a  most  cheering  consolation,  inasmuch  as  He  attributes 
such  great  power  even  to  the  small  grain  of  mustard  seed.  It 
is  our  duty  then  when  we  have  any  faith,  as  it  were  by  a  second 
potency,  to  believe  in  the  right  and  might  of  our  faith,1  not  to  let 
it  fall  aside,  but  by  watching,  praying,  fasting,  to  keep  the  mus- 
tard seed  in  growth  and  exercise,  so  that,  when  the  occasion  comes, 
we  may  have  faith  to  remove  precisely  this  mountain  which  is 
now  in  our  way,  if  only  another  unbelief  do  not  keep  it  fixed  by 
the  root. 

Ver.  21.  Christ  says  two  things  in  the  But  here,  first,  that  He 
had  meant  the  casting  out  of  devils  by  the  similitude  of  remov- 
ing mountains,  and,  secondly,  that  to  control  spirits,  to' break 
the  evil  will,  the  wicked  power  in  the  kingdom  of  sin  and  of 
rebellion  against  the  Almighty,  who  tolerates  it  according  to  the 
law  of  freedom,  and  even  only  thus  removes  it,  is  indeed  another 
and  greater  thing  than  the  simple  working  of  miracles  in  helpless 
nature.  This  may  perhaps  be  the  deepest  meaning  of  the 
expression  this  hind— this  kind  of  mountains  in  the  way,  of 
things  to  be  removed  for  the  kingdom  of  God— or  somewhat 
more  nearly  as  a  certain  Bible  glosses  it :  this  kind  of  ene- 
mies of  man,  the  devils.  In  so  far  we  could  not  insist  on 
maintaining  precisely,  that  here  (as  at  chap.  xii.  45)  Christ 
speaks  of  a  particular  kind  of  worse,  or  stronger  devils  ;  and  yet, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  eKiropeverai  seems  to  point  to  others 
which  go  out  more  easily,  and  we  have  nothing  to  say  against  its 
being  so  understood  at  the  same  time,  so  much  the  less  that 
Mark  gives  only  this  word,  which,  by  itself  and  without  the  fore- 
going antithesis,  must  be  so  understood.     Probably  the  disciples 

i  As  Trahndorff    most   recently  (Der  Welthistor.    Zweifel  p.  35 
39)  concedes  the  victory  only  to  this  "  faith  in  the  power  of  faith." 


MATTHEW  XVII.  21.  383 

also  had  been  thinking  of  specially  obstinate  spirits ;  Christ  then 
would  in  the  second  place  confirm  this  thought  of  theirs,  after 
having  in  the  first  place  particularly  spoken  of  unbelief.  Instead 
of  the  strong  and  ever  prepared  faith,  to  which  even  the  worse 
sort  also  must  yield,  he  calls  it  now  very  significantly  praying 
and  fasting  ;l  He  thereby  goes  still  a  step  deeper  into  the 
matter,  and  gives  unasked  an  answer  to  the  second  question 
which  the  disciples  should  have  put :  Why,  then,  had  we  not  our 
faith  now,  but  unbelief?  You  have  not  carefully  enough  kept 
and  exercised  your  faith.  This  is  done  by  prayer ;  he  who  lives 
in  prayer  lives  in  faith,  and  if  we  are  found  praying  in  connexion 
with  any  work  we  have  to  do,  it  will  then  be  seen  how  much 
the  earnest  prayer  of  faith  can  do.  Finally,  fasting  is  a  help  to 
prayer,  sobriety  and  temperance  in  what  pertains  to  the  bodily 
life,  the  opposite  of  which  can  only  strengthen  the  flesh  against 
the  spirit.  Fasting,  then,  when  joined  with  prayer,  and  used  as 
a  help  to  it,  is  also  of  great  value ;  this  Christ  would  not  have 
to  be  forgotten,  and  He  speaks  it  out  on  this  opportunity,  in 
order  to  put  it  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  misunderstanding  of 
what  He  had  formerly  said]  chap.  ix.  15.  That  which  He  says 
in  the  first  place,  of  quite  literal  bodily  fasting,  may  indeed  be 
further  understood  of  the  turning  away  from  the  world  and 
nature  in  general,  which  will  assist  in  turning  to  God  (prayer). 
Whether,  as  Oetinger  thinks,  the  disciples  in  general  or  imme- 
diately before,  to  speak  very  plainly,  "  ate  and  drank  too  much" 
— we  leave  undetermined ;  that  they,  however,  at  all  events  de- 
served and  needed  this  hint,  is  quite  as  certain  as  that  we  all 
have  great  reason  to  observe  what  Christ  has  here  said,  and 
diligently  to  apply  the  means  here  prescribed,  when  we  have 
anything  in  hand  that  will  not  go  so  easily  or  so  speedily  as  we 
would  wish. 

1  Whereby  he  certainly  does  not  mean,  as  rationalistic  folly  has 
perverted  it :  They  should  in  future  cause  such  a  diseased  person  to 
pray  and  fast  more  1 


38*  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

SECOND  ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  SUFFERINGS. 

(Matth.  xvii.  22,  23  ;  Mark  ix.  31 ;  Luke  ix.  44.) 

This  had  already  been  saM  before  the  transfiguration  (chap, 
xvi.),  and  is  now  repeated  after  it,  stronger  emphasis  being  laid 
in  the  repetition  on  the  killing  and  rising  again  (Mark  koi  diroK- 
ravdek).  It  remains  so;  the  fjueXkei  is  not  taken  back,  although 
I  should  still  walk  with  you  a  while  in  Galilee.  The  new  addi- 
tion, which  Luke  alone  therefore  gives,  at  the  beginning  of  ver. 
44,  is  an  echo  of  what  Christ  said  to  the  three  disciples  (vers.  12, 
13) :  The  Son  of  Man  shall  be  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  men, 
that  they  may  do  to  him  likewise  what  they  will,  as  they  did  to 
John.  The  hands  of  men,  to  whom  the  heavenly  Son  of  Man 
is,  notwithstanding  of  the  likeness  thus  denoted/here  opposed, 
as  he  was  before  to  the  whole  unbelieving  and  perverse  genera- 
tion—are wicked  hands,  for  their  will  and  intention  is  wicked ; 
this  David  already  knew  right  well  (1  Chron.  xxii.  13).1  But 
by  whom  is  the  7rapaBiSoa$ai  performed  ?  Who  delivers  Him 
up [J  Afterwards,  at  chap.  xx.  18,  19,  mention  is  made  of  His 
being  delivered  up  to  the  Gentiles,  which  indeed  is  an  impor- 
tant, and  therefore  also  a  predicted  element  in  the  sufferings 
of  Christ ;  but  there  also  this  irapaScoaovaLv  is  preceded  by  a 
TrapahoBrjorerai.  There  the  traitor  is  specially  included  in  the 
first  delivering  up  (John  vi.  64,  xiii.  11,  21),  here,  however, 
all  men  are  viewed  as  opposed  to  the  rrapaStSoix;.  Christ,  there- 
fore speaks  here  of  the  counsel  of  God  (as  Acts  ii.  23 ;  Rom.  viii. 
32),  whose  hand  gives  over  His  Son,  as  the  Son  of  Man,  to  men 
from  one  hand  to  another,  first  to  Judas,  who  delivers  him  up  to 
the  high  priests,  and  these  to  the  Gentiles  and  the  unjust. 

In  Luke  we  have  beforehand  the  words  :  let  these  sayings  sink 
down  into  your  ears!  and  v.  Meyer's  note,  with  which  many 
agree,  refers  this  to  the  foregoing  :  "  This  praise  and  testimony 
of  God's  miraculous  power  for  your  future  confirmation" for 

1  It  would,  however,  be  too  harsh  to  say  (Richter's  House  Bible), 
that  in  the  term  "  man,"  Christ  always  presupposes  what  is  worst. 


MATTHEW  XVII.  25.  385 

you  will  need  it  when  my  sufferings  begin.  This,  certainly, 
yields  a  good  sense,  but  then  there  are  no  words  of  praise  and 
astonishment  at  the  fieyaXeiorr]^  rov  6eov  noticed,  and  therefore 
Luke  could  scarcely  denote  this  by,  these  sayings ;  the  expression 
appears  to  us  rather  to  be  parallel  with  the  immediately  following 
to  pijfjLa  toOto,  and  is  perhaps  a  resumption  of  ver.  28,  the  evan- 
gelist unconsciously  taking  up  the  expression  there.1  Only  thus 
does  the  vfieis  form  a  proper  antithesis  to  the  people,  who  are 
again  intent  on  seeing  outward  signs  of  glory  and  power :  Ye 
know  better  now  what  immediately  awaits  Me ;  let  it  sink,  if 
not  into  your  hearts,  yet  into  your  ears,  hear  and  retain  at  least  the 
\6yoL  that  have  been  already  said  and  must  ever  again  be  said  ! 
(For,  &c.)  Consequently,  it  is  just  inversely  as  regards  the  fore- 
going interpretation :  Forget  not  in  your  joy  that  I  must  suffer  and 
die,  so  that  you  may  continue  humble,  and  not  neglect  prayer  and 
fasting  for  the  removal  of  the  great  mountains  which  still  lie  in 
the  way  to  glory  !  The  faith  of  Christ  did  not  say  to  Golgotha, 
Be  thou  removed.  His  prayers  and  fastings  did  not  cast  the 
devil  out  of  Judas,  nor  the  devil  Judas  out  of  the  circle  of  the 
apostles.  He  endured  the  cross,  and  thus  removed  out  of  the  way 
the  mountain  of  the  world's  sin  and  the  world's  guilt,  so  that 
now  salvation  is  made  possible  to  every  one  that  believes.  (Chap. 
xix.  25,  26).  Thus  ever  and  ever  again  does  the  word  concern- 
ing the  sufferings  of  Christ  afford  the  true  understanding,  the 
true  limitation  and  fulfilment,  of  all  his  other  words ;  this  is  the 
purpose  of  God  who  delivers  up  the  Son,  the  only  key  to  all  His 
ways,  showing  how,  and  how  far,  the  sin  which  had  its  origin  in 
freedom  can,  by  His  hand  and  the  hand  of  men,  be  alone 
abolished  in  freedom. 

1  Hence  Alford  quite  correctly  understands  it  still  more  exactly  as 
if  it  meant:  these  my,  (for  some  time  past,)  repeated  words  to  you  about 
suffering  and  dying — you  are  forthwith  to  hear  again  that  which  you 
have  almost  forgotten,  scarcely  heard  1 


vol.  n. 


2b 


386  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

THE  TRIBUTE  PENNY  AND  STATER. 

(Matth.  xvii.  25—27.) 

The  seventeenth  chapter  is  a  principal  chapter,  quite  complete 
in  itself — not  merely  in  the  gospel  of  Matthew,  but  in  the  life  of 
Christ  himself.  First,  there  is  the  transfiguration  above  on  the 
heights  of  assured  victory,  obtained  by  faith,  which  already 
actually  takes  beforehand  something  from  sight,  the  second  seal- 
ing by  the  Father  (John  vi.  27),  with  the  accordant  testimony  of 
Scripture  and  nature,  of  this  and  of  the  invisible  world ;  the  Son  of 
Man  standing  upon  the  threshold  between  life  and  death,  almost 
as  if  there  were  here  no  gates,  and  becoming  conscious  of  the 
fact  that  in  Him  indeed  is  the  life  and  the  light  of  men  ;  even 
here,  however,  the  fieXkei  irda^eiv  vir  avrwv  is  confirmed  and 
prepared.  And  now,  in  the  contrast  which  is  yet  at  the  same 
time  no  contrast,  we  find  the  same  Son  of  Man  below  carrying 
on  His  painful  work  against  the  power  of  death  and  the  grave, 
bearing  the  burden  of  the  unbelieving  generation,  which  is  laid 
on  Him  alone  (Acts  xiii.  18,  iTpocfxxpoprjcrev — Deut.  xxxii.  11 ; 
Num.  xi.  11,  12  ;  Is.  xlvi.  3,  lxiii.  8,  9)  to  remove  it  in  His 
faith ;  the  word  of  His  mouth,  which  also  lifts  the  veil  a  little 
from  the  inner  sanctuary,  where  this  holy  one  of  God  prays  and 
fasts  in  most  willing,  self-emptying  love  to  sinners.  Finally, 
in  the  third  place,  in  order  that  this  chapter  may  be  complete, 
there  is  also  a  testimony  to  His  outward  subjection  to  law  and 
tribute,  although  He  is  the  free  Son  :  how  He  turns  even  His 
kingly  power  only  to  the  purpose  of  obedience,  such  as  is  proper 
to  the  subject  I1  All  these  things  in  this  connection  are  no  cun- 
mngly  devised  fables  invented  by  a  gospel  writer,  no  phantasma- 
goria of  a  dreaming  Church  which  has  been  built  upon  no 
corner-stone,  whose  dreams  (contrary  to  all  psychology  of  the 
human  race !)  had  produced  unheard-of  results  in  the  actual 

1  The  remark  that  Matthew  alone,  the  former  tax-gatherer,  has 
preserved  the  account  of  the  Stater  goes  to  substitute  what  is  merely 
human  in  the  place  of  much  deeper  motives  in  the  evangelist,  for  the 
connexion. 


biatthew  xvn.  25—27.  337 

world  up  till  then,  and  (contrary  to  all  the  history  of  the  human 
race)  had,  in  addition  to  this,  transformed  the  actual  word  in  the 
suhsequent  time,  as  is  evident  at  this  day  in  the  Church  which  is 
not  yet  overcome  by  the  gates  of  hell,  in  the  kingdom  which  ever 
continues  to  come  with  power.  Who  then  can  with  "  reason," 
i.e.,  at  least,  with  consistency,  deny  the  actual  truth  of  these 
narratives  and  testimonies,  except  those  to  whom  the  whole  history 
of  the  world  and  their  own  personal  life  has  become  a  phantas- 
magoria, an  illusion  !  But  those  people  whom  another  has  made 
so  wise  to  choose  Blocksberg1  for  Tabor,2  should  yet,  if  they 
thoroughly  examine  their  own  self-consciousness  and  that  of  the 
world,  be  afraid  of  the  future  weighty  dreams  of  their  poor  souls, 
and  should  give  a  little  more  study  to  Hamlet's  soliloquy.  If 
they  can  make  easy  work  of  the  first  part,  "  To  be,  or  not  to  be, 
that  is  the  question  "  in  the  idea,  still  the  conscience  does  not 
comprehend  it;  the  fear  of  death  (Heb.  ii.  15),  shows  ever 
again  only  a  sleeping  instead  of  a  not-being,  and — "  What  in 
that  sleep  of  death,  for  dreams  may  come  " — that  is  the  question  ! 
"  Is  it  not  thus,"  the  Lord  God  asks  also  Cain.  Oh  ye  poor 
ones  who  wilfully  deny  the  Redeemer  with  your  feigned  words 
(2  Pet.  ii.  3),  which  even  now  every  breath  of  morning  air  that 
blows  from  the  great  day  of  the  Lord  into  your  souls,  scatters 
like  chaff  before  the  wind ! 


Already  from  the  profound  connexion  of  the  incident  of  the 
tribute  money  with  the  whole  chapter  to  which  it  belongs,  enough 
will  appear  to  warrant  our  not  calling  this  (i  the  most  difficult 
miraculous  story  in  the  gospel  record,"  with  a  believing  com- 
mentator who,  in  the  love  of  his  faith,  inclined  a  little  too  much 
to  the  men  of  the  idealistic  school,  and  who  now  that  he  has 
gone  to  his  rest,  understands  all  better.  We  ask  wherein  lies 
this  difficulty,  if  only  we  keep  to  that  central  point  from  which 
alone  the  entire  life  and  labours  of  Jesus  can  be  understood  ? 
Already  Bengel,  who  for  the  exegesis  of  the  Scripture  must  ever 
anew  be  revived,  has  expressed  almost  everthing  in  the  words  : 

1  Namely  of  the  Idealist  who  quite  correctly  says  :  "  Iu  truth,  if  I 
am  all  that,  then  am  I  mad  to-day  1"     Goethe's  Faust  is  their  Bible. 

2  We  abide  by  the  usual  name,  although  Robinson  has  refuted  it. 


388  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

In  medio  actu  submissionis  emicat  majestas ;  only  we  might  still 
more  aptly  invert  the  expression :  In  the  midst  of  the  majesty, 
to  which  the  fishes  of  the  sea  when  it  is  necessary  are  subser- 
vient, submission  maintains  itself. 

The  tax  which  is  here  indicated  by  the  article  ra  BtSpa^a  as 
well-known  to  Jewish  readers  was  certainly  the  half  shekel  of 
the  temple  tribute  (2  Kings  xii.  4 ;  2  Chron.  xxiv.  6,  9  ;  comp. 
Neh.  x.  32),  which  had  its  origin  Ex.  xxx.  13,  and  was  after- 
wards kept  up.1  Although  the  LXX,  reckoning  according  to 
Alexandrine  double  drachms,  put  hihpa^fxov  for  k*gy  (Gen. 
xxiii.  15,  16 ;  Ex.  xxi.  32,  xxx.  13.  15,  &c),  and  for  yttyiD 

bpWQ  $©>  Tpftfa.  (Gen* xxiv* 22  ;  Ex' xxxviii-  26)>  Put  %PaXMi 
nay  at  Ex.  xxx.  13  rifiiav  tov  StSpa^ou,  yet  Joseph,  (bell.  jud. 
vii.  26),  and  Philo  have  the  Attic  reckoning  as  here,  in  like 
manner  Aquila  (Ex.  xxxviii.  26),  hlhpax^ov.  According  to  the 
Tract.  Q^ptti  tne  payment  was  not  a  thing  of  compulsion,  but 
a  voluntary  work  of  legal  piety ;  hence,  the  modest  question  of 
the  tribute-gatherers  here,  which  yet,  at  the  same  time,  has 
something  odious  in  it :  Does  your  Master  pay  this  tax  ?  Or  does 
He  omit  this,  in  the  exercise  of  His  well-known  freedom  V  They 
avoid  the  Master  Himself,,  as  they  always  do,  and  address  them- 

1  True,  indeed,  even  Wieseler  recently  understands  the  civil  tax  to 
the  Roman  Emperor,  but  we  protest  against  this  explanation.  It 
greatly  weakens  the  idea  of  the  vlos  (vers.  25,  26),  removes  the  equally 
clear  and  significant  connection  with  the  tranfiguration,  and  rejects  the 
profound  meaning  lying  precisely  therein.  We  agree  in  this  instance 
with  Neander,  who,  in  like  manner  against  Wieseler,  observes:  "  The 
entire  significance  of  the  account  rests  precisely  on  this,  that  it  is 
no  common  political,  but  a  Temple  tax."  When  the  Church  fathers 
(Clemens,  Origen,  Augustine,  Jerome),  understand  it  of  the  Imperial 
tax  they  have  thereby  certainly  missed  the  import  of  the  entire 
incident — as  the  English  writer  Trench  has,  by  a  thorough  investiga- 
tion, made  out.  That  Wieseler  attempted  "  so  forced  an  interpretation  " 
as  this  only  for  the  sake  of  his  harmony  has  with  truth  been  repre- 
sented to  him  also  in  Tholuck's  Litt.  Anzeiger. 

2  Whether,  according  to  Pirke  Aboth.  c.  4.  §.  5,  Rabbis  were 
actually  exempt  from  taxation,  is  uncertain,  and  as  far  as  regards 
that  period  may  rather  be  doubted  from  this  account.  Others  think 
that,  because  Jesus  had  for  a  long  time  been  away  from  Capernaum, 
this  made  the  tribute-gatherer  uncertain.  Perhaps  it  may  also  (with 
Rraune)  be  understood  as  if  the  question  "  Does  your  Master  pay  ?" 
was  nothing  more  than  a.  polite  way  of  asking  payment. 


MATTHEW  XVII.  25 — 27.  389 

selves  to  the  spokesman  Peter,  who  was  settled  in  Capernaum,  as 
Jesus  himself  was  to  a  certain  extent.  Peter  says,  of  course, 
Yes,  because  he  knew  what  to  say,  from  what  had  taken  place 
on  a  former  occasion,  but  his  prompt  answer  is  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  embarrassment,  on  finding  that  there  is  no  money  in 
the  bag.  For  this  is  presupposed  in  the  account,  as  otherwise 
Christ  would  not  have  devised  means  of  providing  in  another 
way. 

Christ  foreknew  all  this,  because  it  was  ordained  that  he  should 
now  know  it,  in  the  Father's  counsel,  according  to  which  the  con- 
clusion of  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Matthew  was  ordained  to  be 
just  what  it  is,  and  not  otherwise ;  he  anticipates  the  embarrassed 
question  with  an  explanation,  which  (to  remove  this  mistake  before- 
hand) is  certainly  not  meant  to  find  fault  with  Peter's  Yes,  as  if  it 
had  been  too  rashly  and  inconsiderately  spoken.1  Such  an  idea 
seems  to  us  to  shift  the  entire  meaning  of  the  thing,  and  to  be 
itself  inconsiderate.  What  other  answer  should  Peter  have  given 
than  the  historical  truth  which  was  known  to  him,  and  concerning 
which  he  was  asked  f  Should  he  have  said  something  to  this 
effect :  He  has  been  in  the  general  habit  of  paying,  but  whether 
he  will  do  so  on  this  occasion,  I  know  not  %  Or,  what  he  was 
forbidden  to  say :  He  is  God's  Son,  and  free  from  the  temple 
tribute  ?  Christ  then  does  not  mean  this,  nor  is  there  in  what  he 
says  the  slightest  censure  of  Peter.  His  question,  What  thinkest 
thou,  Simon  ?  also  anticipates  the  thoughts  of  Simon  only  in  this, 
that  the  latter  might  afterwards  have  deemed  it  to  be  strange, 
and,  properly  speaking,  unjust  that  the  Son  of  God  should  be 
put  into  embarrassment  by  this  tax,  paid  by  subjects  to  the  house 
of  his  Father !  These  after-thoughts  were  quite  as  natural  and 
right  as  the  first  answer ;  the  irpoe^Oaaev  means  in  general  that 
Christ,  in  all  that  he  said,  anticipated  the  thoughts  of  Peter,  and 

'  l  Peter  could  and  durst  not  on  his  part  answer  otherwise.  It  is 
mere  trifling  in  Lange,  when  he  makes  this  Yes  of  Peter,  mistakenly 
described  as  "  inconsiderate,"  to  be  typical  again  of  the  error  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  in  fettering  the  freedom  of  Christ  by  the  Temple- 
obligations  of  the  old  covenant !  By  such  a  mode  of  interpretation  one 
may  disguise  the  most  natural  things.  Seeing  that  I  myself,  as  is 
well-known,  must  bear  to  have  a  false  penetration  objected  to  me,  I  am 
all  the  more  inclined  and  bound  to  protest  wherever  I  really  find  the 
proper  limit  transgressed. 


390  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

met  these  with  a  distinct  solution  of  the  difficulty.  Christ,  in 
order  to  demonstrate  by  general  analogy  the  truth  of  the  claim, 
according  to  which  he  would  certainly  be  exempt  from  this  tax, 
now  compares  the  great  King  in  Jerusalem,  the  God  of  Israel, 
with  the  kings  of  the  earth,  into  whose  ranks  he  has  actually 
entered  by  the  theocratical  constitution.  The  kings  of  the  earth 
take  neither  ri\<n  (of  things,)  nor  ktjvctov  (of  the  person,)  neither 
tax  nor  custom  of  any  kind  whatever,  from  the  princes,  their  own 
sons — thus  says  the  heavenly  one,  over  whom  the  voice  from 
heaven  bore  testimony  shortly  before  that  He  is  the  Son.  Peter, 
when  again  asked,  must  give  an  answer  which  is  quite  right,  and 
yet  contradicts  his  former  Yes.  Christ  first  brings  this  contra- 
diction between  His  right  and  His  conduct  into  full  prominence  in 
the  expressed  inference  :  Then  are  the  children,  properly  the  sons, 
free.  Was  the  half  shekel  originally  a  ransom  for  the  person, 
%Sp3  "153  &&>  as  afterwards,  at  ver.  27,  dvr'l  indicates,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  Bedeemer  himself  was  as  free  from  this,  as  from 
Luke  ii.  23.  But  that  in  the  application  of  what  he  has  said 
he  still  retains  the  plural,  which  before  was  quite  proper,  instead 
of  saying,  Then  am  1  as  the  Son  of  God,  free — in  this  lies  one  of 
the  most  striking  expressions  of  condescension  which  he  ever 
made.  The  paying  of  tribute  being  in  itself  something  outward, 
belonging  to  this  world,  he  might,  indeed,  as  he  was  ever  ready 
to  do  in  such  cases,  rank  himself  along  with  them  :  That  we  may 
not  offend,  give  it  for  me  and  thee.  But  here  the  external  closely 
and  profoundly  borders  upon  the  internal,  and  even  here  he  as- 
signs at  the  same  time  to  his  disciples  as  sons  the  right  of  freedom, 
which  yet  belongs  to  him  alone  as  the  Son !  He  says  this  with 
the  same  prospective  glance,  as  we  find  at  Mark  ii.  27,  28,  the 
Son  of  Man  brings  to  all  men  in  him,  new  freedom  and  dominion  ; 
see  our  earlier  interpretation  at  Matth.  xii.  8.  He  kindly  looks 
forward  and  sees,  as  in  Simon  the  future  Peter,  so  in  his  disciples 
and  the  members  of  his  family  collectively,  the  future  sons  of 
God,  and  as  is  indeed  right,  predicates  of  them  on  account  of 
their  calling,  the  same  claim  which  he  in  person  inalienably 
possesses. 

Christ  might  have  borrowed  or  begged  the  stater  from  many  a 
one  to  whom  it  would  have  been  the  greatest  honour  and  joy  to 
give  it  to  him,  but  this  certainly  would  not  have  been  consistent 


MATTHEW  XVII.  25—27.  391 

with  what  is  due  to  the  honour  of  the  Son,  who  might  indeed 
accept  such  gifts  of  love  for  his  earthly  wants,  but  not  ask 
them.1  Then  must  Peter,  as  fisher,  render  service,  in  order  to 
fetch  what  was  needed  from  God's  treasury,  and,  by  an  act  quite 
in  the  way  of  his  calling  as  a  fisher,  learn  how  this  treasury 
stands  ever  open  to  the  faith  of  God's  children.  A  miracle,  in 
many  respects  great,  is  performed  in  a  small  thing,  on  account  of 
the  great  significance  belonging  to  it.  With  a  foreknowledge, 
which  is  at  the  sametime  more  than  foreknowledge,  the  assurance 
namely  that  it  has  been  ordained  and  commanded  in  the  Father's 
counsel  and  might,  Christ  says  everything  to  Simon  beforehand 
ere  it  takes  place.  He  will  immediately  catch  something  with  his 
hook,  the  first  fish  will  bring  money — and  that  in  its  dumb,  but 
here  loudly-speaking  mouth  (Job.  xii.  8) — finally,  just  so  much 
as  is  necessary  for  the  moment,  neither  more  nor  less,  a  stater  or 
4  drachms.2  The  same  take,3  and  give  to  them,  the  tax-gatherers, 
who  are  asking  it,  for  Me  arid  thee.  Thus  does  Christ  separate 
again  the  we  who  had  just  been  united,  not  without  a  hint  that  it 

1  He  could  say  to  no  one :  Be  so  good  as  give  the  tax  for  Mel  The 
.remark  of  Hess,  however,  reaches  somewhat  too  far :    "  It  appears,  He 

would  in  this  case  on  purpose  not  pay  the  temple- tax  with  another's 
money" — if  by  this  is  to  be  understood :  Not  even  with  the  contribu- 
tions of  His  followers  that  were  then  in  the  purse.  "Whence,  then,  did 
He  pay  before  ?  There  was  therefore  at  that  time  certainly  nothing  in 
the  purse. 

2  In  Stilling's  Heimweh  is  related  how  the  fish  snatched  away  the 
shining  piece  of  money  dropped  by  a  man  on  the  shore,  and  as  being 
too  large  to  swallow,  had  kept  it  in  its  throat  until  Peter  soon  after 
came  with  the  hook.  Thus  must  some  one  have  lost  it,  for  the  service 
of  the  Master.  This  is  possible,  but  not  necessary,  and  it  is  better  not 
to  add  any  stories  of  ours  to  that  which  is  given  us,  by  going  farther 
back  into  the  depths  of  the  sea. 

3  Observe  here,  Christ  says,  Take  the  stater,  and  not  the  fish,  which  yet 
Lange  makes  Peter  to  have  brought  to  the  tax-gatherers  as  payment  in 
natura  (worth  a  stater),  after  having  opened  its  mouth,  i.e.,  in  poetical 
expression,  loosened  it  from  the  hook  !  Lange  thinks  at  least  that  the 
apostle  at  all  events  delivered  what  was  required  to  the  tax-gatherers 
in  a  miraculous  form — either  that  he  gave  the  fish  as  caught 
at  Christ's  word,  or  that  he  related  to  them  the  miracle  with  the 
money.  We  think,  however,  that  the  testimony  of  the  power  of  Jesus 
here  belonged  only  to  the  disciples  and  not  at  all  to  the  tax-gatherers ; 
otherwise  we  should  lose  the  principal  point  of  the  whole,  namely,  the 
humility  that  would  not  offend. 


392  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

was  a  condescension.  For  the  others  no  payment  is  to  be  made 
in  Capernaum, because  the  tax  was  gathered  from  every  one  only 
in  the  place  where  he  lived ;  according  to  the  symbolical  sense, 
however,  Peter  is  the  representative  of  all  for  whom  Christ 
Himself  pays,  inasmuch  is  He  bids  them  pay  in  His  fellowship 
and  as  His  followers. 

We  now  return  to  what  was  said  at  the  beginning.  Even  the 
miraculous  power  which  proves  his  dignity  and  freedom  as  a  Son, 
He  makes  use  of  in  a  way  of  humble  self-denial.  And  where- 
fore J  But  that  we  may  not  offend  !  Hear,  hear  ye  proud  ones 
among  the  disciples  of  the  lowly  one,  ye  champions  of  faith  who 
are  apt  to  forget  the  love,  ye  quakers  with  the  hat  of  self-will 
upon  your  head,  to  whom,  with  all  their  good  intention,  the  true 
Spirit  has  not  yet  shown  the  true  relation  of  Christ  and  His  New 
Testament  theocracy  to  the  kingdoms  of  this  world !  True,  if 
ye  are  sons  in  the  Son,  ye  are  all  free — free  however,  not  from, 
but  to,  the  fulfilling  of  all  righteousness.  Consider,  moreover, 
that  the  kings  of  the  earth  do  not  know  you  as  such,  in  your 
heavenly  sonship,  that  ye  are  rather  to  abide  here  as  strangers — 
and  give  no  offence.  Child  of  God  in  the  faith  which  removes 
mountains,  use  this  thy  very  power  as  a  son  in  the  humility  of 
faith,  by  submission  to  the  hands  of  men.  Thou  should'st  sooner 
and  rather  procure  by  thy  faith  the  tribute  pence,  than  needlessly 
remove  the  mountains  out  of  the  way ;  rather  work  a  miracle 
for  this  than  give  any  offence  by  thy  power  and  freedom,  laying 
down  (TKavZaXa  instead  of  removing  them. 


THE  TRUE  GREATNESS  OP  THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST.      THE 
POWER  OF  THE  CHURCH  TO  BIND  AND  TO  LOOSE. 

(Matth.  xviii.  3—20.     Mark  ix,  33—50.     Luke  ix.  48—50). 

It  is  self-evident  that  ip  i/cetvn  rfj  copa  is  not  literally  to  be 
strained,  as  expressing  immediate  connexion,  but  (although  it 
is  certainly  more  than  merely  ip  ifceivn  rfj  rj/Jiepa)  leaves  room, 
at  all  events,  for  the  return  of  Peter  from  procuring  the  tri- 
bute money ;  for  afterwards  (ver.  21),  he  is  present,  and  has 
heard   everything  along   with  the  rest.      The    dispute   as  to 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  3 — 28.  393 

precedency  had  already  broken  out  before  on  the  way  to  Ca- 
pernaum, while,  in  addition  to  the  internal  grounds  for  such 
questioning,  which  already  lay  of  necessity  in  the  thoughts  and 
inquiries  of  the  disciples  respecting  the  mysterious  advent  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  their  personal  position  in  that  king- 
dom, outward  occasions  also  had  now  come  in  rapid  succession 
(chap.  xvi.  19,  28 ;  xvii.  1).  Whether  Peter  was  destined  to 
occupy  a  place  above  the  others,  and  what  that  was,  what  besides 
was  meant  by  Christ  in  the  repeated  separation  of  the  three 
disciples  from  the  twelve — this  was  more  directly  interesting  and 
important  to  them  than  the  dying  and  rising  again  of  the  Son  of 
Man !  At  least  their  thoughts  soon  turn  from  the  one  to  the 
other,  and  only  the  latter  gives  rise  to  a  warm  and  lengthy  dis- 
cussion, because  it  concerns  their  persons.  The  question  in 
dispute,  which  Matth.  states  in  the  uncaptiously  general  form  Tt'9 
apa  fiei&v  io-Tiv,  has  yet  another  personal  motive  lying  behind 
it :  Which  of  us  shall  receive  special  precedence,  and  the  place 
of  honour  (chap.  xx.  21),  or  rather  is  already  destined  to  this  by 
Christ  f  *  Mark,  with  his  more  concise  rk  fAeifyov,  expresses  this 
in  his  connection  still  more  strongly.  Luke  most  distinctly  to, 
t/<?  av  elrj  fxel^cov  avrwv — i.e.,  of  course  not  greater  than  them, 
but  which  of  us  shall  be  greater  than  the  rest  (comp.  Luke  xxii. 
24.)  Not,  however,  altogether,  as  Winer  also  understands  this 
passage :  that  they  were  thinking  of  a  single  major  ceteris  or  prin- 
ceps  (as  in  other  places  the  comparative  is  thus  put  for  the  super- 
lative Matth.  xiii.  32  jiel^ov  twv  Xa^dvcov),  they  were  rather  think- 
ing, as  the  occasion  led  them  to  do,  of  several  who  might  receive 
precedence ;  although  Christ  afterwards,  in  his  answer,  very 
strikingly  makes  a  proper  superlative  of  it,  in  order  to  place  in 
opposition  to  it  His  /ufcporepos  iv  iraaiv.  That  Peter  was  not 
the  speaker  on  this  occasion  we  take  to  be  quite  as  natural  as 
that  he  afterwards  again  comes  prominently  forward  (Matth. 

1  Of  course,  as  the  clause  M  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven"  clearly  shows, 
the  entire  question  refers  to  the  future  position,  by  no  means  only  (as 
Neander  says) :  who  among  them  is  now  already  by  zeal  in  the  service 
of  Christ,  in  virtue  of  his  personal  qualities  and  services  the  greater? 
The  disciples  will  certainly  anticipate  the  future  a  little — so  much  is 
true  in  this ;  but  that  only  present  worthiness  qualifies  for  the  king- 
dom of  heaven — this  is  precisely  what  the  answer  of  Christ  opens  up  to 
them. 


394  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

ver.  21 ;  properly  considered,  however,  the  irpoarfkOovXiyovTe^ 
Matth.  is  to  be  taken  not  literally  but  in  the  higher  truth,  accord- 
ing to  the  manner  of  this  evangelist  in  other  places  (comp.  chap, 
viii.  5, 6), for  according  to  Mark  Christ  ashed  what  they  had  been 
disputing  about  on  the  way,  but  they  held  their  peace,being  ashamed. 
Or  must  we  suppose  that  they  afterwards  spoke  out?  This  mode  of 
reconciling  the  evangelists  can  hardly  be  the  right  one,  and 
might  rather  impair  the  truth  as  well  of  Matthew's  as  of  Mark's 
account.1  What  Luke,  in  an  expression  intermediate  between 
the  two,  says :  IBatv  tov  BiaXoyio-fibv  -n}?  Kaphlas  avToov — rightly 
shows,  that  Matth.  has  concisely  represented  the  silent  confes- 
sion of  the  disciples  before  him  who  knew  their  thoughts,  as  a 
Xiyeiv,  in  instructive  contradiction  to  our  registering  exactness 
in  regard  to  what  is  merely  external. 

We  have  now,  however,  in  the  first  place  again  to  show,  that 
the  whole  answer  of  Christ,  which  Matthew  gives  without  inter- 
ruption on  to  ver.  20,  was  actually  spoken  by  him  iv  eKeivy  rfj 
ciopa,  and  that  nothing  foreign  is  added  from  any  other  place. 
That  is,  not  that  no  pause,  interruption,  or  digression  may  have 
taken  place,  for  Mark  and  Luke  have  introduced  in  the  course 
of  it  the  question  of  John  respecting  the  exorcist  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  who  had  not  been  called,  and  several  other  sayings  of 
Christ ;  but  that  Christ  actually  at  that  time  spake  all  this  in 
close  succession.  As  Christ  does  not  let  Himself  be  driven  by 
those  digressions  from  pursuing  the  course  of  His  thoughts,  until 
the  question  of  the  disciples  has  been  completely  answered  and 
despatched,  so  also  does  Matthew  here,  as  it  were,  not  let  him- 
self be  hindered  from  laying  before  us  in  one  whole  the  profound 
and  grand  connexion  of  his  words  spoken  upon  this  occasion. 
We  will  therefore  here  also  do  him  right,  and  reserve  the  con- 
sideration of  the  sayings  in  Mark  and  Luke,  although  they  are 
historically  parallel,  for  our  commentary  on  these  places.  We 
also  leave  aside,  in  the  mean  time,  the  immediately  following 
parable  addressed  to  Peter  (although  Matthew  includes  it,  chap. 

1  In  which  case  Roos,  for  example,  is  for  bringing  out,  that  the  sub- 
sequent question  was  put  in  a  more  generalized,  less  faulty  form,  than 
the  first  dispute,  "  who  among  them  is  the  greatest !"  We  think  that 
this  "  among  them"  is  self-evident  also  in  Matthew  and  Mark.  Mark 
(irpos  dWrjkovs.) 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  3 — 28.  395 

xix.  1,  rightly  in  the  these  sayings)  as  a  corollary,  which  it  only 
is  in  reality,  and  look  only  at  the  profound  connexion  in  which 
Christ,  according  to Matth.ver.  3 — 20,  gives  answer  and  instruc- 
tion as  to  the  true  greatness  of  His  disciples  in  relation  to  one 
another.  This  is  and  remains  truly  the  grand  theme,  the  lead- 
ing idea,  which  everything  follows  in  consecutive  order. 

Christ  does  not  satisfy  Himself  with  saying  what  lay  on  the 
surface  as  the  most  immediate  answer,  namely,  wherein  this  true 
greatness  of  His  disciples  consists,  but  takes  a  deeper  and  wider 
view  of  it,  and  discusses  the  important  point  thus  raised  so  com- 
pletely for  His  disciples  in  all  future  time,  that  He  shows  besides 
whereon  it  is  founded,  and  finally,  how  it  expresses  itself.  These 
are  the  three  principal  parts  of  the  whole.  It  consists  in  humi- 
lity first  of  all,  but  at  the  same  time  also  in  the  love  which 
naturally  flows  from  humility,  and  is  given  with  it,  which  de- 
spises or  neglects  no  other  person  as  little,  (Whereby,  already 
at  the  beginning,  the  foundation  is  laid  for  the  inference  which 
points  out  the  expression  of  such  love.)  In  humility :  without 
which  no  one  can  in  any  wise  be  a  disciple,  can  in  any  wise  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  or  belong  to  it  (ver.  3) — with  which 
every  humble  disciple  stands  on  one  and  the  same  level  of  great- 
ness (ver.  4).  In  love :  which  here  is  positively  a  Be^ecrOai,  an 
acknowledging,  helping,  reception  of  every  other  little  one,  as 
standing  on  the  same  level  with  myself  (ver.  5) — negatively,  a 
not  offending  (ver.  6).  This  latter  (because,  as  we  shall  see 
occasion  was  given  for  this  in  the  circumstances,)  is  farther  carried 
out  in  an  emphatic  admonition  respecting  offences :  the  "  Wo 
to  the  world  !"  begins  from  without  (ver.  7) — what  is  said  as  to 
the  unavoidableness  and  yet  the  criminality  of  offences  goes 
deeper  into  the  thing  (ver.  7) — and  finally,  the  way  pointed  out 
to  self-denial,  to  the  slaying  of  inward  offences  in  themselves, 
completes  the  information  for  the  disciples  if  they  would  not  fall 
into  the  "  Wo  to  the  world  !"  and  "  Wo  to  the  man !"  (ver.  8,  9). 
For  this  is  the  only  way  by  which  the  disciples  of  Jesus  can 
attain  to,  or  maintain  humility,  which  in  relation  to  others  be- 
comes love ;  thus  alone  is  offence  avoided  and  destroyed  in  the 
root. 

But  after  Christ  has  thus  represented  the  matter  to  His  dis- 
ciples in  so  severe  and  difficult  a  light,  after  He  has  thus  plainly 


396  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

shewn  them  that  the  return  to  a  childlike  state  here  required  of 
them  is  truly  no  child's  play,  but  can  be  attained  only  by  the 
manliest  internal  struggles  with  the  members  of  the  old  man, 
which  unhappily  have  already  grown  strong — He  does  not  stop 
here,  but  comforts  them  again  by  kindly  opening  up  to  them, 
how  the  greatness  of  the  little  ones,  whom  we  are  not  to  despise 
and  offend  but  love  (consequently,  which  also  lies  behind  this  : 
the  loving  patience  of  Christ  towards  the  other  little  ones,  who, 
alas !  as  yet  offend  in  their  weakness),  is  founded  on  the  great 
salvation  through  the  Son  of  Man.  If  already,  at  ver.  5,  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  this,  it  was  said  that  a  little  child  is  to  be  so 
highly  esteemed  because  Christ  is  in  him — Christ  now  first,  at 
ver.  10,  comprises  it  in  one  weighty  and  mysterious  proposition : 
the  greatness  of  the  little  ones  (i.e.,  as  the  interpretation  will 
show,  the  dignity  of  those  who  are  as  yet  indeed  weak,  but  who 
are,  precisely  on  this  account,  disciples  of  child-like  humility), 
rests  on  this,  that  they  are  highly  honoured  before  God.  And 
wherefore,  whence  is  this  ?  The  more  particular  development  of 
this  follows  immediately :  For  the  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  save 
the  children  of  men  (ver.  11)  !  To  this  literal  statement  is 
added  the  parable  of  the  seeking  love  of  the  shepherd  (ver.  12 
13),  a  parable  which  puts  to  shame  every  proud  thought  that  goes 
against  the  love  of  Christ,  and  which  exhorts  to  the  imitation  of 
His  example  in  going  forth  to  seek  others.  Then  follows,  in  con- 
clusion, as  the  highest  step  in  the  ascent,  the  gracious  good  plea- 
sure of  the  Father  towards  the  little  ones  (ver.  14).  In  this  love  of 
the  Father,  manifested  in  the  redeeming  Son,  must  the  genuine 
humility  and  love  of  all  his  genuine  children  be  founded,  and  must 
seek  to  know  nought  else  but  this :  I  myself  am  not  lost  only 
from  such  love,  and  no  other  must  be  lost  from  my  want  of  love. 
Christ  might  now  have  stopped  here,  but  He  has  yet  more  to 
say.  The  dispute  of  the  twelve  about  precedence  has  again 
opened  up  to  His  inner  view  the  entire  future  of  His  Church, 
which  is  to  proceed  from  these  disciples.  It  is  natural  that  He 
should  specially  refer  this  dispute  to  that  word  which  was  given 
to  Peter  before  the  others  (chap.  xvi.  18,  19),  in  order  now,  at  the 
same  time,  to  exhibit  its  true  meaning  in  opposition  to  any  mis- 
understanding of  it.  Accordingly,  in  order  to  thoroughly  ex- 
haust this  theme,  so  as  to  be  understood  in  all  future  time,  He 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  3 — 28.  397 

shows  how  one  day  the  greatness  of  His  disciples  (according  to 
which  there  is  no  ixeityav  prae  ceteris,  but  only  a  common  rivalry 
of  love  on  the  part  of  every  little  one  who  will  be  great  in  Christ, 
towards  every  other  little  one  who  also  belongs  to  Christ),  how 
this  greatness  should  and  will  express  itself  in  the  fellowship  of  all 
the  redeemed  who  believe  on  Him.  If  the  two  first  parts  of  the 
discourse  spoke  of  individuals,  we  have  now,  in  the  third  part, 
a  term  expressive  of  union ;  hitherto  it  has  been,  iraihtov  tovto, 
o?  lav,  tolovtov  ev,  eh  r&v  jxiKpwv  tovtcov — now,  however,  it  is 
aSeXcfros,  now  the  children  are  represented  as  brothers  and 
sisters  in  the  household  of  God,  who,  in  their  intercourse  with 
one  another,  are  neither  to  give  nor  to  take  offence,  but  in  the 
power  of  Christ,  who  is  with  them  and  in  them,  to  manifest  the 
love  that  seeks  and  saves.  If  the  second  part  contained  a  retro- 
spective glance  at  the  first  and  innermost  ground  of  all  this  new 
order  of  love  and  humility,  which  is  henceforward  to  be  the  true 
order  of  precedence  (the  "  house-law  of  humility  "  for  the  family 
of  God),  at  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  into  the  world  for  its 
salvation — there  follows  now,  on  the  other  hand,  a  prospective 
glance  at  the  future  state  of  His  kingdom.  The  true  greatness  of 
the  disciples  of  Christ  expresses  itself  in  the  unity  and  power  of 
His  Church,  unity,  namely,  in  the  love,  and  power  in  the  truth 
of  God  (which  latter  will  certainly  not  be  wanting  in  genuine  love). 
The  unity  of  love  is,  according  to  the  connexion  with  what  goes 
before,  necessarily  represented  in  the  well-regulated  conduct  of 
the  individual,  as  a  member  of  the  Church,  in  the  case  of  offences, 
(ver.  15,  17).  It  shows  itself,  in  the  first  place,  always  as  unity 
of  love,  in  the  censure  of  the  brother  who  sins,  which  is  to  be 
administered  in  a  manner  equally  sparing,  and  seeking,  by  suc- 
cessive steps,  so  as  to  remove  the  offence  ;  but  if  the  sin  yields 
not  to  love,  it  must  certainly  become  also  unity  in  the  truth, 
inasmuch  as  the  Church  (not  the  individual !)  at  last  excludes, 
and  meanwhile  drives  out  the  impenitent  person  from  its  pale. 
This,  again,  as  the  transition  to  what  follows : — The  Church  has 
power in  Christ  who  has  invested  it  with  His  own  power!  What 
it  does  upon  earth  in  the  name  of  Christ,  that  does  Christ  in  it 
as  being  also  valid  in  heaven,  and  this  is  finally  the  true  com- 
mon greatness  reaching  to  heaven  of  the  united  disciples  of 
Christ,  in  which  even  every  /ie/fore?  of  the  twelve  disappears, 


398  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

and,  therefore,  certainly  every  precedence  of  any  kind  on  the 
part  of  a  Peter,  John,  and  James.  Ver.  18 — 20  speaks  of  the 
power  of  the  Church,  so  as  that  the  power  first  comes  into  pro- 
minence, and  then  in  the  conclusion,  which  points  backwards,  it 
is  declared  what  and  where  this  Church  is.  It  is  a  power  (and 
the  way  was  prepared  for  this  by  what  goes  before),  to  bind  also 
with  judgment,  as  to  loose  with  forgiveness  (with  friendly 
rebuke  which  aims  at  forgiveness  and  reconciliation),  therefore, 
the  severe  power  of  truth ;  in  and  along  with  all  this,  however, 
it  is  a  power  to  pray,  the  more  excellent  power  of  unceasing 
love,  which  with  its  faith  penetrates  into  the  love  and  gifts  of  the 
heavenly  Father.  And,  finally,  who  has  this  power?  The 
Church  I  Where  is  the  Church  1  Wherever  there  is  a  living 
part  of  its  great  whole,  an  out-going  of  its  unity,  which  cannot 
be  separated  by  place  or  by  number,  where  even  two  or  three 
are  met  together  in  the  name  ot  Jesus!  And  the  ground? 
Because  He  himself  is  among  them  and  in  them,  as  already  in 
every  individual  little  one  who  believes  on  him,  ver.  5. 


Vers.  2,  3.  All  heathen  antiquity  knew  almost  nothing  of  the 
dignity  and  honour  of  humility,  could  not  even  find  a  word 
which  clearlv  expresses  this;  the  Roman  modestia  does  not 
suffice  for  this,  while  the  Greek  Tairuvo^pcov,  Tairuvo^poavvr] 
only  struggles  to  free  itself  from  censure,  so  as  to  be  regarded  as 
praiseworthy.1  In  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament 
alone  do  we  find  preparatory  intimations  of  that  which  the  first 
great  Taireivwv  eavrov  can  alone  fully  express.  He,  however, 
speaks  the  new  great  word  as  simply  and  unpretendingly  as  if  it 
had  always  been  self-evident.  Every  child  had  spoken  it,  and 
shown  it  to  those  who  were  grown  up,  a  presentiment  of  it  lay 
certainlyin  every puero  debeter  reverentia  that  found  expression,  in 
every  unexpressed  receptivity  for  child-like  feeling  and  child-like 
ways ;  yet  this  presentiment  in  all  its  forms  waited  until  Jesus 
placed  the  child  in  the  midst,  and  with  His  word  unloosed  that  word 
which  assigns  its  due  praise  to  humility,  and  which  had  hitherto 

1  Tholuck  cites  from  Plutarch  (de  profectibus  in  virtute,  cap.  10) 
u  one  of  those  few  passages  where  rcmeivos  stands  in  an  honourable, 
signification,"  and  compares  Plato  de  legg.  lib.  iv.  p.  15.  Bipont. 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  2 — 3.  399 

been  fast  bound  by  pride  in  the  breast  of  man.  In  this  most  pro- 
found and  general  reference  of  his  doctrine  to  the  symbol  of  it  and 
prophetic  testimony  to  it,  as  yet  present  in  man,  lies  the  deepest 
reason  why  Christ  here  does  not  speak  but  show  ;  by  no  means 
merely  with  the  purpose  (with  which  the  most  superficial  view  is 
wont  to  stop  short)  of  vividly  impressing  his  disciples,  then  present, 
with  a  lasting  memorial  of  this  important  lesson.  This  child  still 
stands  ever  in  the  midst  of  us,  where  we  see  it,  and  now  looking 
on  it,  think  of  the  words  of  the  master !  That  there  was  at  that 
time  a  child  near  at  hand,  had  been  provided  for  by  the  Father 
for  this  occasion.  Christ  called  it  to  him — consequently  it  could 
already  understand  a  call,  and  could  walk;  he  not  merely  placed 
it  in  the  midst,  but  took  it  up  also  in  his  arms  (according  to 
Mark),  in  order  to  give  expression  by  action  to  his  love  for 
such  little  ones — it  was,  therefore,  certainly  as  yet  a  waiZiov 
of  tender  age.  At  all  events  it  was  no  ill-bred  child,  not  one  that 
would  not  come  on  being  called,  that  cried  or  made  resistance, 
not  one  that  stood  still  when  the  strange,  friendly  man  called, 
but  a  genuine,  true  child,  such  as  is  meant  by  the  word.1  Christ, 
indeed,  as  Mark  pourtrays  the  scene,  had  first  sat  down,  as  it 
were  on  the  seat  of  judgment,  for  the  solemn  determination  of 
this  certainly  most  important  question,  had  called  to  him  the 
council  of  the  twelve,  to  whom  now  a  grand  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  the  kingdom  is  to  be  opened  up  in  presence  of  the  rest 
of  the  people  who  stood  by,  both  great  and  small,  as  we  see  from 
the  child  being  there,2  and  then,  (after  having  given  expression 
to  another  word  against  the  Oekeiv  irpwTOs  elvcu)  He  forcibly  and 
unexpectedly  puts  them  all  to  shame  by  this  little  child  before  all 
the  bystanders,  and  yet  in  such  a  way,  as  could  only  appeal  with 
amiable  truth  to  the  pure  human  feeling.  What  a  majesty  of 
love  and  truth  in  this,  Verily  I  say  unto  you !  As  children — He 
thereby  says,  at  the  same  time,  that  it  is  not  the  child  personally 
that  is  meant,  but  that  it  only  stands  there  as  a  child  in  general. 

1  Which,  moreover,  received  no  injury  or  offence  from  being  thus  set 
up  before  others — so  that  Weisse  might  spare  the  objection  :  against 
such  conduct  of  Jesus  an  intelligent  pedagogue  would  have  much  to 
say !  I 

2  So  that  Nitzsch  not  quite  exactly  says,  only  his  disciples  were 
present. 


400  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Ye  should,  all  of  you,  be  children,  who,  properly  speaking,  know 
nothing  either  of  comparative  or  of  superlative  in  their  innocently 
positive  existence,  who  have  no  questioning  one  with  another  as  to 
who  shall  be  greater  in  their  paradise  and  kingdom  of  heaven  ; 
but  if,  unhappily,  ye  are  otherwise— then  must  ye  now  be  con- 
verted, and  again  become  so  !  You  apostles  also,  even  you,  if,  and 
because,  ye  would  be  the  greater!  That  they  themselves,  the 
twelve,  were  chosen  to  something  special  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  was,  not  indeed  without  reason,  a  settled  matter  with  them 
beforehand ;  the  question  therefore  now  was,  who  among  them 
is  greater.  But  here  Christ  cuts  away  that  first  ground  from 
beneath  their  feet,  and  plainly  announces  to  them :  If  ye 
do  not  become  quite  different  from,  quite  the  reverse  of,  what  ye 
have  now  shown  yourselves  to  be,  ye  shall  not  at  all  (ov  fir)) 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  A  terribly  unexpected  word 
for  these  servants  of  the  kingdom,  who  had  thought  such  a  thing 
as  this  next  to  impossible,  who  had  learned  hitherto  with  their 
Lord  to  use  the  word  "  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  as  a  great 
thing  already  done  and  determined  for  them  !  What  is  of  the 
first  importance  is,  to  enter  into  that  kingdom ;  that  is  already  a 
great  thing,  nay  the  alone  great  thing  without  distinction,  which 
is  reserved  only  for  the  humble.  To  be  called  an  apostle,  and 
not  to  be  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  I  We  know  well  that  this 
alas !  turned  out  to  be  true  in  one  of  the  disciples. 

Here  the  natural  understanding  in  us  all  is  ready  to  revolt — 
here  the  blind  folly  of  the  proud  takes  offence  :  Is  this  then 
what  is  called  advancing  and  becoming  something,  if  one  must 
turn  round,  go  backwards,  and  become  a  little  child  f  But  who- 
ever puts  the  question  of  Nieodemus  to  the  Master  7r&)?  Svvarat, 
has  already  the  answer  just  such  as  He  there  gave  it,  namely,  that 
He  does  not  mean  here  certainly  a  literal  turning  back  and  be- 
ginning anew  in  the  bodily  sense,  but  a  being  born  again  of 
the  Spirit  to  a  new,  spiritual,  and  truly  child-like  state  which 
even  children  have  not,  properly  speaking,  in  respect  of  their 
bodily  age,  but  only  show  it  in  the  figure :  co?  ra  iraiUa.  Al- 
though the  entire  anology  between  this  requirement  of  Christ  and 
that  which  has  respect  to  the  new  birth  retains  its  essential  truth 
(for  arpa^rjre  does  not  merely  stand  adverbially  related  to  yeurjcrOe 
as  y^j,  but  expresses  beforehand  more  than  this,  and  contains 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  4.  401 

the  proper  leading  idea) — yet,  along  with  the  strictness,  there  is 
something  comforting  in  the  expression  "  as  children,"  and  in 
the  "  become,"  which  leaves  much  time  for  patience.  God  trains 
His  children  to  be  small  as  we  do  ours  to  be  great,  and  the 
growth  of  the  internal  man  is  a  continual  growing  downwards  to 
this  humility  and  simplicity.  Christ  here  again  calls  to  mind. the 
Ti/cva  and  vryinQi  (chap.  xi.  19 — 25),  which  ought,  indeed,  already 
to  have  occurred  to  Peter  at  chap.  xvi.  17.  What  is  the 
tertium  comparationis  for  this  as,  on  which  it  all  hinges  !  Scarcely 
can  it  be  altogether  expressed  by  any  other  single  word  than 
just  childlike,  yet  there  are  two  principal  ideas  which  directly 
after  appear  prominently" in  the  words  of  Christ  himself,  and 
which  point  to  all  that  is  implied  in  that  expression,  namely, 
humility,  in  which  a  man  humbles  himself  (ver.  4),  and  then, 
(what  is  implied  therein),  trust  on  the  part  of  those  who  believe  on 
him  (ver.  6.)1  "  As  this  child," — only  look  at  it,  and  observe  how 
it  has  now  shown  itself,  and  stands  before  your  eyes.  A  child 
is  called,  and  comes ;  is  placed,  and  lets  itself  be  placed ;  is  em- 
braced, and  lets  itself  be  embraced ;  it  follows,  obeys,  receives, 
(Mark  x.  15),  mistrusts  not,  resists  not,  is  prepared  and  tractable 
for  every  one  greater  than  itself,  just  because  it  knows  this  :  I  am 
a  child,  and  that  is  a  friendly  man  !  Such  humble  trust  in  receiv- 
ing and  obeying,  such  simple  yielding  up  of  ourselves  to  the  love 
and  power  of  God,  which  embraces  us  in  Christ,  and  seeks  to  " 
lift  us  up  from  earth  to  heaven — such  is  the  child-like  state  which 
conducts  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "  As  a  child  always  be- 
lieves itself  to  be  safe  when  it  has  laid  itself  in  its  mother's 
lap,  or  when  the  mother  holds  out  her  hand  to  it" — so  it  is 
with  the  child-like  faith  in  the  gracious  word  of  the  heavenly 
Father,  revealed  in  His  Son. 

Ver.  4.  The  general  principle  is  now  repeated  with  a  view  to 
its  application  to  the  individual.  Every  one  who  has  become  like 
such  a  child,  is  always,  in  relation  to  others,  and  in  proportion  as 
this  is  wanting  in  them,  the  greater  and  greatest  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.     Here  Christ  actually  makes  a  superlative  of  the  com- 

1  Roos :  "  Wherein  consists  the  lowliness  of  a  child  ?     Therein, 
that  it  allows  itself  to  be  taught,  guided,  led,  and  cared  for,  &c"     To 
the  same  effect,  Jul.  Muller :  "  These  sayings  point  to  the  ingenuous 
trust  and  inward  capacity  of  union  in  the  childlike  spirit  " 
VOL.  II.  2  0 


402  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

parative,  but  immediately  again  cancels  it  by  ocrri?,  in  order 
without  distinction  to  attribute  the  same  greatness  to  every 
humble  one.  (Hence  in  Luke  ovtos  ecrrai  fAeyas.)  Erasmus 
is  excellent  here  :  Quisquis  igitur  demiserit  semetipsum,  hie  est 
Me  maximus  in  regno  coelorum.  In  like  manner  he  is  equally 
striking  in  bringing  out  a  delicate  shade  of  the  thought  not 
to  be  overlooked,  which  the  original  text  does  not  express  : 
demiserit  semetipsum,  sicut  est  puer  iste  ;  for,  taken  strictly,  this 
child  needed  not  to  humble  itself,  so  as  to  be  converted  and  be- 
come as  a  child ;  it  is  so  already,  and  Christ  can  only  have 
meant  to  say  :  He  who  humbles  himself  to  become  (in  a  higher 
sense)  such  as  this  child  is.1  Happy  he  in  whom  this  is  ful- 
filled, so  that  Christ  may  set  him,  on  account  of  his  humility,  be- 
fore others,  with  the  testimony  and  commendation :  Ye  must 
become  as  this  child-like  person  who  is  the  great  one  before  me ! 
But  whence  and  wherefore  this  greatness  of  the  little  ones  ? 
Truly  only  from  the  goodness  and  grace  of  him,  who  takes  such 
a  child  in  his  arms  and  blesses  it,  who  alone  exalts  those  who 
humble  themselves  (chap,  xxiii.  12),  who  imparts  himself  and 
his  highest  glory,  won  by  the  deepest  humiliation,  to  all  his  be- 
lieving followers.     This  is  said  in  what  immediately  follows. 

Ver.  5.  The  connection  with  what  goes  before  is  twofold,  so 
that  the  discourse,  which  is  in  the  utmost  degree  compressed, 
already  begins  something  new,  while  it  finishes  what  goes  before. 
The  little  one  who  altogether  unassumingly  yields  himself  up  to 
me,  is  and  becomes  great,  for  I  bend  myself  down  to  him,  and  turn 
in  to  him.  This  important  leading  point,  here  indicated  (as  a  glance 
forward  to  the  second  principal  part  vers.  10 — 14),  being  as  it  were 
the  still  hidden  key  for  the  solution  of  the  enigmatic  saying  respect- 
ing the  greatness  of  the  little  ones,2  is,  however,  only  expressed  as  the 
ground  of  a  second  discourse,  in  which  a  further  advance  is  made. 
The  first  was  :  Whosoever  shall  himself  be  as  this  child  !  Now, 
the  other  is  :  Whosoever  receives  such  a  child  !     There  can  be 

1  Already  Laur.  Valla :  iste  parvulus  non  se  humiliat,  sed  humilis 
est. 

2  For  Christ  maintains  not  merely  at  first,  ver.  3,  that  humility,  con- 
sciousness of  our  own  littleness,  poverty,  and  impotence  is  the  condition 
of  entering  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  goes  on  to  say,  (ver.  4), 
that  always  every  one  who  humbles  himself,  is  aud  remains  the  greater 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  5.  403 

no  question  that  Christ  now,  in  the  first  toiovtov  (after  ret 
iraihia  and  to  irathlov  toOto),  passes  from  the  figure  to  its  ap- 
plication, from  children  to  childlike  men ;  comp.  afterwards  chap, 
xix.  14,  t&v  yap  toiovtcjv.  Certainly  not  merely  :  such  a  child 
as  this  well-behaved  one  here,  for  oftentimes  even  children  are 
at  an  early  age  corrupted ;  but,  now  onwards,  Christ  means  his 
disciples,  if  and  in  so  far  as  they  resemble  children,  and  may 
even  be  so  called,  as,  at  ver.  6,  the  evident  explanation  follows. 
The  little  ones  who  believe  on  him  are  the  same  as  those  of  whom 
he  spoke  chap.  x.  40 — 42,  all  the  more  certainly,  that  the  promise 
to  him  who  receives  such  (he  receiveth  me)  is  only  a  repetition  of 
what  is  there  said,  and  this  repetition  according  to  Mark,  ver.  41, 
and  Luke,  48,  was  expressed  still  more  fully.  If,  at  ver.  6,  the 
offending  follows  as  the  direct  antithesis  to  the  receiving  (o? 
iav,  0?  B'av),  then  Christ  certainly  uses  the  two  expressions  such 
children  and  such  little  ones  as  believe  on  me,  synonymously.  Those 
commentators,  however,  on  the  other  hand,  who  exclude  children 
in  the  proper  sense,  are  not  less  erring  than  those  who  under- 
stand them  alone ;  for  the  full  and  true  sense  of  what  Christ 
thus  expresses  comprehends  both  in  one  :  such  as  are  truly  child- 
like children  are  in  reality  the  first  among  the  "  children  of  God," 
and  heirs  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  (otherwise  there  would  be 
no  ground  for  the  application,  Mark  x.  14).  Hence  also  Luke, 
ver.  48,  although  not  exactly,  yet  not  wrongly,  has  put  toOto  to 
iravhlov.  The  whole  of  what  is  said  in  vers.  5  and  6  as  also  vers. 
10,  11,  14  in  Matthew  is,  at  the  same  time,  rightly  to  be  under- 
stood and  used  of  the  little  child,  although  the  fides  implicita  of 
baptised  children  is  not,  as  some  have  confidently  maintained, 
to  be  demonstrated  from  ver.  6. 

One  child  receives  another,  and  makes  no  evil  distinctions,  of 
which  in  its  simplicity  it  knows  nothing;  humility  uprightly 
honours  its  equal ;  he  who  is  little  in  his  own  eyes  esteems  the 
little  one  beside  him  as  worthy  of  the  acknowledgement  that  he 
should  do  to  him  as  to  himself — consequently  as  worthy  of 
love.  To  take  up  or  receive  is  the  opposite  of  proud  rejection, 
of  unloving  neglect,  it  is  precisely  as  the  TrpoaXafiftdveadai, 
(Rom.  xv.  7),  to  love,  to  do  good  to,  as  we  also  say,  to  interest 
oneself  in  any  one  (literally  to  receive  any  one  to  oneself). 
Comp.  again  Mark  ix.  41,  where  the  doing  a  kindness  to  a 


404  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

disciple,  which  is  expressed  in  terms  taken  from  Matth.  x.  42, 
forms  the  same  antithesis  to  o-fcavSaXlQiv,  as  here  the  Se^ecr&u. 
The  eo^a-TO?,  Mark  ver.  35,  corresponds  to  the  iraiBtov  toiov- 
rov  ev  of  Matthew,  the  Siclkovo?  elvai  to  the  he^eaOai.  Now 
Christ  says,  promising  in  quite  a  general  form  :  Whoso  from 
his  own  humility  despises  not  one  of  my  children,  one  of  those 
who  believe  on  me,  be  he  even  the  lowest  and  least  whom  one 
might  easily  despise,  but  lovingly  receives  him  for  my  name's 
sake,  because  I  have  received  him,  and  because  I  will  that  he  be 
received  !  This  ivhoso  is  then  in  the  first  place  to  be  applied  to 
those  who  are  as  yet  standing  without,  to  whom,  however,  Christ 
Himself  now  comes  in  him  who  is  to  be  received,  and  receives 
them  also  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  inasmuch  as  he  is  received 
by  them.  A  spiritual  child  has  in  a  certain  sense  quite  as  much, 
nay  more,  that  is  fitted  to  awaken  favour  and  to  call  forth  love  than 
a  child  in  the  bodily  sense.  Whoso  is  capable  of  perceiving  this,  and 
acknowledging  it  in  action,  thereby  proves  himself  to  be  equally 
childlike  and  worthy  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Whoso  brings 
himself  down  to  the  lowly,  humbly  receives  the  humble,  becomes 
by  the  very  act  one  of  them  :  thus  the  door  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  stands  wide  open  for  those  who  love  (chap.  xxv.  40),  as, 
in  the  first  ocjtis  ovv  (ver.  4),  for  those  who  are  humble.  So  much 
the  more  does  it  follow  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  one  child  of  God 
should  receive  another,  that  one  who  is  already  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  should  receive  all  who  enter  by  the  right  door.  Since  every 
one  who  is  least  is  at  the  same  time  the  greatest,  why  should  not 
every  one  prove  his  humility  in  love  towards  every  other,  and 
hold  him  in  respect  as  in  the  place  of  Christ  ? 

Ver.  6.  Between  vers.  5  and  6  now  comes,  according  to  Mark 
and  Luke,  the  question  of  John  respecting  the  unknown  disciple 
who  did  not  as  yet  belong  to  the  fellowship  of  Christ's  followers 
who,  notwithstanding,  cast  out  devils  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and 
whom  the  apostles  had  forbidden  to  do  so.  To  this  then,  at  the 
same  time,  the  warning  of  Christ  refers  :  Whoso  shall  offend,  hurt, 
despise,  not  acknowledge,  one  of  those  who  believe  on  me,  in  his 
retired  and  separate  faith  as  a  beginner,  does  what  is  wrong.  This, 
however,  is  by  no  means  the  sole  reference,  but  only  one  which 
comes  unsought  for  in  addition  to  the  other.  Matthew  rightly 
lets  Christ  proceed,  without  giving  this  incident  as  the  occasion 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  6.  405 

of  His  words,  for  even  without  this  occasion  He  would  actuallyhave 
continued  His  discourse  in  the  connexion  of  the  principal  thoughts 
such  as  we  have  noticed  above.  And  even  although  precisely 
at  the  moment  no  such  offence  had  occurred,  Christ  might,  and 
must  indeed,  following  out  the  antithesis,  warn  against  it ;  but  an 
offence  had  actually  already  occurred,  inasmuch  as  (according  to 
Mark  ver.  35,  icfxovna-e  tol»?  SaEe/ca),  besides  the  little  child  whom 
he  called  to  him  (which  can  hardly  have  been  there  alone),  there 
were  others  standing  by,  other  disciples  also,  and  beginners  in  the 
faith,  with  respect  to  whom  the  warm  dispute  of  the  twelve  must 
certainly  have  caused  an  offence.  These  others,  over  whom  the 
disciples  exalted  themselves,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  set  a  bad 
example  before  them,  Christ  in  his  wisdom  indirectly  permits  to 
hear  his  whole  discourse  to  the  apostles,  and  he  compensates  for 
the  offence  by  placing  the  little  child  between  the  two  parties — 
this  is  to  be  carefully  observed,  in  order  again  to  mark  the  ten- 
derness of  his  manner  of  acting,  which  is  always  suitable  to  the 
occasion, 

We  are  to  offend  no  believer,  the  little  one  or  neophyte  all  the 
less,  that  he  is  the  most  easily  offended  and  hurt.  Whoso  does 
this — again,  first  of  all,  one  who  still  belongs  to  the  world  with- 
out, a  proud  and  unloving  one,  who  has  no  mind  to  acknow- 
ledge the  little  ones  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  who  are  yet 
the  great  ones.  In  so  far  this  offending  forms  the  contrast  to 
that  word  in  chap.  xvii.  27,  according  to  which  the  children 
of  God  are  not  to  offend  the  world.  If,  however,  Christ  meant 
this  alone,  then  he  would  again  have  added,  for  my  name's  sake, 
for  this  would  most  directly  express  the  ground  upon  which  the 
world  offends  those  who  believe.  But  the  words,  who  believe  on 
me,  which  are  added  instead,  include  the  still  heavier  offence  of 
those  who  themselves  believe,  and  who  ought,  therefore,  certainly 
to  acknowledge  the  faith  of  every  other  little  one,  to  despise  and 
offend  no  fellow-believer.  Wo  to  him  who  gives  offence  !  This 
Christ  expresses,  first  of  all, — before  he  once  and  again  literally 
utters  it, — by  a  proverb  which  describes  one  of  the  rarest  forms 
of  capital  punishment,  namely  the  KaTairovTi^eaOai,  or  being 
drowned,  as  it  was  practised  among  the  heathen,  and  hence  pro- 
bably had,  in  Galilee,  given  rise  to  a  proverb.  Christ  will  speak 
very  strongly  and  emphatically,  he  therefore  represents  the  pro  ver- 


406  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

bial  case  in  the  strongest  form  ;  not  merely  by  irekdyei  t>5?  OaXda- 
(777?  (ireXayo^  the  main  sea,  the  middle  where  the  sea  is  deep,  as 
opposed  to  the  shallower  water  near  the  shore,  Acts  xxvii.  4,  5), 
but  in  addition  to  this  by  the  very  concrete  expression  fivXos 
ovifcos.  According  to  the  ancient  custom,  which  extended  even 
to  more  modern  times,  (comp.  Wetstein  on  this)  a  weight — most 
naturally  a  stone  (Jer.  li.  63) — was  suspended  round  those  who 
were  thus  to  be  drowned,  in  order  to  ensure  their  sinking,  and  as 
a  mark  of  disgrace,  as  we  may  well  suppose,  it  was  hung  round 
the  neck  of  the  criminal.  Now  "  millstone"  is  farther  prover- 
bial for  a  very  heavy  stone  (Rev.  xviii.  21),  and  Christ  makes 
this  still  stronger  (perhaps  of  himself,  perhaps  the  proverb 
already  ran  thus)  by  the  very  special  form  /uvXos  ovacbs}  He 
will  say  then  that  such  a  fearful  and  ignominious  corporeal 
punishment  were  better  for  a  man — than  what  t  In  the  first 
place,  and  most  directly :  better  than  that  (or  before  that)  he 
should  do  this,  and  thus  become  himself  a  stone  of  stumbling  to 
his  brother !  And  thus  the  words  are  literally  repeated  in  Luke 
xvii.  2.  But  there,  as  also  here,  follows  the  further  sense  when- 
ever we  ask,  Why  so  ?  Better  than  the  wo  (ver.  7)  which  he 
incurs  by  such  conduct,  than  the  eternal  fire  (Vers.  8.  9) — better 
than  this,  any  merely  temporal  punishment  of  death  in  the 
deepest  water.*  O  thou  tender  love,  how  sharply  dost  thou 
speak  against  the  offending  of  thy  beloved  little  ones,  and  yet 
how  is  thy  holy  anger  against  those  who  are  destitute  of  love, 
itself  nothing  but  burning  love,  which  would  ward  off  sin  and  its 
condemnation ! 

For  the  rest,  it  is  self-evident,  which  we  would  here  further 
only  indicate  for  reflection,  that  all  that  is  said  in  vers.  3 — 6,  is, 

1  For,  which  is  a  secondary  thing,  neither  according  to  some  is 
the  nether  millstone  as  bearer,  nor,  according  to  others,  the  upper  as 
worker,  compared  to  an  6W.  That  would  be  strange,  does  not  admit 
of  being  proved,  nor  does  the  fact  of  its  being  precisely  the  upper  or 
the  nether  serve  to  strengthen  the  saying.  But  it  is  the  stone  of  a 
mill  turned  by  an  ass,  mola  asinaria,  as  we  distinguish  jumentarias 
molas  from  manuariis,  i.e.,  a  mill  driven  by  asses,  not  a  hand-mill,  in 
which  case  it  denotes  the  largest  and  heaviest  kind  of  stone. 

2  In  the  water  all  flesh  drowns,  but  the  fire  judges  the  spirits.  Thus 
might  the  flood,  by  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  save  the  spirits  from 
the  last  judgment.     (1  Pet.  iii.  19  j  iv.  1,  6). 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  7.  407 

with  great  compression  and  profound  penetration,  put  in  so 
decided  a  form,  because  Christ  everywhere  comprehends  in  the 
first  beginning  the  entire  consequence  and  development.  He 
who  only  begins  with  the  "being  converted  and  becoming" 
already  enters  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  must  then, 
indeed,  remain  in  it  and  go  on.  The  fzel^cov  fieyas  is  already 
attributed  to  the  first  self-abasement,  because  it  is  the  first  step 
on  the  right  way ;  but  in  it  the  whole  way  and  course  is  further 
included.  It  is  the  same  with  the  receiving  (ver.  5),  the  same 
with  the  offending  (ver.  6),  in  which  not  every  individual  act  of 
offence  (for  who  is  not  guilty  ot  this?)  but  the  continuing  in  such 
a  disposition,  receives  so  terible  a  threatening. 

Ver.  7.  Wo  to  the  world  I  This  now  expresses  the  open 
opposition  of  those  who  are  without,  and  unhappily  continue 
without,  to  all  who  are  in  the  kingdom,  as  fiiicpoi  and  fj,eyd\oi,  to 
whom,  in  vers.  8,  9,  the  ulhyn  applies.  Wo  to  the  world  because  of 
the  offences,  more  exactly  diro,  from  or  out  of  the  offences,  which 
it  gives  and  takes  out  of  its  own  evil  will ;  thus  does  it  prepare 
for  itself  the  wo  which  is  not  ordained  for  it.  That  offences 
come,  that  men  in  the  world  will  offend  one  another  and  be 
offended — avdy/cn  early,  Luke  xvii.  1,  dvevheKTov  iari,  this  is 
indeed,  alas !  inevitable,  as  the  world  and  man  is ;  this  is  not  so 
quickly  to  be  done  away  with,  and  that  for  a  twofold  reason. 
First,  in  respect  of  their  origin,  they  are  a  necessary  consequence 
of  the  natural  corruption  in  which  men  cannot,  indeed,  be  or  do 
otherwise  ;  so  long  as  the  world  remains  and  chooses  to  remain 
the  world,  it  cannot  be  otherwise  in  it.  But  secondly,  also,  in 
respect  of  their  end  or  design,  these  offences,  tolerated  by  the 
long-suffering  and  wisdom  of  God,  are  themselves  a  necessary 
means  also  to  the  coming  of  His  kingdom,  and  are  used  for  the 
trial  and  confirmation  of  believers,  as  those  who  continue  in  them 
must  serve  for  its  manifestation  and  its  development  for  the 
judgment — meanwhile,  also,  for  giving  the  salutary  experience 
of  sin  to  many  who  shall  afterwards  become  believers.  The 
fundamental  idea  is  the  same  as  at  1  Cor.  xi.  19.  God  would 
indeed  otherwise  suspend  the  freedom  of  men,  which  He  never 
does,  and  would  hinder  a  free  development  in  the  recovery  of  the* 
lost,  in  so  far  as  such  will  let  themselves  be  recovered  from  the 
world.     He  must  then,  instead  of  patiently  bearing  with  men, 


408  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

rather  at  once  drown  them  all,  which  in  the  absolute  sense 
would  not  really  be  better  for  the  individual  and  the  whole,  as 
was  affirmed  in  the  proverb  before  only  in  a  relative  sense.  There 
is  then  a  necessity  for  these  offences,  yet  not  an  absolute  neces- 
sity anywhere ;  for  the  world  can  also  receive  the  children  of 
Christ  in  His  name,  Christ  is  sent  to  it  Himself,  and  in  His  fol- 
lowers, for  blessing  and  not  for  wo.  Already,  before  pronounc- 
ing the  wo,  He  has  first  exclaimed :  Blessed  is  he  whosoever 
shall  not  be  offended  in  me  I1  Therefore  only  take  thou  no 
offence  in  a  world  full  of  offences,  and  thus  wilt  thou  be  helped. 
And  above  all  things,  give  none  thyself  as  much  as  in  thee  lies, 
i.e.,  no  evil,  culpable  offence;  for  that  the  truth  and  love  of 
Christ  shall  and  must  always  itself  be  the  greatest  offence  to  the 
world,  and  that  the  wo  arising  from  this  rests  only  upon  its  head, 
we  have  already  seen  at  chap.  xv.  12 — 14.  Wo  to  the  man 
through  whose  own  fault,  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  the 
offence  comes,  i.e.,  is  given  or  received  !  This  second  exclama- 
tion is  not  quite  the  same  as  the  first,  Wo  to  the  world  !  but 
again  (as  in  these  sayings  the  word  is  ever  capable  of  a  two-sided 
application)  makes  the  transition  to  those  who  no  longer  belong 
to  the  world,  and  yet  are  guilty  of  an  offence.  Wo  to  the  man, 
without  distinction  and  exception,  who,  as  man,  and  following  the 
bent  of  his  natural  corruption,  acts  in  the  same  way  as  the  evil 
world ;  for  all  that  offends,  whatsoever  it  be,  is  still  the  world, 
although  within  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  although  in  a  disciple 
of  Christ.  Wo  to  the  same  man  when,  instead  of  a  pure  turning 
from  such  an  offence,  he  continues  and  goes  on  in  it ;  the  wo  of 
the  offence  shall  remain  upon  his  head  notwithstanding  of  the 
Divine  counsel,  according  to  which  offences  are  permitted  and  in 
so  far  ordained.  This  is  expressed  here  precisely  as  it  is  after- 
wards at  chap.  xxvi.  24,  and  may  even  here  have  been  intended  to 
carry  a  secret  hint  and  terror  to  the  conscience  of  Judas.  Wo 
to  the  man,  even  were  he  an  apostle,  he  is  yet  himself  an  offence 
and  a  devil  among  the  twelve.  Perhaps,  as  was  the  case  at  other 
times,  as  at  the  anointing  of  Christ  by  the  woman  in  Bethany, 

,  *  Rud.  Matthai  says  here  quite  correctly :  The  wo  is  the  conse- 
quence not  of  the  fact  that  offences  must  come,  but  that  they  are  come, 
the  consequence  not  of  the  necessity  but  the  actuality  of  offences.  The 
second  clause  confirms  not  the  wo,  but  the  offences  of  the  first  clause. 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  8,  9.  409 

this  Judas  may  even  have  been  the  originator,  or  at  least  the 
promoter,  of  the  evil  thoughts  connected  with  this  unhappy  dis- 
pute among  the  disciples.  This,  however,  is  only  conjecture 
and  uncertain ;  with  more  certainty  we  now  apply  the  word  of 
Christ  with  most  perfect  justice  to  another  :  Wo  to  the  fyCkoirpw- 
revcov  in  the  Church,  the  pseudo-Peter  and  haughty  servus  servo- 
rum  Dei,  who  with  false  key  shuts  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
offends  and  corrupts  the  faithful,  nay,  builds  up  a  world  full  of 
offences  (which  yet  is  held  to  be  the  true  church)  as  the  Babylon 
which  is  afterwards  to  be  thrown  down  as  a  millstone  is  cast  into 
the  sea!  (Rev.  xviii.  21). 

Ver.  8,  9.  If  Christ,  who  cites  the  word  of  God  in  the  Old 
Testament  Scripture,  puts  his  own  new  word  on  a  level  of  au-^ 
thority  with  it,  seals  this  with.  "Verily  I  say  unto  you,"  sum- 
mons his  contemporaries,  and  not  these  alone,  to  hear,  whosoever 
among  them  has  ears — who  assures  us  that  His  words  shall  sur- 
vive heaven  and  earth,  and  declares  that  the  office  of  the  future 
Comforter,  who  is  to  reprove  the  world  and  to  lead  believers  into 
all  truth,  is  to  interpret  His  words,  and  to  bring  them  to  the 
understanding — if  Christ,  who,  as  the  risen  one,  Himself  brings 
to  the  remembrance  of  His  disciples  the  words  which  he  spake 
when  He  was  yet  with  them,  so  that  thereby  they  begin  now  to 
understand  these  words  and  the  Scripture — if  He  had  not  also 
before  this  at  times  cited  and  repeated  His  own  words,  there 
would  be  wanting  what  is  more  appropriate  to  Him — the  highest 
Prophet,  over  whom  the  Father  Himself  cites  the  prophecy 
"  Him  shall  ye  hear," — than  to  the  former  prophets  who  already 
did  the  same.  But  He  did  this,  and  so  we  find  it  in  the  Scrip- 
ture, in  which  His  words  are  now  by  the  Spirit  embodied.  And 
when  He  repeats  the  same  sayings  in  a  different  connexion,  He 
will  thereby  teach  those  who  hear  and  who  interpret  them,  not 
merely  that  we  have  not  yet  enough  heard  and  understood  them, 
but  also  that  their  deep-searching  import  has  been  expressed, 
and  finds  its  application  in  more  than  one  immediate  connexion. 
Thus  He  cites  here  a  word  which  He  had  already  spoken  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  (chap.  v.  29,  30),  where  we  have  inter- 
preted it.  There,  as  here,  to  offend  means  to  give  occasion  to  « 
sin,  to  tempt ;  there  it  was  the  adulterous  lust  of  the  flesh  that 
was  immediately  spoken  of,  here  it  is  every  incentive  to  sin  in 


410  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

general  that  is  meant,  and  is  comprehended  in  the  great  sum- 
total  of  all  the  offences  in  the  world  that  come  from  men,  or 
rather  the  inner  offence,  which  conies  to  every  one  from  his  own 
flesh,  is  disclosed  as  their  original  ground  and  root,  which  is  to 
be  cut  away.  Wouldst  thou  not  give  offence  without,  so  that 
the  wo  may  not  fall  upon  thee  I  Guard  then  against  the  offence 
within,  and  that  with  all  severity  !  Slay  the  old  man,  from 
which  it  comes,  with  the  salutary  death  that  issues  in  life.  In 
the  words  "  thy  hand  or  foot,"  Christ  now  again  turns  from 
the  world  to  His  disciples,  and  addresses  every  one  who  either  is 
such  or  would  like  to  become  such;  for  only  in  reference  to  them 
does  he  use  the  familiar  and  confidential  "  thou"  since  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount, others  He  addresses  invariably  by  "you."  (He 
could  not  say,  for  example,  John  viii.  24  :  If  thou  believest  not, 
thou  shalt  die  in  thy  sins).  In  addition  to  this,  the  fact  that  I 
am  offended  by  my  own  members,  by  myself,  here  presupposes 
the  internal  conflict  of  the  old  man  with  the  new ;  the  world 
knows  not  and  feels  not  this,  he  who  feels  it  is  already  no  longer 
of  the  world.  And  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  the  offending  world 
is  still  in  him,  and  to  overcome  it  there,  is  not  a  thing  that  calls 
for  soft  measures.  Observe  here  the  great  difference  between 
being  as  a  child  in  the  natural  and  in  the  spiritual  sense,  the  man- 
ful struggle  implied  in  the  constant  turning  so  as  to  become  as 
children !  Children  play  in  innocent  delight  with  themselves, 
with  their  hands  and  feet,  but  a  spiritual  child,  because  he  is 
always  in  the  process  of  becoming  (i.e.,  of  ceasing  to  be),  cuts 
them  off  and  plucks  them  out.  In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
Christ,  following  the  order  according  to  which  there  is  first  the 
looking  upon  with  desire,  and  then  the  lusting  to  commit  the 
deed,  puts  the  eye  before  the  hand;  now,  looking  still  deeper 
into  the  matter,  He  inverts  this  order  because  the  offence  ever 
arises  anew,  and,  even  after  the  cutting  off  of  hand  and  foot  (which 
latter  is  here  added  by  way  of  amplification),  the  eye  yet  comes 
after.  It  might,  so  to  speak,  be  thought  that  the  acting  and 
walking  being  suppressed,  the  secret  desire  is  now  harmless ; 
but  if  thou  art  not  on  thy  guard  against  this,  it  will  soon  get 
hand  and  foot  for  itself  again.  The  eye  must  not  be  spared,  be- 
cause the  members  are  cut  off!  Here  stands  the  emphatic  word, 
It  is  better  for  thee  !  (/ca\6v  crot,  another  expression  for  avfjL<pepet, 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  10.  411 

yap  vol,  chap.  5)  which  corresponds  to  the  avfi^ipei  before,  ver. 
6 ;  comp.  the  closer  connexion  (Mark  ix.  42,  43).  On  the  at 
once  sharply  ironical  and  severely  rebuking  sense  in  which  the 
entering  into  life  as  a  cripple  is  to  be  understood,  we  have  already 
spoken  at  the  other  place  where  it  occurs ;  here  the  elaekOelv  is 
quite  parallel  to  the  first  eurekdelv  efc  rrjv  ftaaikelav  from 
which  the  discourse  set  out.  We  have  already  given  our  opinion 
also  as  to  the  further  appliciation  of  this  to  the  casting  away  of 
all  that  might  be  near  and  dear  to  us,  as  hand  or  eye.  whenever 
it  offends  us ;  here  it  is  again  evident  that  this  cannot  be  the 
most  immediate,  or  the  sole  meaning,  but,  most  properly,  the 
internal  offence  in  ourselves  stands  opposed  to  every  offence  of 
an  outward  kind.  And  yet  it  is  not  to  be  connected  merely 
with  incitements  to  sin  against  the  law  of  love  and  truth,  with 
anger,  lust,  and  lies  in  the  grosser  sense,  but  the  flesh  which  is 
to  be  slain  must  be  detected  and  pursued,  even  in  those  spiritual 
forms  which  it  assumes;  the  eye  of  criticism  and  asceticism 
must  also  be  plucked  out,  and  the  hand  of  industrious  zeal  for 
public  good,  and  the  foot  of  all  our  own  ways  of  virtue,  must  be 
cut  off.  Or,  to  speak  with  Lange,  also  the  talents  of  penetration 
— progress — energy. 

Finally,  observe  that  here  Christ  says  not  merely  eh  rrjv 
<yeevvav  rov  7ri/po?,  instead  of  et?  yeevvav  (chap,  v.)  but  now,  for  the 
first  time  efc  to  irvp  to  alooviov,  into  the  eternal  fire — which  predi- 
cate is  not  connected  with  the  word  at  chap.  xiii.  42.  Here  it 
is  already  as  at  chap.  xxv.  41,  and  it  is  a  return  to  the  aa^earov 
of  the  Baptist  (chap.  iii.  12),  which  is  therefore,  in  Mark  ix.  put 
in  place  of  the  expression  here  used,  and  to  which  are  added  the 
explanatory  words  concerning  the  unquenchable  fire  here  omit- 
ted by  Matthew,  and  concerning  the  salutary  salt  of  the  other 
fire,  which  is  not  yet  the  unquenchable,  the  eternal,  fire  in  the 
proper  sense  ;  of  which  we  shall  speak  when  we  come  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  Mark. 

Ver  10.  We  know  who  these  little  ones  are  :  not  merely  chil- 
dren, but  also  such  as  are  childlike,  in  humility  and  weakness — 
believers  on  Him  :  although  it  is  not  again  exclusively  these 
latter,  but,  in  a  certain  measure,  actual  children  also  to  whom 
they  are  compared,  and  beside  whom  they  are  placed.  The 
child  set  in  the  midst  stands  always  there,  although  it  is  only  by 
carrying  out  the  fundamental  view  of  the  whole  subject,  that  the 


412  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

discourse  can  further  apply  to  it.  The  offending  proceeds  from 
a  despising  and  proud  overlooking;  therefore,  in  the  words, 
"  Take  heed"  Christ  most  directly  addresses  the  disciples  who 
wished  to  be  the  greater.  But  the  plural,  which  again  occurs 
after  the  singular,  includes  the  world  along  with  the  disciples, 
as  both  were  comprehended  together  since  ver.  7.  What  all- 
embracing  transitions  in  the  incomparable  discourse  of  Christ ! 
From  one  child  which  must  preach  humility  to  the  apostles,  He 
passes  to  the  entire  great  world  full  of  offences,  and  the  wo  pro- 
ceeding therefrom  !  From  the  eternal  fire  of  hell,  to  the  angels 
in  heaven  before  the  face  and  throne  of  God  !  From  the  sharp- 
est wo  back  to  the  tenderest  love,  which  will  have  no  human 
child  to  be  despised !  Before  Christ  Cully  expresses  the  ground- 
idea  of  this  second  part  of  his  discourse,  namely,  that  the  greatness 
which  is  graciously  ascribed  to  the  little  ones  is  founded  on  his 
redeeming  grace,  according  to  the  Father's  good  pleasure,  he 
first  prepares  the  way  for  this,  by  representing  the  angels1  as  an 
intermediate  rank  between  God  and  man,  related  to  both.  The 
whole  doctrine  of  Scripture  concerning  angels  represents  them 
thus :  they  are  indeed  above  us  in  respect  of  our  present 
position;  but  yet  in  respect  of  our  calling  to  the  glory  of 
Christ,  and  renewal  after  the  image  of  God,  they  serve  us. 
Already  their  name,  angels  or  messengers,  represents  these 
heavenly  spirits  as  united  to  the  earth  and  us.  So  highly 
is  man  honoured  before  God,  so  highly  honoured  is  every 
individual  of  these  little  ones!  The  world  as  such  enjoys 
indeed,  somewhat,  the  protection  and  service  of  the  angels,  but 
only  remotely  and  indirectly,  not  in  the  personal  appropriation 
which  is  here  denoted  by  their  angels.  This  avrwv,  standing  to- 
gether with  et>o?,  has  certainly  a  specializing  force,  and  does  not 
again  merge  into  an  absorbing  generality,  the  prominence  given 
to  every  individual ;  it  points  therefore,  indeed,  although  only  by 
way  of  allusion,  to  special  guardian-angels  of  persons,  in  regard 
to  which  the  unanimous  doctrine  of  the  Church  Fathers2  had  no 

i  Out  of  which  Lange,  against  all  certainty  of  the  letter,  here  frames 
the  "  life-images,  light-images,  "  genii "  of  men  !  Only,  at  Acts  xii. 
15  "  his  angel,"  might,  according  to  the  popular  belief,  signify  some- 
thing similar,  the  "announcement"  or  "appearance"  of  Peter. 

2  See  the  citation  of  passages  in  J.  F.  V.  Meyer's  Blatter  fiir  hohere 
Wahrheit  i.  183— in  part    after  Fr.  Schmidt's    treatise  in  Illgen's 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  10.  413 

doubt,  since  Christ  had  said  "  I  say  unto  you."  Yet  not  so  as 
that  every  man  as  such  has  his  guardian-angel,  and  keeps  him  all 
his  life  long  ;  this  is  a  privilege  of  those  little  ones,  i.e.,  as  well  of 
the  natural  as  the  spiritual  children,  inasmuch  as  the  former, before 
the  outbreak  of  corruption,  the  latter  after  this,  as  being  on  the 
way  to  blessedness,  are  capable  of  such  guidance,  and  (by  their 
humility)  are  worthy  of  it.  Every  child  has  his  angel  until  sin 
drives  him  out,  as  we  may  yet  trace  it  in  the  reflection  of  the 
angelic  appearance  on  the  countenance  and  in  the  form  of  chil- 
dren ;  children  as  such  belong  as  yet  to  the  "children  of  God/' 
until  the  offence  from  within  and  without  causes  them  to  be  lost. 
Every  believer  again  who  may  be  saved  through  the  grace  of 
redemption  gets  as  a  new  spiritual  child,  his  angel  again,  and  es- 
pecially needs  him  in  his  weakness  as  a  beginner  now  for  protec- 
tion and  monitions  of  a  deeper  kind,  than  the  weak,  foolish  chil- 
dren in  bodily  danger.  We  forget  the  angels  far  too  much 
although  Christ  reminds  us  of  them  in  the  daily  prayer  (in  the 
third  petition),  we  speak  in  particular  to  our  children  far  too  little 
about  their  angels,  and  we  ourselves  as  believers  do  not  think 
enough  of  ours.  This  is  at  the  same  time  a  sinful  despising  of 
these  exalted  servants  of  the  Most  High,  who  yet  so  faithfully 
stoop  down  to  us ;  it  is  also  a  despising  of  Him  who  sends  them. 
The  angels  are  in  heaven,  and  yet  occupied  at  the  same  time  in 
service  and  business  on  earth  about  their  wards,  for  the  heaven  is 
not  closed  in  space  over  the  earth,  but  is  ever  open  to  us  in 
everything  which  it  sends ;  where  the  angels  of  God  go  and 
stand,  there  also  is  heaven,  and  the  face  of  God,  which  they  at 
all  times,  Siawavros,  without  interruption  from  any  thing  else, 
behold.  I  cannot  at  all  find  in  this  expression,  as  the  most  of  com- 
mentators do,  a  special  designation  "  of  distinguished  throne 
angels,"  (according  to  the  analogy  of  those  who  stood  nearest  to 
the  Oriental  kings,  Esth.  i.  4,  comp.  elsewhere,  Tob  xii.  15, 
which  I  do  not  despise  as  apocryphal,  for  see  Luke  i.  19:  if 
such  an  high  angel  were  given  to  every  little  one,  where  then 
would  remain  the  rest,  and  how  could  this  be  demonstrated  tl 

Denkschrift,  with  an  interesting  supplement  from  the  occulta  philosophia 
of  Corn.  Agrippa. 

1  The  sainted  v.  Meyer  also  certified  to  mo  that  he  did  not  mean  his 
note  (which  I  cannot  but  so  understand)  to  be  understood  of  special 
angels  of  a  higher  class. 


414  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

But  it  is  a  general  designation  of  these  pure  spirits,  who  are  not 
like  men  separated  from  God ;  it  signifies  that  even  those  who 
always  and  everywhere  behold  the  face  of  God,  yet  at  the  same- 
time,  like  the  Father  himself,  look  lovingly  on  the  children  and 
little  ones.  (Ps.  cxiii.  5,  6.)  So  much  only  may  lie  in  the  ex- 
pression which  connects  the  high  rank  and  glory  of  the  servants 
precisely  with  the  littleness  of  those  who  are  served,  namely 
that  the  less,  and  the  more  needful  of  help,  the  protege  is,  so  much 
the  mightier  is  the  protector  who  is  given  to  him.  Although  again 
it  is  not  this  alone  that  can  determine  the  selection  and  ar- 
rangement in  these  things,  which  a  vail  hides  from  our  eyes, 
for  then  we  might  scarcely  be  mistaken  if  we  supposed  that 
Gabriel  was  the  guardian  angel  of  the  child  Jesus.  We  do  not 
see  all  this,  and  yet  Christ  calls  to  us  in  an  awakening  voice,  See 
to  it !  Let  the  eye  of  faith  be  thoroughly  open  for  what  I  say 
unto  you  !  Wherever  there  is  a  child  of  God  (in  every  sense), 
there  the  heaven  is  opened  and  let  down  to  it,  there  is  Bethel. 
Enter  in,  offend  not  thyself  and  the  child,  but  go  in,  and  share  in 
the  grace.  This  grace,  however,  is  that  which  comes  from  the 
Father  through  the  one  only  Son  of  Man.  Therefore  he  does  not 
say  here  at  first :  the  face  of  their  Father  (namely,  the  Father  of 
the  little  ones,  since  for  the  angels,  God  is  certainly  not  Father) 
but  of  my  Father ! 

Ver.  11.  For, — not  because  the  children  of  men  have  deserved 
it,  nor  because  the  children,  before  the  outbreak  of  corruption, 
did  already  carry  it  within  them,  and  could  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  by  their  own  actual  innocence.  O  no !  They 
are  all  the  lost,  but  I  am  come  to  save  and  to  bless  the  lost. 
(Luke  xix.  10).  What  an  immeasurable  word  again  so  simply 
spoken  !  There  stands  the  ladder  of  Jacob  before  our  eyes  :  be- 
low are  the  little  ones,  then  their  angels,  then  the  heavenly  Son  of 
Man,  he  who  comes  as  the  original  angel  from  the  presence  and 
from  the  bosom  of  the  Father, — and  then  above  him  (ver.  14)  the 
Father  Himself,  and  His  good  pleasure. 

Vers.  12 — 14.  We  will  not  now  enter  particularly  into  this 
parable,  but  reserve  it  for  Luke  xv.,  where,  with  strengthened 
repetition,  it  opens  up  the  grand  profound  connexion  of  a  series  of 
parables.  Instead  of  iv  ry  eprj/jLO)  there,  we  have  here  eirl  ra 
6p7],  which  certainly  at  first  sight  appears  to  be  the  same,  and 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  12 — 14.  415 

yet  is  not  so.  There  eprj/nos  yXTft  *s  not  so  raucn  *ne  desert 
where  they  have  gone  astray,  as  the  pasturage,  the  heath,where 
the  ninety  and  nine  graze,  well  cared  for  ;  here,  however,  Christ 
alludes  to  such  passages  as  Jer.  1.  6 ;  Is.  xxxiv.  6,  11,  12,  here 
therefore,  as  appears  also  grammatically,  the  eirl  ra  oprj  is  to  be 
construed  with  iropevOels,  not  with  the  foregoing  a</>e/?.  Oh  how 
faithfully  and  earnestly  does  this  love  of  the  Shepherd  seek,  and 
yet  it  finds  not  every  lost  one  ;  hence  the  joy  even  of  the  Son  of 
God  himself  upon  every  discovery — "  as  if  he  had  found  a  new 
heaven."  Bengel  rightly  says  on  the  iav  ryevrjrat  evpeiv,  what 
is  warranted  by  the  expression  :  Inventio  peccatoris  est  coram 
oculis  Dei  quiddam  quasi  contingens  ;  ergo  gratia  non  est  irresisti- 
bilis.  We  do  not  shrink  even  from  leaving  out  the  quasi,  which  a 
feeling  of  reverence  has  dictated.  For  if  the  finding  comes  alto- 
gether and  alone  from  the  power  of  God,  why  then  does  it  not 
take  place  at  once,  but  only  after  a  long  previous  seeking  through 
the  entire  history  of  man  and  of  the  world  ?  The  faithfulness  of 
the  seeking  love  of  Christ  is,  however,  in  such  a  parable,  held  up 
at  the  same  time  before  his  disciples  as  an  admonition  to  follow 
his  example  ;  this  lies  in  the  question  which  stands  before :  What 
think  ye  f  Ye  proud  ones,  who  are  so  ready  to  despise  and 
offend  the  little  ones  ?  The  viraye  (ver.  15)  is  to  be  done  in  the 
sense  of  the  iropevOefc  (ver.  12),  which  comes  into  finer  promi- 
nence when,  as  in  our  language,  the  same  rendering  can  be  given 
to  both  words :  Go  with  the  same  faithfulness  of  love  as  thy 
Master  goes  after  the  lost  one  !  Herein  is  given,  at  the  same 
time,  the  connecting  link  between  the  third  principal  part  which 
follows  at  ver.  15,  and  the  second;  the  second  concludes  at  ver. 
14  with  what  it  began,  inasmuch  as  the  Father  in  heaven  wills  not 
that  one  of  these  little  ones  be  lost  (ver.  10),  therefore  also  that  they 
be  not  offended  by  you.  Although  by  the  shepherd  in  the  par- 
able is  certainly  meant  the  Son  (as  appears  more  prominently  in 
Luke  xv.),  yet  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  Christ  here  uses  another 
ovtcos  for  explanation,  and  thus  rises  higher.  Not :  so  am  I,  and 
do  I — bat:  so  is  the  love  of  the  Father,  of  course  in  the  Son.  "Oh 
how  very  different  is  the  great  God  from  us  little  men !  For  we 
little  men  in  our  pride  look  on  what  is  great,  but  the  great  God 
in  His  compassion  looks  on  what  is  little,  and  is  great  in  the 
little."     (Hofacker).     Now  also  when  the  children  of  God  are 


41 G  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

viewed  in  common,  Christ  says  significantly  your  Father  (as  at 
ver.  10,  my  Father) — He  will  thereby  at  the  same  time  say :  Ye 
other  children  of  God,  who  are  therefore  to  resemble  your  Father 
in  loving  the  little  ones.1  It  is  not  the  will  or  the  good  pleasure 
literally  before  the  holy  wisdom,  before  the  graciously  shining 
face  of  the  Father  (niJT  *0dS  Vi^Tl)  tnat  one  should  be  lost. 
This  mode  of  expression  as  a  whole  (which  Peter  has  well  pre- 
served 2  Pet.  iii.  9),  is  taken  from  Is.  xviii.  23,  xxxiii.  11,  and 
the  verily  I  say  unto  you  (ver.  13),  already  corresponded  to  the 
oath  of  Jehovah  with  Himself  in  that  passage.  Here  a  sermon 
is  preached  to  us  on  the  worth  of  every  single  human  soul 
before  God,  here  we  are  comforted  against  what  the  appearance 
of  things  in  the  world  might  otherwise  suggest,  namely,  that  the 
lost  one  is  left  to  wander  about  unsought  and  forgotten.  We 
are  to  believe  that  the  Father  forgets  no  one,  but  in  this  faith  we 
are  also  diligently  to  exercise  the  love  that  seeks  along  with  Him. 
Ver  15 — 17.  The  full  and  clear  understanding  of  this  entire 
passage  is  only  to  be  obtained  from  the  connexion  with  the  fore- 
going, as  we  have  traced  it  above.  Christ  speaks  here  for  the 
future  of  His  church,  quite  as  naturally  and  warrantably  as  (at 
chap,  x.),  he  connected  the  prophetic  glance  into  the  future  with 
the  sending  out  of  the  disciples.  His  starting-point,  indeed,  was 
the  immediate  present,  where  the  warning  applies  still  to  the 
disciples :  otherwise,  even  ye  are  not  at  all  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  !  How  they  must  become  children  in  spirit,  and  only  as 
such  little  ones,  are  to  possess  in  humility,  and  to  manifest  in 
love,  the  true  greatness  which  belongs  to  them  in  common  with 
every  other  little  one — of  this  He  has  already  plainly  spoken. 
How  such  love  receives,  how  it  does  not  offend,  how  it  does  not 
despise  or  neglect  any  one  who,  according  to  the  will  of  the 
Father,  is  redeemed  by  the  Son — all  this  has  already  been 
spoken  of,  in  so  far  as  it  must  follow  from  the  designation  and 
confirmation  of  the  true  greatness  of  the  disciples.  But  it  yet 
remains  now  specially  to  show  how  the  love  that  proceeds  from 
the  seeking  shepherd-love  of  God,  and  is  implanted  by  the 

1  Which  Alford  has  now  expressed  still  more  pointedly  thus  :  When 
he  assures  of  the  dignity  of  the  little  ones  it  is  "  My  Father," — when 
he  gives  the  motive  for  the  conduct  of  Christians,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  "  your  Father." 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  15 — 17.  417 

heavenly  Father  in  all  His  children  in  the  new  birth  would  ex- 
press itself  in  future,  when  once  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was 
founded  upon  earth  and  set  in  order;  how  the  greatness  and 
dignity  of  every  individual  in  whom  Christ  is,  and  lives,  and 
loves,  in  order  to  save  him  and  through  him  others,  shall  then 
be  joined  together  into  compact  unity  as  a  power  of  his  church, 
which  it  exercises  so  as  to  prevent  the  offence  of  sin  (which  will 
still  have  a  place  in  the  midst  of  it),  as  strongly  as  with  loving 
forgiveness  it  bears  such  offence.  Hitherto  the  idea  has  occupied 
the  foreground  that  love,  as  it  gives  no  offence  itself  outwardly, 
and,  moreover,  slays  the  offence  within  itself,  first  of  all  takes  no 
offence  from  the  weakness  and  sin  of  a  brother,  but  loves  him  in 
the  forgiving  and  reconciling  love  of  the  Father's  will ;  now, 
however,  the  other  side  must  follow, — 'Seeing  that  yet  all  sin  is 
and  remains  an  offence, — namely,  that  this  love,  notwithstanding, 
cannot  against  the  truth  call  evil  good,  cannot  in  particular  softly 
spare  the  brother  who  lays  claim  to  the  name  of  Christ,  but  must 
rebuke  him  with  all  the  severity  of  seeking  love,  until  he  is  again 
found,  and  restored  from  the  error  of  his  ways.  Hitherto  it  was  : 
Sin  not  thou  against  thy  brother  and  partner  with  thee  in  redemp- 
tion !  Now  it  is  naturally  the  other  case  :  But  if  thy  brother  sin 
against  thee — how  then  art  thou  to  prove  the  love  as  a  holy 
power  given  to  thee  as  a  member  of  the  great  society  consisting 
of  all  who  believe  in  me?  In  this  way  everything  perfectly 
harmonizes,  and  only  thus  can  we  rightly  understand  how  Christ 
here  further  supplements  what  was  already  said  (at  chap,  xvi.) 
respecting  His  Church,  and  lays  down  a  fundamental  principle  for 
its  guidance  in  regard  to  offences  in  the  midst  of  it.  Every 
true  theory  respecting  church  discipline  finds  here  its  twofold 
and  yet  single  principle,  as  it  were  the  formal  and  the  material : 
to  remove  the  offence  in  truth,  to  seek  the  lost  one  in  love  (also 
by  rebuke.) 

Brotherly  rebuke  is  already,  (Lev.  xix.  17, 18),  declared  to  be  a 
duty  of  love,  because  we  are  to  love  our  neighbour  as  ourselves. 
As  I  judge  my  own  sin  in  myself  in  order  to  my  sanctification 
before  God,  so  also  am  I  to  judge  that  of  others,  in  order  that 
their  guilt  may  not  become  mine  through  neglect  of  this  service 
of  love.  (The  complement  and  extension  of  what  is  said  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  Matth.  vii.  1 — 5.)  Frank  rebuke,  ukn- 
0ev€iv  iv  a^dirrj,  is  opposed  to  the  cherishing  of  hatred  or  con- 
VOL.  II*.  2d 


41g  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

tempt  in  the  heart,  and  also  to  that  grosser  species  of  falsehood 
in  which  one  makes  an  evil  report  of  his  neighbour  behind  his 
back.  Prov.  xxvii.  5,  6;  Sir.  xix.  13—19:  Speak,  therefore, 
to  thy  neighbour,  &c,  Sir.  xx.  2.  Let  brotherly  rebuke  first 
of  all  be  real  rebuke,  let  it  be,  therefore,  honest  and  true  :  Thou 
hast  sinned !  But  then  and  therein  let  it  be  also  brotherly, 
speaking  the  truth  in  love,  in  order  to  recovery.  Not :  Judge 
him,  nor  even  chide  him — but  eXeygov  avrov,  convince,  convict 
him  of  his  sin,  help  him  to  repent,  beseech  him  to  do  so  with  all 
the  power  of  the  reconciling  love  of  God  which  has  already 
forgiven  while  it  rebukes,  and  which  would  fain  bring  forgiveness 
to  him.  (Luke  xvii.  3—4.)  Strive  to  gain  thy  brother,  to  help 
him  again  into  the  right  way  (to  restore  him  from  his  fault,  Gal.  vi. 
1)  :  then  will  be  fulfilled  either  at  once  Ps.  cxli.  5  ;  Prov.  xxv.  12, 
at  least  afterwards  Prov.  xxviii.  23,  or— thou  hast,  on  thy  part, 
fulfilled  thy  duty  and  shalt  not  incur  sin  on  his  account.  From 
this  follows  further,  quite  as  naturally,  that  brotherly  rebuke, 
mindful  of  human  weakness,  in  order  lovingly  and  sparingly 
to  deal  with  one  who  in  his  pride  will  be  easily  provoked  and 
offended,  by  no  means  goes,all  at  once  to  him  armed  with  the 
full  public  power,  but  begins  quietly  and  gently  before  God,  and 
only  in  the  event  of  being  unsuccessful,  rises  by  gradual  steps  to 
ever  increasing  severity. 

In  denoting  these  steps  for  the  future  praxis  of  His  Church, 
Christ  can  now  naturally,  as  He  is  ever  ready  to  do,  connect  what 
he  says  with  the  practice  already  enjoined1  and  in  use  in  Israel, 
as  in  general  afterwards,  in  the  entire  formation  and  constitution 
of  the  Apostolic  Church,  the  Spirit  transferred  all  the  pure  and 
available  elements  of  the  synagogue.  If  thy  brother  sin  against 
thee  :  this  certainly  limits  my  duty  and  my  right  to  rebuke  him, 
in  the  first  place,  to  those  more  immediate  cases  in  which  I 
might  rather  be  tempted  to  be  angry  with  him,  and  either  pri- 
vately or  publicly  to  bring  unloving  complaints  against  him; 
still  it  would  be  very  wrong  to  understand  all  that  is  here  said 
only  "  of  personal  grievances  and  offences."2     Eather,  in  the  fur- 

1  Almost  precisely  as  here  stands  the  rule  for  ex.  in  Mischar  hap- 
peninim  Buxtorf.  Florileg.  hebr.  p.  297. 

2  As  the  Lutheran  Franoke  (Rudelb.  Zeitschrift  1849-4),  does,  and 
now  in  order  to  refine  away  everything  that  goes  against  his  Luthe- 
ranism,  finds  in  the  iKKkijaia  here  only  a  "  court  of  arbitration." 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  15—17.  419 

ther  application,  nay  in  the  proper  and  deeper  sense  of  this,  it 
is  by  no  means  to  be  excluded  that  I,  as  a  child  and  member 
of  the  Church,  feel  myself  to  be  injured  by  every  sin  of  a  brother, 
and  that  in  love  to  him  I  can  and  ought  to  receive  and  treat 
every  sin  of  his,  that  becomes  known  to  me,  as  committed  against 
me.  The  genuine  brother  says  then  to  his  brother :  Do  not  in- 
jure me  by  acting  thus  !  What  thou  hast  done  has  grieved  me  ! 
Go  (v7ray6  as  at  chap.  v.  24),  wait  not  till  he  comes,  but  go 
first  in  a  friendly  and  zealous  spirit  to  him.  Rebuke  him  in  the 
truth  indeed,  yet  also  in  humility  and  love  as  an  unselfish  child 
of  God,  taking  care  that  the  beam  is  not  in  thine  own  eye  when 
thou  wilt  take  the  splinter  out  of  his ;  not  so  much  thou,  in  thine 
own  power,  as  in  the  name  and  authority  of  Him  in  whose  sight 
ye  are  brethren,  as  a  serving  member  of  the  society  of  all  the 
brethren.  Between  thee  and  him  alone,1  without  the  presence  of 
any  others  to  disturb  you,  whose  presence  might  only  hinder  the 
first  impression  of  love  by  stirring  up  his  pride ;  yet  ye  are  not 
alone,  for  /am  present  when  anything  of  this  kind  is  being  trans- 
acted between  two  in  my  name  (ver.  20) — your  secret  meeting  is 
already  a  church,  thy  rebuke  is  already  the  first  exercise  of  the 
power  which  is  given  to  it  in  all  its  members  (ver.  18).  If 
happily — and  thou  shouldst  always  hope  for  such  a  result  with 
the  "love  that  hopeth  all  things" — he  shall  hear  thee,  then  hast 
thou  gained  thy  brother,  gained  him  for  God  (ver.  14 :  1  Cor.  ix. 
19),  for  the  church  as  a  brother,  for  thyself  as  thy  brother !  But 
if  not,  do  not  all  at  once  give  him  up  because  thy  wisdom  and 
love  have  accomplished  nothing,  do  not  rush  to  the  conclusion : 
He  hears  not  and  will  not  hear,  because  he  has  not  heard  me  ! 
Take  with  thee  one  or  two,  of  course  not  the  first  best,  but  such 
as  are  nearest  as  regards  their  knowledge  of  the  case  and  love  to 
you  both  ;  such  as  in  a  brotherly  spirit  can  say  with  you :  Thou 
hast  sinned  before  us  and  against  us — whom  he  can  also  honour 
as  brethren,  if  he  will  honour  any  one.  This  already  lies  first  of 
all  in  the  expression  witnesses  :  who  can  witness  his  sin  against 
him  in  this  interview  which  has  now  more  formally  constituted 

1  For  with  Fritzsche  violently  to  connect  fiovov  with  what  follows, 
contrary  to  all  usage  of  the  New  Testament,  is  not  only  superfluous, 
but  disturbs  the  simple  emphasis  of  the  legislation  as  denoting  the  suc- 
cessive steps. 


420  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

itself  into  a  court  for  deciding  a  question  of  peace.  At  the  same 
time,  however,  and  if  there  should  be  no  farther  witnesses  of  his 
sin,  they  are  at  least  witnesses  of  his  conduct  under  the  rebuke, 
and  in  the  case  of  further  disobedience,  witnesses  against  him 
before  the  Church.  This  is  more  than  the  alone  of  the  first  step, 
but  it  is  not  yet  the  publicity  which  follows,  and  which  needs  no 
special  witnesses ;  the  advance  to  this  further  step  is  however 
already  held  up  to  him  by  way  of  warning :  If  thou  hearest  not 
us,  then  we  tell  it  farther  !  Here  Christ,  in  order  to  show  that 
the  order  of  his  Church  is  founded  on  the  justice  of  God,  adduces 
the  Mosaic  rule  of  law,  which  was  always  to  be  observed  (Num. 
xix.  15),  of  which  He  also  (John  viii.  17),  makes  the  highest  ap- 
plication to  his  own  person,  and  here  in  the  next  place  to  his 
followers.  He  however  counts,  of  course,  the  brother  who  had 
first  entered  on  the  office  of  brotherly  judgment  as  one  of  the 
witnesses,  and  means  therefore  one  or  two  in  addition  to  him,  that 
the  matter  may  have  two  or  tJiree  witnesses. 

As  it  was  before  charitably  taken  for  granted  that  he  would  hear, 
so  now  it  is  more  probable,thsit  if  he  refused  to  hear  at  the  first  stage, 
he  will  continue  to  do  so  at  the  second.  Now,  but  not  sooner, 
although  now  without  sparing,  which  at  this  stage  would  be  wrong: 
Tell  it  to  the  Church  !  What  has  the  Church  to  do  with  a  sin 
which  thy  brother  has  committed  against  thee  ?  Certainly  he  has 
sinned  also  against  the  Church,  a  member  of  which  he  professes 
to  be,  he  has  given  an  offence  which  must  be  removed  ;  the  Church, 
so  much  as  in  it  lies,  may  not  tolerate  and  acknowledge  in  the 
midst  of  it  impenitent  sinners,  who  will  not  let  the  Spirit  of  God 
kindly  rebuke  them  in  order  to  their  recovery.  This  her  dignity 
as  the  Church  of  God  does  not  permit ;  thus  does  Christ  here 
plainly  enunciate  the  principle  of  all  church-discipline  at  present 
understood  by  so  few,  in  so  far  as  it  must  advance  from  admoni- 
tion to  exclusion.  This  latter  is  had  recourse  to,  in  the  first  place, 
not  to  make  better,  nor  even  (in  another  sense)  to  rebuke  the  per- 
son excluded,  but  chiefly  to  guard  the  unity  and  purity  of  the 
Church  against  the  obstinate  sinner. 

Tell  it  to  the  Church — thus  again  does  Christ  speak  quite 
definitely,  and  thereby  certainly  reverts  to  his  first  words  in  chap. 
xvi.  18  :  I  will  build  my  Church,  so  much  the  more  certainly,  as 
the  whole  dispute  about  rank  among  the  twelve  stands  in  such 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  15 — 17.  421 

connection  with  the  word  then  addressed  to  Peter,  that  Christ 
now  finds  it  necessary  for  their  full  information  to  explain  him- 
self on  this  point.  We  were  heartily  sorry  to  find  such  a  man 
as  Sack1  saying  :  u  The  opinion  that  Christ  here  actually  speaks 
of  the  future  Christian  Church,  must  certainly  be  rejected ;  he 
speaks  of  present  and  not  of  future  relations,  ifCfc\r)GLa  is  equiva- 
lent to  the  synagogue  then  existing  in  every  larger  town  with  its 
judicial  usages ;  the  whole,  therefore  admits  only  of  an  indirect 
application  to  the  Christian  Church  !"  Of  that  which  such  a 
synagogue  did,  then,  Christ  could  go  on  to  say  :  Ye  shall  do  it ! 
Could  Christ  seriously  have  referred  His  disciples,  the  brethren  in 
His  name,  to  a  court  of  those  Pharisees  whom  yet,  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  He  himself  had  declared  to  be  heathen  and  pub- 
licans, and  say  of  it :  Whoso  heareth  not  these,  let  him  be  to 
thee  as  the  heathen  and  the  publican  1  Already  Pfenninger,  in 
his  veiy  unbiassed  philosophical  lectures  on  the  New  Testament, 
says  against  this  :  "  If  Jesus  says  :  He  that  gathereth  not  with 
me  scattereth  abroad,  and,  He  that  heareth  not  your  word, 
shake  off  the  dust  of  your  feet  against  him — so  by  the  Church 
He  certainly  means  not  a  church  of  Jews,  of  whom  the  greater 
number  hate  and  deny  Him,  and  the  few  love  and  believe  on 
Him,  but  must  speak  these  words  of  a  church  of  His  disciples. 
Of  course !  for  others  would  receive  no  rules  of  conduct  pre- 
scribed by  Him  for  their  churches."  We  say  still  further :  At 
that  time  there  was  as  yet  no  church  of  His  disciples;  consequently, 
he  speaks  of  the  future  Church,  of  which  He  has  said  that  He 
will  build  it.2  It  is  hoped  that  the  reader  has  so  understood  our 
whole  interpretation  of  this  discourse  hitherto,  from  ver.  3,  as 

1  Monatschrift  fur  die  evangelische  Kirche  der  Rheinprovinz  und 
Westphalens,  March  1843.  To  this  we  have  now  to  add,  that  un- 
happily even  Delitzsch  (von  der  Kirche,  p.  9)  still  repeats  such  misin- 
terpretation 1  On  the  other  hand,  Nitzsch  (Prakt.  Theol.  i.  236)  has 
acknowledged  with  assent  my  statement,  that  Christ  can  only  have 
spoken  here  of  his  future  Church,  and  besides  has  himself  given  some 
fine  observations  for  the  understanding  of  the  entire  chapter.  Chiefly 
in  support  also  of  a  former  assertion  of  ours,  he  says,  that  the  "rebuker 
is  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  church,  not  as  the  injured  private  per- 
son, but  as  the  first  witness,  and  first  receiver  of  the  injury" — inasmuch 
as  "  in  and  along  with  that  brother  the  Church  was  already  injured." 

2  Thus  also  Lohe  quite  correctly,  Aphorismen  ueber  die  neutesta- 
mentl.  Aemter.  p.  3. 


422  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

that  it  appears  to  him  only  natural  and  necessary  when  now, 
again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  which  the  children  of  God  are 
united  as  brethren,  which  was  put  in  opposition  to  the  world  full 
of  offences,  at  last  appears  as  the  future  Church  ;  it  is  hoped  that 
we  have  already  learned  at  chap.  x.?  how  Christ  is  wont  in  the 
continuation  of  His  discourses  to  prophesy,  and  to  make  regula- 
tions for  the  future.  We  do  not,  however,  need  all  this  in  order 
to  show  what  is  meant  by  the  Church,  but  have  at  ver.  20  the 
most  literally  authentic  definition  from  Christ  himself  in  the 
closest  connexion  :  The  ifackrjcria  is,  where  are  o-vvrjy/jLevoi  ets  to 
ifibv  ovofia  ;  it  will  continue  to  exist  upon  earth,  in  its  power  so 
to  act  as  I  now  prescribe  to  it,  if  /  am  in  the  midst  of  it  This 
surely  is  spoken  of  His  spiritual  presence  for  the  future. 

The  Church  is  the  society,  called  together  in  unity  of  faith 
and  love,  of  those  who  believe  on  Him,  who  are  united  in  His 
name  ;  a  society  in  which  is  carried  out,  and  exercised  upon  earth, 
what  is  valid  in  heaven  (before  its  exalted  Lord  and  Head).  This 
is  the  simple  fundamental  idea  here  clearly  expressed.  It  is  at 
the  same  time  certified  here  with  equal  clearness,  that  it  cannot 
be  without  sin  and  offence  in  the  midst  of  it ;  for  it  happens  that 
a  brother  sins,  and  must  be  admonished.  It  is  rather  precisely 
the  institution  of  divine  faith  and  love,  the  design  of  which,  as  it 
is  to  call  the  sinners  of  all  the  world  to  repentance,  and  to  receive 
every  one  for  the  sake  of  Christ  who  only  begins  to  humble  himself, 
and  to  admit  him  into  the  ever  open  gates  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven — so  also  to  admonish  those  who  already  belong  to  it,  and 
to  carry  this  out  in  the  exercise  of  long  suffering  and  severity, 
until  those  who  are  entirely  disobedient  shall  be  again  separated 
from  it.  It  is,  after  and  beside  that  first  avvaycoyrj  of  the  Jews, 
the  true,  really  united  iino-vvayooyri,  in  which  one  takes  care  of 
the  other,  in  which  the  exhorting  one  another  Heb.  x.  24,  25, 
finds  its  living,  progressive  exemplification.  That  the  injunc- 
tion :  Tell  it  to  the  Church !  can  in  the  first  place  mean  only 
the  Church  in  the  place  where  thou  art,  the  nearest  united 
society  of  believers  to  which  you  belong,  is  clear — but  the 
Church  of  every  place  represents  again  the  entire  Church,  as 
is  evident  from  ver.  20,  and  this  also  is  the  basis  given  in  the 
apostolic  constitution  which  represents  in  many  i/ctcXrjaicus  the 
one  eK/cXTjaia.     Only  thus  is  the  manifestation  of  the  Church  in 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  15 — 17.  423 

the  world  at  any  time  possible.  True,  according  to  circum- 
stances, in  so  far  as  this  can  be  done  in  truth,  the  Tell  it  to  the 
Church !  is  even  in  the  case  of  sinning  churches  to  be  further 
applied  by  bringing  it  before  the  greater  society ;  still  every  little 
individual  society  retains  its  right  in  the  name  of  the  whole,  so 
long  as  it  truly  exercises  it  in  His  name,  in  the  name  of  Christ. 
The  power  of  rebuke  which  the  individual  brother  exercised 
in  private,  at  the  first  stage,  was  not  only  his  duty  but  his  right, 
a  right  which  emanates  from  the  church  to  every  member  of  it. 
But  if  now  further  the  sinner  is  rebuked  in  vain  by  many  (2 
Cor.  ii.  6),  before  all  (1  Tim.  v.  20),  in  the  name  of  Christ — 
then  let  him  be  to  thee — who  broughtest  his  case  before  this  court 
of  jurisdiction,  and  art  now  discharged  of  thy  brotherly  obligation 
— because  he  must  now  also  be  to  the  whole  church  as  the  heathen 
and  the  publican  !  (The  article  has  here  the  force  of  the  plural, 
denoting  the  class  by  the  individual  example).  The  "  to  thee"  is 
now  said  to  every  one.  Heathen  are  those  without,  not  belong- 
ing to  the  people  of  God ;  publicans  those  who,.although  within, 
are  yet  to  be  reckoned  with  the  heathen  ;  the  typical  expression 
taken  from  the  relation  and  usage  then  existing,  implies  the 
corresponding  truth  in  the  future.  He  has  in  the  first  place  for- 
feited his  name  as  a  brother,  and  his  right  as  a  brother  to  be 
exhorted,  for  it  has  become  manifest  that  there  is  no  principle  of 
brotherly  feeling  in  him  upon  which  to  take  hold ;  no  one  in  the 
Church  owes  any  further  duty  to  him  as  a  brother.  It  is  alto- 
gether self-evident  that,  on  the  further  development  of  the 
relations  involved  in  the  Church,  this  implies  the  denial  of 
Church  privileges,  exclusion  from  the  sacrament,  &c.  Here  there 
is  no  respect  of  persons,  here  there  is  no  other  sort  of  judgment 
appointed  beyond  that  of  the  Church.  As  even  Pope  Sylvester 
II.  himself  (Epist.  ad  Seguin.  in  Maimburgh  and  Baronius) 
has  said :  "  If  the  Pope  of  Rome  were  to  sin  against  a  brother, 
and  after  repeated  admonition  would  not  hear  the  Church,  he 
should,  according  to  the  commandment  of  Christ,  be  held  as  a 
heathen  and  publican  !"  Here,  however,  we  ask  in  sadness  with 
Wesley,  not  merely  in  reference  to  the  Church  which  must 
hear  when  Rome  has  spoken,  but  to  every  degenerate  church  of 
the  present  time  in  common  :  "  But  if  so,  in  what  land  do  the 
Christians  live?  Christ  gives  the  answer :  The  gates  of  hell  shall 


424  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

not  prevail  against  it !  His  Church  is  still  there,  if  not  in  the 
many,  yet  in  the  few ;  their  power  is  still  shown,  their  right 
exercised,  if  not  in  visibly  arranged  forms,  yet  silently ;  and 
even  were  the  key  for  binding  and  loosing  to  be  withdrawn,  and 
lodged  in  the  secret  prayer  of  two  or  three,  it  would  still  be 
present  there,  and  efficacious  for  actual  binding  and  loosing,  as 
we  shall  soon  see  in  what  follows. 

Ver.  18.  That  by  this  binding  and  loosing  even  here,  where  the 
keys  are  not  again  expressly  mentioned,  Christ  understands,  in 
the  widest  scope  of  the  terms,  all  expression  of  power  and  exercise 
of  authority  on  the  part  of  His  Church,  which  He  will  one  day, 
(if  the  Church  thus  acts  upon  earth  in  His  name),  ratify  also  in 
heaven — this  is  not  less  clear  than  that  the  expression  still  refers 
most  directly  to  what  was  said  before,  consequently  to  the  denial 
of  grace,  the  withholding  of  forgiveness,  from  the  heathen  and 
publicans  who  are  shut  out,  as  in  the  other  case  to  the  assurance 
of  grace  to  penitents.  That  in  this  decisive  word  all  precedence 
of  any  Peter  whatsoever  disappears,  and  that  every  exercise  of 
any  power  upon  earth,  relating  to  the  things  of  heaven,  is  repre- 
sented as  an  emanation  of  that  power  which  the  Church  pos- 
sesses in  its  unity,  every  member  of  it  (were  ne  even  an  earthly 
head)  onlv  in  virtue  of  nis  union  with  the  body — this  has  al- 
ready Deen  repeatedly  said,  and  }ret  cannot  be  enough  considered. 
The  Church  possesses  the  word  of  truth,  (and  with  it  the  Spirit  of 
truth),  which  it  rightly  interprets  in  itself,  and  by  consequence 
validly  applies  to  those  cases  that  occur,  therefore  is  its  binding 
and  loosing,  forbidding  and  permitting,  denying  and  affirming 
by  this  word,  true  and  valid,  in  the  whole,  and  in  particular 
cases.  The  Church  is  the  body  upon  earth  filled  from  the 
heavenly  head  with  all  the  fulness  of  God,  i.e.,  with  the  holy 
love  of  the  Father  in  the  Son  ;  therefore,  if  it  has  loved  as  God 
and  with  God,  so  as  to  seek  the  lost  brother,  it  may  and  ought 
to  pass  judgment  with  God  upon  every  one  who  will  not  let 
himself  be  found  and  restored.  Let  us  now  again  connect 
together  the  beginning  and  conclusion  of  Christ's  discourse 
upon  this  occasion,  let  us  attentively  consider  to  what  a 
height  it  has  risen  from  that  word  with  which  it  began, — 
viz.,  Become  as  children,  only  thus  can  ye  belong  to  the  king- 
dom of  heaven !     This  is  the  ruling  conquering  power  which 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  18.  425 

the  Father  prepares  for  Himself  in  the  little  ones.  Over  the 
door  of  the  Church  it  is  written,  He  who  comes  not  hither  as  a 
child,  where  only  children  alike  great  and  alike  little  dwell  to- 
gether, let  him  stay  without !  But  within,  these  children  are 
sovereign  in  their  sphere  against,  and  over,  all  that  would  disturb 
the  holy  and  blessed  fellowship.  Christ  who  builds  this  Church 
for  Himself,  and  indeed  alone  governs  it,  from  whose  supreme 
prerogative  alone  all  prerogative  and  all  power  that  are  valid  in 
it  must  proceed — yet  says  not :  I  will  keep  the  keys  by  me,  I 
will  myself  on  every  occasion  give  the  decision  directly  from  the 
throne !  But  according  to  His  manner  of  acting  in  all  His 
works  upon  earth,  in  the  kingdom  of  grace  as  of  nature,  He 
appoints  an  intermediate  agency,  in  which  He  transfers  the  keys 
to  His  followers,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  keeps  them  Himself. 
It  is  said  :  I  in  them,  as  thou  in  me !  (John  xvii.  23.)  For 
whatever  His  followers  do  that  is  valid,  is  so  only  in  His  name, 
i.e.  because  He  is  in  the  midst  of  them,  ver.  20.  The  case  then 
is  not  at  all  possible,  that  they  should  bind  upon  earth  what  He 
looses  in  Heaven,  or  loose  upon  earth  what  He  binds  in  heaven  ; 
whenever  such  a  case  occurs,  then  they  are  no  longer  the  per- 
sons to  whom  the  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you"  applies.  The  oaa 
eav  is  indeed  an  exceptionless  irdvray  as  the  words  here  stand  in 
conjunction  with  the  certain  promise  expressed  in  the  earac  BeEe- 
fjbiva,  \e\vjjbkva — yet  this  is  far  from  being  true  conversely,  as  if 
Christ  might  have  said :  Whatsoever  I  bind  or  loose  in  heaven 
will  be  bound  or  loosed  by  you  upon  earth.  For,  in  particular, 
the  discipline  of  the  Church  exercised  in  the  way  of  receiving  or 
excluding,  the  application  of  the  Gospel  upon  earth  in  the  way 
of  forgiving  or  retaining  sin,  can  never  certainly  be  quite  ade- 
quate to  that  which  Christ  Himself  does  from  heaven  ;  He  re- 
tains to  Himself  reservata,  to  bind  many  things  to  which  the  eye 
of  the  earthly  administrator  does  not  reach,  and  in  like  manner 
He  has  again  already  loosed  many  things  ere  they  are  recognised 
or  expressed  upon  earth.  Consequently  in  those  cases  in  which 
the  sentence,  valid  in  heaven,  is  executed  upon  earth,  the  earac 
is  rather  recognised  as  an  already  existing  ecTt,  and  the  Church 
only  says  :  We  see  and  testify  that  thou  art  bound  in  heaven, 
(Acts  viii.  21,  23) — we  see  and  testify  that  Christ  hath  again 
loosed  thee.      Again  loosed  ?      Certainly,  for  precisely  on  this 


426  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

account  does  Christ  put  the  binding  first,  and  yet  make  a 
loosing  to  follow.  The  two  are  by  no  means  contemporane- 
ously parallel,  nor  is  the  first  mentioned  first  only  because  in  it 
the  power  of  the  Church  is  most  strongly  evinced  when  it 
judges.  An  irrevocable,  irredeemable  ban,  is  far  from  being 
spoken  of  here ;  in  its  highest  exercise  of  power  the  Church 
looses  again  precisely  that  which  it  has  bound ;  it  has,  however, 
only  bound  in  order  that  it  may  be  able  again  to  loose  when  this 
is  possible.  The  final  exclusion  of  the  incorrigible,  in  virtue  of 
which  they  are  accounted  as  heathen  and  publicans,  as  it  is  re- 
quisite on  its  own  account,  so  at  the  sametime  it  is  only  the  last 
and  strongest  expression  of  that  love  which  seeks  their  recovery ; 
for  the  heathen  and  publicans  are  certainly  not  excluded  from  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel,  which  is  to  be  continued  in  all  the  world 
until  the  end,1  and  if  in  this  instance  brotherly  love  has  come  to 
an  end,  there  yet  remains  general  love,  nay  more  than  this  the 
love  that  weeps  and  intercedes  for  the  lost  brother.  All  this  might 
already  be  found  in  ver.  18,  did  it  not  come  into  still  clearer 
prominence  in  what  follows. 

Ver.  19.  In  the  ttclXlv  Xeyco  vjuv  Christ,  who  here  prophe- 
sies in  a  very  condensed  style  respecting  the  future  development 
of  the  Church,  expresses  much  by  indication.  The  iraXiv  is  first 
of  all  not  properly  equivalent  to  "  further,"  as  if  something  now 
followed  quite  different  from  what  goes  before,  but  here  also  it  is 
the  same  power  that  is  spoken  of  as  was  spoken  of  there.  It 
happens  with  the  binding  and  loosing  just  as  with  the  hearing  of 
prayer ;  it  is  valid  in  heaven  only  because  it  is  the  witness  of 
what  was  already  valid  in  heaven,  just  as  prayer  is  heard  because 
by  the  impulse  of  the  spirit  in  faith  it  has  already  come  forth 
from  the  supreme  counsel  and  will.  All  binding  and  loosing  is 
accomplished  by  prayer,  for  the  admonition  is  given  in  the  love 
of  praying  faith,  and  the  excluding  rebuke  is  administered  in  the 
same  love.  The  Church  is  only  in  prayer  united,  so  as  to  exer- 
cise its  power,  and  it,  like  every  individual  of  its  members,  per- 
forms all  its  works  of  authority  only  as  the  Son  of  Man  upon 

1  Therefore  it  was  wrong  not  at  once  to  admit  thePoenitentes  as  a<pou>- 
pevovs,  but  first  to  put  them  outside  the  door  as  7rpoa-KKaiovTas)  xElH-<*£0V~ 
ras  ;  this  went  beyond  the  word  of  Christ,  who  would  allow  even  every 
heathen  and  publican  to  hear. 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  19.  427 

earth  performed  his  miracles,  namely,   as  being  heard  of  the 
Father.      Therefore,  Basilius  is  quite  right  when  he,  here  also, 
specially  notices  the  prayer  for  forgiveness  of  sin  in  behalf  of 
others.      It  might,  indeed,  with  a  certain  measure  of  truth  be 
said  in  opposition  to  this  :  Not  surely  prayer  for  him  who  has 
just  been  excluded,  for  in  him  the  love  that  seeks  the  sinner  has 
already  so  far  exhausted  itself  in  rebuke  and  final  judgment,  as 
that  he  must   be  given  up  for  lost ;  if  all  this  has  been  done 
to  him  in  vain,  what  can  now  help  him  1     But  viewed  strictly, 
this  is  valid  only  ad  interim,  only  with  the  reservation  of  the 
power  of  God  which  can  yet  again  restore  the  lost  one.     (Rom. 
xi.  23).     The  last  thing  which  the  Church  does  in  its  binding, 
and  neither  can  nor  should  cease  to  do,  is  the  same  thing  which 
it  remains  for  the  individual  to  do  for  his  enemies,  namely,  to 
intercede  for  him  (chap.  v.  44).      Or,  is  the  Church  which  prays 
for  all  men  (1  Tim.  ii.  1),  to  shut  out  their  lost  brethren  alone 
from  this  benefit  1      Oh  !  if  this   were  a  settled  principle   in 
church  discipline,  that  the  lost  brother  should  yet  be  prayed  for, 
what  a  power  would  such  binding  much  oftener  evince  towards 
loosing  again  !     Although,  of  course,  the  general  term  yevtjoreTai 
is  assigned  as  a  promise  to  be  an  inducement  to  every  believing 
prayer,  it  yet  nowhere  promises  an  unconditional  fulfilment,  least 
of  all  where  it  concerns  the  faith  or  unbelief  of  another,  which 
lies  as  little  in  our  power  as  in  the  power  of  God.      It  is  as  we 
have  said  on  chap.  xvii.  20.     Finally,  the  Berlenb.  Bible  (whose 
grains  of  gold  amid  the  rubbish  let  no  one  despise)  is  right  here 
also,  when  it  says  on  vers.  19,  20:  "If  now,  however,  things 
should  come  to  such  a  strait,  that  the  Church  could  not  exercise 
this  prerogative  (of  an  officially  acknowledged  binding  and  loos- 
ing), Christ  gives  the  farther  assurance,  that  if  only  two  or  three 
unite  together  in  spirit  and  in  truth  in  the  prayer  of  faith,  these 
may  yet  act  with  effect  in  the  matter,  although  the  world  does 
not  acknowledge  it.      This  points  to  a  more  straitened  state  of 
the  Church,  and  says  that  we  are  not  to  withdraw  the  hand  on  this 
account."     Very  right  and  true  indeed,  for  Christ  had  certainly 
such  thoughts  in  his  mind  when,  instead  of  the  wide  and  com- 
prehensive "  you"  of  the  entire  Church,  he  says  two  or  three,  and 
at  the  same  time,  as  the  ground  of  this,  substitutes  for  the  testi- 
mony without,  the  private  prayer  before  God.      He  has  here  in 


428  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

prospect  that  state  of  the  Church  in  which  the  powerful  exercise 
of  the  key  of  office  by  those  who  are  called  "  the  Church"  before 
the  world  must  be  suspended,  and  when,  in  place  of  this,  there 
comes  the  handful  who  are  united  in  true  fellowship,  praying  in 
secret.  In  such  a  prospect  he  could  not  and  would  not  say: 
Where  thousands  are  united — but  where  two  or  three  are  united! 
It  may  be  questioned  whether  what  is  written  in  Acts  iv.  32  has 
ever  been  fully  realised  since  the  Apostolic  Church,  and  whether  a 
larger  assembly  of  the  Church  has  ever  been  able  to  determine  so 
perfectly  as  the  first :  It  seemed  good  to  us,  being  assembled  with 
one  accord,  and  therefore  also  :  It  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  to  us.  When  it  is  remembered  that  unity  in  prayer,  the 
innermost  unity  of  believers  before  God,  and  the  uniting,  the 
agreeing  together  (ovfi<j>G)veiv)f  even  of  two  suppliants,  for  some 
definite  object  of  prayer,  is  a  thing  so  difficult  and  rare  even 
in  the  case  of  a  believing  husband  and  wife  {ex.  gr.  for  the 
preservation  of  a  dying  child),  we  will  at  once  understand  how 
significant,  in  all  points  of  view,  is  the  word  which  Christ  has 
here  spoken.  He  means  truly  no  agreeing  of  the  lips  but  of  the 
heart,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  heart.  Where  two  together  can 
truly  pray  for  any  definite  thing  in  innermost  unity,  as  children 
before  God,  this  is  from  God,  and  is  valid  before  God. 

Ver.  20.  According  to  Jewish  statute  a  synagogue,  to  which  the 
Shechinah  of  the  Divine  presence  and  hearing  descends,  must 
consist  at  least  of  ten  ;  a  smaller  number  God  despises  and 
reproaches:  Wherefore  do  I  come  when  there  is  no  one  there? 
Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  wTe  find  in  Pirke  Aboth.  chap.  iii.  §  8, 
the  saying  :  "  Wherever  two  are  sitting  conversing  on  the  law, 
there  the  Shechinah  is  with  them."  Here  Christ  names  the 
smallest  society  that  is  possible,  two  or  three  (as  at  ver.  16  united 
witnesses  before  the  throne  of  God),  and  ascribes  to  them  the 
right  and  power  of  a  Church  in  virtue  of  his  presence  with  them. 
"  He  who  can  say,  Thou  and  I,  can  speak  of  a  Church,  and 
can  lay  claim  to  the  common  grace."  (Zinzendorf.)  Zwrjyfiivoi 
ek  to  ifxov  ovofia  signifies  something  more  than,  and  different 
from,  iv  t&J  ovofiari  [xov,  because  it  closely  belongs  to  o-uvrjy/jiivot 
and  this  again  signifies :  they  are  assembled,  have  not  merely 
assembled  themselves,  are  not  first  comprehended  in  the  aw- 
dyeadai.     There  1  am  in  the  midst  of  them  (comp.  1  Cor.  v.  4) 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  22 — 35.  429 

as  the   Mediator  through  whom  their  prayer  is  heard,  as  the 
Giver  of  that  which  they  ask,  as  the  confirmer  of  that  which 
comes  forth  from  them  as  a  testimony  either  publicly  or  privately. 
Christ  certainly  speaks  here  already  in  the  same  sense  as  at  John 
xiv.  13 — 14,  and  we  have  here  already  a  prospective  glance  into 
the  period  of  his  heavenly  omnipresence,  which  at  Matth.  xxviii. 
20,  he  promised,  when  about  to  ascend  to  the  Father.     "  This 
must  signify  a  spiritual  presence,  or  nothing,  but  it  is  a  stupen- 
dous expression."     (Pfenninger.)     Yes,  the  as  yet  future  spiri- 
tualization  of  his  presence  when  he  would  be  gone  to  the  Father, 
He  then  in  heaven  and  his  Church  on  the  earth,  and  yet  at  the 
sametime,  He  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit  everywhere,  wherever  his 
disciples  are  and  unite  together  upon  earth, — this  and  nothing 
else  is  what  clearly  lies  in  these  words.     We  ask,  therefore, 
again:  Has  he  not  here  spoken  with  reference  to  the  future 
Church  ?     Therefore  of  course  it  is  only  :  What  ye  shall  bind, 
for  he  could  not  possibly  speak  of  the  present,  and  the  final  iicel 
elfxt,  is  only  a  prophetic  Present  connected  with  the  foregoing 
Futures.     His  presence  depends  not  on  the  greater  or  smaller 
number  of  those  assembled,  and  as  little  on  any  locality  or  place 
(which,  in  Old  Testament  fashion,  he  had  again  chosen  to  put 
his  name  there)  ;  but  wherever  He  is  in  the  midst  of  his  believ- 
ing and  praying  people,  there  is  the  Church  to  which  he  has 
given  this  power.   Could  there  be  a  severer  judgment  pronounced 
against  all  pseudo-Catholicism  than  is  given  in  this  word,  and 
again  a  more  friendly  consolation,  a  stronger  call  to  make  use  of 
this  power,  addressed  to  the  weak  protestantism  which  seeks  the 
"  invisible  church"  elsewhere  than  upon  earth,  in  the  assembly 
of  the  faithful,  "  in  all  their  and  our  places,"  which  never  re- 
mains invisible,  from  which  the  testimony  of  the  i/cel  el/ic  goes 
forth  ever  anew  to  the  world  % 


THE  WICKED  SERVANT. 

(Matth.  xviii.  22—35.     [Luke  xvii.  3,  4.]) 

Peter  has  rightly  understood  verse  17  to  the  effect,  that  the 
exercise  of  brotherly  rebuke,  and  the  gaining  of  a  brother,  pre- 


430  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 


supposes  the  mild  spirit  of  forgiving  love,  and  only  by  this  is  pos- 
sible. His  thoughts  being  arrested  by  this,  and  flesh  and  blood 
again  objecting  to  it,  he  has  perhaps  not  listened  with  perfect 
attention  to  what  follows,  namely,  the  transference  of  the  keys 
from  Him  to  the  Church.  Or  it  may  be  he  has  apprehended 
this,  so  that  in  his  confusion  he  does  not  venture  to  ask :  Lord 
but  how  does  it  then  stand  with  the  keys  given  to  me  ?  He 
rather  now  withdraws  himself  into  the  simple  place  of  a  brother 
in  the  Church,  against  whom  a  brother  sins.  We  are  inclined 
to  prefer  this  explanation,  and  in  so  far  to  reckon  it  to  the 
apostle's  praise  that  he  puts  this  question  at  this  time ;  still  there 
remains  in  it,  on  the  other  hand,  the  carnally  proud  reluctance 
to  go  on  granting  forgiveness  to  a  brother  without  count  or  mea- 
sure. Only  the  same  reluctance  indeed,  as  in  all  of  us,  for  who 
would  not  oftentimes  have  in  heart  asked  the  same  question  as 
Peter  here  does  ?  That  Peter  lays  the  matter  so  frankly  before 
Christ,  shows  an  honesty  which  is  the  second  thing  to  be  com- 
mended in  his  question.,  and  which  always  imparts  a'  certain  mea- 
sure of  goodness  to  his  ill  sayings. 

Ver.  22.  As  Christ  has  repeatedly  made  use  of  numbers  one 
or  two,  two  or  three,  Peter,  on  his  part,  will  do  so  also,  quite  in 
the  manner  of  Jewish  ethics,  which  measured  everything  by 
numbers.  Not  merely  ^aprfaei  kol  d^aco  as  a  Hebraism  for 
afiaprjaavTi  a^aco  (so  Winer  thinks),  but  in  reality :  How 
often  may  my  brother  sin  against  me,  with  the  right  and  claim 
to  receive  forgiveness  from  me?  This  might  indeed  become 
very  frequent  and  very  bad,  it  must  surely  then  have  its  limits  ! 
Seven  times  then  appear  to  him  all  that  can  possibly  be  required 
for  a  wide  eW—  but  the  matter  stands  quite  otherwise :  For  if  I 
can  still  count,  then  have  I  not  yet  forgotten  what  went  before 
and  therefore  not  at  all  really  forgiven  from  the  heart.  The 
answer  of  Christ  indicates  this  with  a  quite  perceptible  irony 
when  it  puts  number  against  number.  The  first  seven  times  is 
outbid  by  multiplication  (in  nowise  by  addition  :  70  and  7  times) 
and  the  meaning  of  the  ^ho^Kovrd^  hrrd  can  only  be :  Septies 

•  lJS  Ahe^aim"d  *  j"  determmed>  th*t  a  man  may  be  fonriven  his 
sin  till  the  third  time  but  not  till  the  fourth  time,  accordin/to  L 
i.  3,  n.  6 ;  Job  xxxiii.  29,  30.  *  os 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  22.  431 

non  solum,  sed  id  ipsum  septuagies.  The  formula  with  the  eirra 
instead  of  kirraKLS  exactly  corresponds  to  the  word  of  Lamech, 
Gen.  iv.  24,  LXX.,  where  the  Heb.  jiWtih  fiFJCTZj  ^s  certainly 
to  be  taken  as  a  multiplication  ;l  grant  that  it  may  have  been 
proverbial,  still  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  Christ,  whose  thoughts 
ever  move  in  the  sphere  of  Scripture,  had  not  here  that  passage 
in  His  thoughts.  Thus  does  the  loving  forgiveness  here  come 
into  sharp  and  significant  opposition  to  the  revenge  there  ex- 
pressed. But  for  what  space  of  time  is  the  reckoning  to  be 
understood  1  Seven  times  a-day  was  also  a  Bible  proverb  (Prov. 
xxiv.  16  ;  Ps.  cxix.  165) — hence,  in  the  parallel  passage  (Luke 
xvii.  4),  the  relation  of  which  to  the  present  will  there  be  inves- 
tigated, this  is  expressly  said.  If  Peter,  as  is  probable,  meant 
his  seven  times  as  applying  to  the  whole  life,  then,  in  opposition 
to  this  absurdly  small  measure,  Christ  with  all  the  greater  right 
puts  a  proverbially  large  number,  which  is  properly  intended  to 
be  no  number.  He  certainly  does  not  say  what  would  be  mon- 
strous and  inconceivable  :  seventy  times  seven  in  a  day — still 
less  will  He  advise  that  a  register  be  kept  extending  over  years 
until  the  490  be  completed.  But  He  means  by  this  saying, 
which  is  quite  as  definite  as  it  is  indefinite :  Let  there  be  no 
numbering  at  all  !2  Such  a  deliverance  of  course  finds  its  pro- 
portionate application  to  the  loosing  again  of  one  who  has  been 
bound  before  the  Church,  whose  forgiving  love  remains  ever 
open  for  the  excluded  one ;  although  an  inconsiderately  hasty 
restoration,  without  a  sufficient  guarantee  for  the  reality  of  the 
Meravocb  (Luke  xvii.),  cannot  thereby  be  enjoined. 

And  now  the  foregoing  profoundly  compressed  saying  is  ex- 

1  For  partly,  the  placing  the  small  number  after  is  not  agreeable 
to  the  most  ancient  mode  of  speech,  partly  there  is  least  of  all  reason 
here  for  making  an  exception  on  account  of  emphasis  (as  elsewhere 
occurs  once  or  twice  in  Genesis) — how  flat  would  be  this :  also  seventy 
times  and  yet  seven  times  in  addition  thereto !  Rather :  Septuagies 
idque  septuplum,  many  times  seventy,  as  already  ancient  Rabbinical 
interpretation  speaks  of  j-j^j-f  n^V^U}' 

2  So  also  Lange,  although  he  comes  to  it  certainly  by  a  different 
way,  when  he  takes  the  seventieth  number  as  the  expression  of  "  the 
endless  Sabbath-rest  in  God,  the  absolute  divine  composure,  in  which 
alone  it  is  possible  always  to  forgive."  How  that  could  lie  in  the 
words,  we  do  not  comprehend. 


432  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

panded  into  a  parable,  in  which  the -idea  is  presented  in  a  strik- 
ing and  popular  form.  It  has  quite  the  appearance  of  being  only 
a  parable,  the  particulars  being  represented  in  the  manner  of  the 
parable  ;  yet  the  profound  ideas  to  which  it  relates  are  embodied 
in  it  in  rich  fulness,  and  it  is  significant  even  in  the  minutest 
details.  Preach  anew  upon  it  every  year  and  you  will  not  exhaust 
it,  you  will  ever  find  something  new  to  draw  from  it.  We  will 
make  it  our  endeavour  here,  where  the  superficial  school-exegesis 
makes  much  shorter  work  than  the  exposition  for  the  preacher, 
at  least  briefly  to  indicate  all  the  principal  points. 

yer.  23 — 25.  'AvOpomcd  fiaaikei,  again  not  a  mere  unmean- 
ing variation  for  fiaaCkel  tlvl,  but,  as  has  been  observed  at  chap, 
xiii.  24,  31,  and  is  applicable  to  all  the  parables  (see  immediately 
again  chap.  xx.  1) :  •coelestium  similitudines  ex  humanis  I  If 
even  in  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  where  the  right  of  punish- 
ment must  upon  the  whole  be  maintained  firmly  and  strictly,  a 
king  yet  exercises  the  royal  right  of  forgiveness  and  release,  so 
is  it  to  be  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth,  in  the  Church, 
only  according  to  the  holy  right  of  divine  compassion.  The 
king  is  God  the  Lord  in  His  kingdom,  the  BovXol  are  of  course 
not  slaves  (as  is  evident  from  the  selling  afterwards),  they  are  not 
even  in  the  first  place  common  subjects,  but  servants  of  the  crown, 
and  ministers ;  their  reckoning  shows  in  its  immense  sums,  so  to 
speak,  "  royal  debts."1  The  most  immediate  application  points, 
therefore,  to  the  apostles  and  great  ones  in  the  Church,  who,  the 
more  that  has  been  intrusted  to  them,  are  capable  of  making  all 
the  greater  failure ;  this,  however,  does  not  exclude  the  farther 
application  to  the  reckoning  before  God  of  every  man,  according 
to  his  high  calling.  To  be  able  to  contract  great  debts  is  itself 
even  an  honour  and  dignity.  If  we  understand  talents  of  gold  or 
silver,  ten  thousand  are  so  much,  that  even  Ham  an,  in  the  book 
of  Esther  (chap.  iii.  9),  rated  at  this  amount  the  riches  of  all  the 
Jews  in  the  land,  speaking  of  it  as  a  large  sum.  The  number 
corresponds  indeed,  as  a  proverbially  large  amount,  to  the  seventy 
times  sevens — still  because  a  reckoning  is  spoken  of,  Christ  will  at 

1  "We  may  certainly  also,  with  Sepp,  be  reminded  here  of  the  colossal 
lease-systems  of  that  time — only  we  are  not  to  find  precisely  the  lease- 
holder Zenodorus  of  Lebanon  expressly  denoted  here  ! 

2  Others  are  so  bold  as  to  find  an  allusion  to  the  ten  commandments 
(every  one  of  which  has  been  thousandfoldly  transgressed  ?) 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  23 — 2d.  433 

the  same  time  say  that  God  actually  counts  our  sins — and  weighs 
them.  There  is  a  sermon  by  G.  K.  Rieger  (in  his  Herzens 
postille),  which,  with  equal  profoundness  and  ingenuity,  enters 
into  this  point,  and  with  an  inexorable  particularity  notes  and 
sums  up  our  register  of  sins  through  all  their  titles.  Truly  the 
number  is  for  us  incalculable,  and  the  heavy  weight  of  every  sin 
that  is  to  be  counted  already  a  talent .  For  of  so-called  small 
or  light  sins  there  are  none.  God  will  reckon  with  his  ser- 
vants, and  he  cannot  but  do  so,  although  he  makes  the  reckon- 
ing only  to  give  the  acquittance,  he  brings  the  sin  to  knowledge 
only  to  forgive  it.  (Is.  i.  18).  Without  reckoning  there  is  no 
discharge,  there  is  here  no  forgiveness  and  acquittance  in  the 
lump,  without  previous  inspection.  The  debt  stands  registered 
in  the  conscience,  the  revealed  law  brings  the  contra-book  to  our 
unfaithful  book-keeping,  then  it  becomes  manifest  that  our  can- 
celling could  yet  not  cancel,  but  that  we  ourselves  have  written : — 
The  two  books  agree  with  fearful  exactness  !  God  reckons  with  us 
because  it  is  his  will  to  do  so,  no  avoiding  or  not  willing  on  our  part 
is  in  that  case  of  any  avail ;  He  wakens  the  conscience,  denounces 
the  curse  of  the  law,  begins  with  visitation  and  rebuke — all 
which  areincluded  in  this  reckoning,  which  is  certainly  at  the  same 
time  to  be  distinguished  from  the  final  reckoning  that  awaits  us, 
spoken  of  in  other  parables  (as  chap.  xxv.  19). — When  he  began 
to  reckon,  there  came  one  before  him,  the  first  with  ten  thousand 
talents, — the  others  owe  certainly  not  less,  perhaps  more.  He 
was  brought  before  the  king,  irpoar^vk^Q^  for  he  came  not  of  him- 
self, had  never  yet  considered  the  reckoning,  but  had  indifferently 
and  wilfully  accumulated  debt  without  limit.  (Ps.  1.  21).  He 
is  apprehended  also  before,  and  without,  his  having  been  able  to 
see  and  compare  the  account  of  his  fellow-servants,  for  this  be- 
longs not  to  the  business  between  him  and  his  Lord.  The 
balance  is  absolute  bankruptcy :  he  has  nothing  to  pay  !  There 
is  not  even  any  counter-reckoning  in  part  payment.  Where,  how- 
ever, there  is  nothing,  the  king  has  not  lost  his  right,  as  the  half- 
false  proverb  runs,  at  least  to  punish  the  wilful  bankrupt.  The 
Divine  right,  in  its  strict  demands,  is  here  represented  in  a  human 
parable:  when  the  king,  according  to  Jewish  law  (Lev.  xxv. 
39, 47  ;  Ex.  xxii.  3  ;  2  Kings  iv.  1 ;  Amosii.  6,  viii.  6)  here  com- 
mands the  debtor,  with  his  wife  and  children,  and  all  that  he  has, 
vol.  it.  2  E 


434  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

to  be  sold,  so  that  he  may  at  least  receive  something,  this  repre- 
sentation belongs  certainly  to  the  not  entirely  corresponding 
figure,  still  every  one  with  whom  the  Lord  begins  to  reckon,  will 
feel  what  it  means,  without  the  critics  having  first  to  inquire. 

Vers.  26,  27.  The  servant  who,  according  to  ver.  25,  must 
already  have  confessed  that  he  had  not  to  pay,  does  not  resolve 
to  beg  for  forgiveness,  but  like  all  bad  debtors  who  are  ever  speak- 
ing of  future  payment,  he  proceeds,  not  without  continued  pre- 
sumption, to  ask  for  delay  and  patience  in  his  difficulty,  although 
with  all  patience,  nothing  remains  to  be  obtained.  This  is  meant 
in  the  same  sense  as  (in  Luke  xv.  19),  the  word  of  the  prodigal 
son,  who  still  thinks  of  working  off  what  he  owes  to  his  Father. 
"This  is  the  torment  of  all  consciences  when  sin  comes  and 
gnaws  them,  they  run  hither  and  thither,  seek  help  here  and 
there,  and  presume  still  to  do  a  great  deal  in  order  to  pay  God. 
A  heart  that  is  smitten  by  the  law  is  humbled  indeed,  therefore 
it  falls  down  before  the  Lord  and  asks  grace ;  but  it  has  still  the 
fault  that  it  will  help  itself:  this  cannot  be  cast  out  of  nature" 
(Luther).  The  common  expression  I  will  pay  thee  all  (ver.  29) 
holds  good  among  men — but  can  it  have  place  between  the  Most 
High  and  us,  who  are  so  totally  in  his  debt,  and  who  can  only 
pay  every  former  debt  out  of  his  new  gift  and  grace  ?  Thus  the 
Lord  pities  not  only  our  poverty,  but,  in  addition  to  this,  our 
foolish  anxiety,  in  which  we  promise  what  is  impossible,  and 
there  is  imparted  to  us  unasked,  nay,  as  it  were,  against  our  will, 
full  and  entire  grace.  The  previous  debt  is  remitted  in  opposi- 
te our  a7ro$oi)(r(o,  this  remitting  of  the  debt,  however,  is  still  to  be 
distinguished  (as  Luther  has  rightly  indicated  by  the  addition  of 
the  word  also)  from  the  complete  loosing  out  of  the  prison  which 
we  had  properly  again  deserved  by  our  wrong-asking.  Go,  thou 
poor  man,  and  know  that  thou  hast  a  gracious  king ! 

Vers.  28 — 30.  That  was  a  counter-question  for  Peter :  How 
often  and  how  much  must  God  forgive  thee,  has  he  forgiven 
thee  I  From  which,  then,  the  willingness  to  forgive  His  brother 
must  follow  as  an  inference.  But  how  little  does  the  wicked, 
harsh  man  learn  this  self-evident  inference !  In  the  i%e\6(t>v, 
emphatically  placed  before,  the  parable  turns  to  its  centrepoint : 
So  let  us  go  forth  from  the  presence  of  God  to  walk  and  to  act 
with  our  neighbour,  from  the  judgment  and  mercy  seat  of  the 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  28 — 30.  435 

royal  Father  and  paternal  King,  before  whom  we  stood,  to  our 
fellow-servants  and  brethren.  But  this  wicked  servant,  whom 
Christ  holds  up  here  as  a  warning  example,  has  learned  nothing, 
has  not  at  all  in  heart  understood  or  received  grace,  but  carries 
it  away  as  a  robbery.  He  goes  out  as  soon  as  he  can,  light  and 
joyful  that  he  is  only  free  again  to  go  on  as  before.  "  He  who 
seeks  only  forgiveness  from  God,  and  not  also  a  new  nature,  will 
soon  again  lose  the  forgiveness  also  by  new  guilt,  which  he  contracts 
with  the  old  nature."1  He  finds,— as  we  all  find  at  every  step,  if 
only  we  seek, — one  of  his  fellow-servants ;  it  may  be  one  who  was 
inferior  to  himself,  as  regards  the  high  place  he  filled  in  relation 
to  the  King,  in  which  he  could  contract  debts  so  large ;  still 
minister  and  day-labourer  are  both  servants  of  the  King,  the 
former  also  only  a  fellow-servant,  and  the  latter  properly  a  servant 
and  subject  of  the  King,  whom  no  one  can  seize  wrongfully 
against  the  law  of  the  kingdom,  without  offending  the  King. 
The  debt  may,  in  this  case,  have  been  small  in  comparison  with 
the  great  debt  of  the  other,  for  the  thoughtless  spendthrift  out  of 
the  king's  treasury  would  have  the  will  and  power  to  squander 
much,  and  would  borrow  but  little  from  others ;  now  for  the 
first  time,  when,  by  being  called  to  account  himself,  the  idea 
of  remission  or  payment  has  come  into  his  consciousness,  he 
thinks  of  his  own  Activa  (as  we  would  know  nothing  at  all  of 
"  sinning  against  us,"  did  not  God  first  speak  to  our  conscience 
of  sin) — in  order  thereby  to  gather  as  much  as  possible  for  the 
delayed  payment.  Which  extreme  perversity  might  then  be 
understood  to  represent  the  disposition  of  the  Pharisees  who,  by 
severe  and  harsh  judgment,  with  respect  to  their  neighbour, 
seek  to  make  themselves  righteous  before  God.  This,  however, 
seems  to  us  to  lie  rather  far  back,  amid  the  inexhaustible  appli- 
cations of  which  this  parable  is  capable  ;  what  is  most  directly 
meant  is  perversity  in  general,  delineated  in  the  manner  of  the 
parable,  the  perversity  that  leads  us  not  to  have  compassion  on 
others  when  God  has  had  compassion  on  us  (ver  33).    The  fiaai,- 

1  So  much  is  true,  although,  on  the  part  of  God,  the  actual  forgive- 
ness of  sins  at  all  times  affords  the  beginning  of  a  change  of  heart. 
Doubtful,  at  least  liable  to  be  misunderstood,  is  the  still  sharper  state- 
ment of  Alford :  We  may  observe,  that  forgiveness  of  sins  does  not 
imply  a  change  of  heart  or  principle  in  the  sinner. 


436  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

Xevs  or  Tetrarch  appealed  on  his  own  behalf  to  the  law  of  Israel — 
the  servant  applies  against  the  common  man,  his  fellow-servant, 
the  still  severer  Roman  law.1  *  The  Kparelv  and  irvlyeiv  wTere,  in 
so  far,  not  properly  "unlawful  acts  of  violence,"  hut  a  practice 
quite  warranted  by  law,  according  to  which  the  creditor  was 
allowed  even  to  seize  the  debtor  by  the  throat,  and  thus  to"  lead 
him  into  custody.2  The  reading  o,  n  for  el  n  o^etXet?  is  certainly 
only  a  correction,  and  the  latter  is  probably  no  "  courtly  style  of 
expression,"  but  rather  expresses  the  severity  which  appeals  to  the 
fact  with  an  unavoidable  Ergo  :  If  thou  owest  me  anything,  now 
must  thou  pay,  I  seize  thee,  and  will  not  let  thee  go  till  thou 
payest!3  This  wTould  hold  good  before  the  tribunal  of  any 
earthly  kingdom,  and  must  also  hold  good  in  the  outward  sphere 
of  the  law,  but  the  law  of  love  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  abso- 
lutely forbids  one,  who  is  himself  a  pardon*^  sinner  from  ex- 
ercising every  legal  right  against  a  fellow-sinner. — The  scene 
of  humble  suppliancy  here  repeats  itself  in  the  same  words  ;  here, 
however,  it  is  in  its  proper  place,  for  one  servant  may  pay  to 
another,  in  so  far  as,  and  what,  he  owes  to  him.  Christ,  in  order 
to  bring  out  the  contrast  in  the  parable  in  the  most  striking 
form,  selects  as  the  example  a  truly  humble  debtor  who  ac- 
knowledges his  debts  (an  aSe\(/>G?  fjiSTavocov,  or  at  least  \iycov 
fieravocj  with  which  wre  ought  to  be  satisfied)  ;  not,  as  it  gene- 
rally happens,  a  bad  fellow-servant,  who  produces  his  counter- 
reckoning  :  Thou  owest  me  as  much,  or  more,  even,  than  I  owe 
thee  I  so  that  an  endless  quarrel  begins  between  the  sinners  as  to 
which  of  the  two  is  in  the  other's  debt.  In  opposition  to  this 
humble  servant,  He  puts  the  wicked  servant,  whose  proud, 
heartless  zeal  for  law  is  only  provoked  the  more,  as  very  often 
happens,  by  the  entreaty  and  confession  of  the  other,  instead  of 
letting  himself  be  reminded  with  shame  of  his  own  entreaty  before, 

1  Which  mixture  of  things,  according  to  Hug's  remark,  perfectly 
corresponds  to  that  period. 

2  According  to  the  law  in  ohaeratos  the  debtor  was  adjudged  to  the 
creditor  :  addicebatur — so  that  the  latter  in  nervum  ducebat. 

3  Not  (according  to  Lange)  any  uncertainty  about  the  proper  reckon- 
ing :  that  which  thou  owest  me  whatever  it  he.  On  the  other  hand, 
Alford  finely  observes,  that  he  is  ashamed  to  name  a  small  sum,  and 
therefore  expresses  his  claim  in  a  general  form  :  Be  it  much  or  little, 
this  something,  enough  thou  owest  me  and  must  pay ! 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  31 — 34.  437 

which  was  quite  the  same.  He  would  not,  he  threw  him  into 
prison — this  is,  in  the  first  stage,  the  end  of  the  sad  story,  but  not 
the  last  end,  for  there  is  yet  another  Judge  above  him  who  judges 
on  earth. 

Vers.  31 — 34.  Yes,  there  are  also  good-hearted  servants 
there,  who  understand  better  what  pleases  the  King  in  his 
subjects,  who,  with  warm  compassion,  take  the  part  of  him  who 
has  been  thus  harshly  treated,  and  cannot  forbear  telling  the 
whole  story  which  has  grieved  them,  to  their  Lord,  with  whom 
they  stand  in  the  confidential  relation  of  a  like  disposition.  These 
are  the  pious  ones,  who  send  up  sighs  to  the  God  of  love  over  all 
the  want  of  love  which  they  see  around  them,  and  Christ  will 
teach  us  by  this  feature  in  the  parable,  that  certainly  not  merely 
through  the  omniscience  of  God,  but  in  this  instrumental  way, 
our  new  debt  which  we  incur  when  we  do  not  forgive  our  debtors, 
must  come  before  God  to  our  deeper  shame.  Thus  must  the 
unmerciful  one  be  put  to  shame,  not  only  before  the  All-merciful, 
but  even  before  his  merciful  fellow-servants,  and  in  this  already 
lies  his  convictive  sentence:  Wherefore  didst  thou  also  not 
act  thus? — Sinful  man  is  sad  (Ps.  cxix.  136) — the  subject  is 
grieved  and  complains  of  it  to  the  Lord;  but  God  Himself 
the  King,  in  His  majesty,  is  angry.  It  is  a  pity  that  Lu- 
ther's rendering  a  mischievous  servant,"  (Schalksknecht,)  cannot 
be  altered,  it  certainly  does  not  express  properly  what  is  here 
denoted  by  the  Sov\e  irovripe  (in  Munster  very  well  *\yy 
hyvyjl)*  Only  now  is  Trovrjpos  to  be  understood  in  the  most 
proper  sense  of  the  word ;  not  before,  with  all  the  wilful  contrac- 
ting of  debt  in  blindness,  but  now,  when  he  to  whom  the  same 
things  are  done,  exercises  no  compassion.  For  il  this  is  the 
climax  of  our  depravity,  that  we  are  beggars  with  God,  and  yet 
tyrants  with  our  brethren."  (Helferich).  Now  first,  after  the 
foregoing  <nrXarfxyLZe<r9ai,  comes  the  proper  6pyi£ecr6ai,  which 
must  not  be  overlooked  by  those  softhearted  ones  who  conclude 
far  too  much  from  the  first  exercise  of  compassion  on  the  part  of 
God,  as  if  He  cannot  and  will  not  at  all  be  angry.  Here  again, 
before  the  anger  breaks  out,  the  king  judging  the  unmerciful  ser- 
vant out  of  a  heart  full  of  compassion,  condescendingly  demon- 
strates why  he  has  deserved  the  irovvpL  This,  however,  is  also  the 
Kpi<TL<;  avtXeo)?  Jam.  ii.  13.    I  forgave  thee  all  that  debt  (the  entire 


438  THE  GOSPEL  OF  ST  MATTHEW. 

great  reckoning,  still  lies  there,  not  yet  irrevocably  blotted 
out  and  cast  away,  and  is  now  held  up  before  him  anew !) — that 
was  my  royal  act  done  in  perfect  earnest.  Wherefore  and  for 
what?  What  hast  thou  given  or  offered  to  me  for  it?  Nothing 
but  an  entreaty,  and  that  not  even  a  right  one,  for  forgiveness, 
but,  only  for  patience,  till  thou  shouldst  pay  only  with  still  more 
wickedness  and  new  debt,  seeing  that  thou  hadst  nothing.  But  I 
have  reckoned  thine  anxiety  to  thee  for  honesty,  and  have  made 
thy  wrong  entreaty  itself  the  legal  ground  of  my  compassion,  inel 
irapeKakead^  fie — as  soon  as  and  because  thou  didst  entreat  me  ! 
Now,  that  thou  shouldst  exercise  a  like  compassion,  was  self-evi- 
dent :  Was  it  not  ?  This  smites  the  conscience,  in  ourselves 
moreover,  to  whom  this  condition  of  grace  is  expressly  laid  down, 
as  in  this  parable,  so  in  all  the  Word  of  God,  and  who  have  it 
put  into  our  mouths  in  our  daily  prayer  to  the  Father.  Here  we 
see  then  that  God's  forgiveness  is  not  and  cannot  be  afieraixe- 
Xrjros,  that  the  remitted  account  of  former  sins  (2  Pet.  i.  9) 
still  1  ngs  over  all  who  turn  grace  into  presumption,  and  must 
again  become  perfectly  valid  against  them.  (Ez.  xviii.  24, 
xxxiii.  13.)  Here  we  have  a  decision  upon  the  theological  ques- 
tion, utrum  peccata  semel  dimissa  redeant.  Therefore  now  strict 
law  returns  in  the  King's  sentence  :  till  he  should  pay  all  that 
was  due  !  Of  this  paying  as  impossible,  and  this  till  as  unending 
we  have  already  spoken  at  Matth.  v.  26  (of  which  we  are  here 
reminded.)  Is  it  till  the  debt  be  worked  off?  It  is,  however,  a 
prison  that  is  spoken  of,  and  not  a  house  of  correction  ;  it  will 
certainly  be  the  irvp  alwviov  ver.  8.  (Mark  ix.  43,  44.1)  Or 
until  he  learns  again  to  entreat  ?  This  he  would  probably  do 
immediately  again,  but  it  would  now  be  still  less  right  asking 
than  it  was  the  time  before.  Formerly  the  king  acted  only  as 
a  creditor  towards  the  debtor,  now  in  addition  to  this  as  a 
judge  against  the  irovrjpo^  and  the  fiaaaviarai  (which  can  hardly 
be  the  mere  official  name  for  Seo-fio^vXafces),  must  so  execute 
the  aggravated  sentence,  that  any  softening  of  the  hard  heart 
that  was  not  softened  by  love,  is  as  little  to  be  hoped  for  from 
this  tormenting,  as  that  the  poor  debtor  under  the  rack  can  yet 
gather  either  a  first  or  a  last  farthing. 

1  Already  Chrysost.  here  :    Tovricm^  SirjveKcos'  ovre  yap  dnodwa-ei  -nore. 


MATTHEW  XVIII.  '35.  439 

Ver.  35.  This  is  also  from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  chap.  vi. 
14,  15.  But  in  the  more  emphatic  repetition  here  it  is  no  longer 
your  Father  as  it  is  there — but,  my  heavenly  Father,1  in  whose 
name  and  commission  I,  by  way  of  warning,  announce  to  you 
this  principle,  according  to  which  if  you  judge  yourselves  the 
matter  rests  there  !  My  Father,  who  remains  not  the  less  King, 
Lord,  and  Judge.  0#to>?,  precisely  so  as  the  parable  repre- 
sents it,  and  not  otherwise,  will  he  do  certainly  to  you  also 
my  disciples  and  apostles — if  ye  (of  course  not  in  a  single 
instance,  but  perseveringly  and  permanently  as  the  definitive 
result),  forgive  not  your  brethren.  Ta  irapairrw^aTa  avrwv 
cannot  possibly  be  a  spurious  addition,  but  belongs  essentially 
to  the  conclusion  of  the  parable,  as  explanation  of  the  haveia 
and  ofaiXofxeva — as,  in  like  manner,  the  important  expression, 
u  from  the  heart,"  belongs  also  essentially  to  the  matter.  In  this 
word,  finally,  all  judgment  is  referred  to  Him  who  alone  knows 
the  heart,  before  whom  'every  one  who  forgives  not  from  the 
heart  is  already  bound  in  heaven  and  shut  out,  although  the 
Church  on  earth  may  not  know  it. 

1  'Enovpdvios  (other  reading  ovpdvios)  occurs  with  narrjp  only  here  in 
the  Gospels,  nay  in  the  whole  New  Testament,  and  in  general,  only 
here  in  Matth.  in  the  first  three  Gospels. 


END  OF  VOL.  II. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


6May64JA 
REC'D  LD 
IAY 6    '64-3  PM 


LD  21-100to-9,'48(B399s16)476 


Mv\-0- 


JW% 


Hi 

ttk  j  if  i 

•    ■  • 


